Heschel on Prayer

And now, some words on prayer, by the beloved teacher, rabbi, author Abraham Joshua Heschel.  I first read Heschel in 1979 while a freshman at Gordon College.  His tomes were a part of our Old Testament studies.  My life was changed by Heschel's writing.  He cracked open the hard heart, ego, and mind of a young student.  Cracked them open with his words on prayer, awe, wonder, radical amazement, the holy, and silence.

If I had to name the two most influential guides to my spiritual life - throughout the years, and over time - I would have to name Abraham Joshua Heschel as number one.  Number two is "Brother Son, Sister Moon" by Franco Zeferelli.  Life altering impact that has spanned my spiritual journey.

Heschel opens the veil on being experienced by God and conversely experiencing God.  The movie of Saint Francis' life opens the veil on the place of simplicity and singular devotion.

These words were posted at Abbot Joseph's blog - WORD INCARNATE.  They are Heschel on Prayer (from Man in Search of God).

“How good it is to wrap oneself in prayer, spinning a deep softness of gratitude to God around all thoughts, enveloping oneself in the silken veil of song… [Prayer's] drive enables us to delve into what is beneath our beliefs and desires, and emerge with a renewed taste for the infinite simplicity of the good. On the globe of the microcosm, the flow of prayer is like the Gulf Stream, imparting warmth to all that is cold, melting all that is hard in our life. For even loyalties may freeze to indifference if detached from the stream which carries the strength to be loyal… Prayer revives and keeps alive the rare greatness of some past experience in which things glowed with meaning and blessing. It remains important, even when we ignore it for a while, like a candlestick set aside for the day. Night will come, and we shall again gather round its tiny flame."

“Whose ear has ever heard how all the trees sing to God? Has our reason ever thought of calling upon the sun to praise the Lord? And yet, what the ear fails to perceive, what reason fails to conceive, our prayer makes clear to our souls. It is a higher truth, to be grasped by the spirit: ‘All Thy works praise Thee’ (Ps. 145:10). We are not alone in our acts of praise.Wherever there is life, there is silent worship. The world is always on the verge of becoming one in adoration. It is man who is the cantor of the universe, and in whose life the secret of cosmic prayer is disclosed.”

“It is the spiritual power of the praying man that makes manifest what is dormant in the text [of the prayer]… The service of prayer, the worship of the heart, fulfills itself not in the employment of words as a human expression, but in the celebration of words as a holy reality… Praying means to take hold of a word, the end, so to speak, of a line that leads to God… But praying also means that the echo of the word falls like a plummet into the depth of the soul."

Peace,

Tom +