By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean
the one who has flung herself out of the grass, Continue reading
Author: arampone
Prayer for Radical Amazement
By Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.
Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.
Prayer and Action
By Rabbi David Saperstein
“In the Jewish tradition, the separation between prayer and action is slight. We’re mindful of the admonition in Isaiah where God says, ‘I don’t want your fast and your sacrifice. I want you to deal your bread to the hungry, tear apart the chains of the oppressed.’
Through the Silence of Nature
By Hazrat Inayat Khan
Through the silence of nature, I attain Thy divine peace.
O sublime nature, in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment to
manifest through the silence of sublime nature. Continue reading
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
By Anne Lamott
“Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken. (In fact, these are probably the best possible conditions under which to pray.) Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape. Continue reading
The Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
The Serenity Prayer is attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
Prayer for Justice
By Martin Luther King, Jr.
“O God, we thank you for the fact that you have inspired men and women in all nations and in all cultures. We call you different names: some call you Allah; some call you Elohim; some call you Jehovah; some call you Brahma; some call you the Unmoved Mover. But we know that these are all names for one and the same God. Continue reading
The Long Loneliness
“The only answer to this life, to the loneliness we are all bound to feel, is community. The living together, working together, sharing together, loving God and loving our brother and sister, and living close to them in community so we can show our love for God.” -Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist, and anarchist who started the Catholic Worker movement.
Slow Me Down
By James Martin, SJ
Slow me down, God, slow me down, so that I may
see you more and move in my faster and faster life.
Give me a listening heart, and contemplative eyes,
so that I may see you in my active world. Amen.
James Martin, SJ is an American Jesuit priest and writer.
On Peace
“Peace is more than the absence of war, more than the maintenance of balance of power between enemies. It is more than the firm hold of a dictator that, for the moment, involves no bloodshed. But then, what is peace? Continue reading