A wonderful teacher and inspiration in the West of Ireland has as a motto for his school the axiom “The mind altering alters all.” This is a powerful dictum to have as central to the vision of a school. The mind is the eye of the world. When the mind changes, the world is different. In a transferred sense, the prayerful presence transfigures everything. We will never understand the power of our prayer to effect change and to bring shelter to others.
We should pray also for those who suffer each day: those in prison, hospital, and mental institutions; for refugees, prostitutes, the powerful, the destroyers. There are so many broken places where our prayer is needed each day. We should be generous with our prayer. It is important to recognize the extent and intensity of spirit that prayer awakens and sends out. Prayer is not about the private project of making yourself holy and turning yourself into a shining temple that blinds everyone else. Prayer has a deeper priority, which is, in the old language, the sanctification of the world of which you are a privileged inhabitant. By being here, you are already a custodian of sacred places and spaces. If you could but see what your prayer could do, you would always want to be in the presence that it awakens. There is a poem by Fernando Pessoa which articulates this:
TO BE GREAT, BE ENTIRE
To be great, be entire:
Of what is yours nothing
exaggerate or exclude
Be whole in each thing. Put all that you are
Into the least you do
Like that on each place the whole moon
Shines for she lives aloft.
This is a lovely prayer poem; to put all that you are into the least that you do. When you hold back, you avoid the truth of situations, you diminish what a friendship or an experience can become. There are many people who love each other, who belong with each other, but their disappointment with each other, or the wounds they have caused each other, hold them out of reach from each other. Wouldn’t it be great if they could risk again coming in on a wave of new hope to the shore of each other’s lives? The greatest gift you can give is the gift of your self; it is a huge gift. The sun is the mother of life. She gives her light so generously and evenly all over the earth. Like the sun, each one of us should share the light of our souls with generosity.
To pray is to develop and refine the light of your life. It smooths the coarseness in your vision. It brings you closer to the homeland of your heart. There are many wonderful ancient and classical prayers from the tradition. Yet there is something irrevocably unique and intimate about your own individual prayer. It would be lovely to create your own prayer. Give yourself time to make a prayer that will become the prayer of your soul. Listen to the voices of longing in your soul. Listen to your hungers. Give attention to the unexpected that lives around the rim of your life. Listen to your memory and to the inrush of your future, to the voices of those near you and those you have lost. Out of all of that attention to your soul, make a prayer that is big enough for your wild soul, yet tender enough for your shy and awkward vulnerability; that has enough healing to gain the ointment of divine forgiveness for your wounds; enough truth and vigour to challenge your blindness and complacency; enough graciousness and vision to mirror your immortal beauty. Write a prayer that is worthy of the destiny to which you have been called. This is not about any kind of self-absorbed narcissism. It is about honouring the call of your soul and the call of eternity in you. Take as much time as you need to find the shape of the prayer that is appropriate to your essence. It might take a month or a year. When you have it shaped, memorize it. When you have it learned by heart, you will always carry this gracious prayer around the world with you. Gradually, it will grow into a mantra companion. It will be the call of your essence, opening you up to new areas of birth; it will bring the wild and tender light of your heart to every object, place, and person that you will meet.
MY OWN PRAYER
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