How to Pray

Pray from the heart. Your heart's prayer is the best prayer. Let your heart voice thus: 'Lord, You are now with me, yet I am unable to see you. Grant me Grace, empower me to behold You. You are my Light. You are my Father. You are my eternal Mother. You are the Breath of my breath. You are everything. From all sides, at all times, You are watching me, seeing me, blessing me. You are in the children, in the creatures great and small. You are everywhere. Why don't You reveal Yourself to me?

'Lord, lead me, guide me, purify me, render me peaceful, wise, strong, noble, saintly. As You are in me, express Yourself through me. Let me be a channel for the flow of Your Nature and Qualities. Not my personality, but Your Personality which is full of Perfection, finds Its expression through me. I don't want my will to be done, for my will is imperfect, exposed to wrong impulse, full of limitations. Thy Will is wonderful, perfect, omnipotent. Let Thy Will be done through me.

'Lord, my intelligence makes many mistakes. What it thinks to be the right thing is often to be not so. Let Thy Intelligence which is omniscient guide my intelligence along the right and fruitful lines. My heart is limited in its love; sometimes I love people who are beneficial to me, and cease loving them when they no more serve my interests. Let Thy Love which is unconditioned rule my heart. My best plans to protect my interests are not free from unforeseen difficulties. Anything can easily burden me with cares and worries. Let Thy Wisdom, Thy Light, Thy Care, Thy Grace, conduct my life and preserve me in the experience of Thy Peace, Thy Power, Thy Happiness.

'Look, O Lord, there Your sun shines. Adorations to You, God, in that sunshine. Adorations to You, God, in the form of all these men, women and children. Adorations to You in the form of all those that are near and dear to me. Adorations to You, God, in the form of all that is wonderful, great, grand, sublime, inspiring, sustaining, helping, guiding. Adorations to You, God, in the form of the breath without which I cannot live.'

Thus, through such small attempts at pouring out your heart in spontaneous prayer, put yourself in touch with the Lord's abundance, here, there, everywhere, at all times. Nothing that you say to God is uttered in vain, for He is all-hearing and infinite creative Intelligence, Power, Grace, Fullness. Many are the blessings of such a prayer. The psychological, emotional, psychic, spiritual, material, physical results of such prayers are priceless, and they add rapidly and immensely to the stature of your inner spiritual growth and evolution.

Their hearts flower and bloom in love to such an extent that they begin to converse with birds like St. Francis. They begin to speak words of wisdom and power. Their lives are most fruitful. Their presence is a joy and a healing, a blessing and an enrichment. They are the real knowers of the meaning of life: they are the real enjoyers of the full value of life.

The human eyes and the intelligence which sees through them are not able to see God, but God is seeing us all right. The human ears are not able to hear God, but God is hearing us all right. The human heart feels God is somewhere away in the clouds, but God is already there within its own inner chambers. When intelligence is rendered pure and luminous, and lit up with the light of the inner divine Being, man sees God as our physical eyes see the sun, the moon, the trees, the seas, the light. These are the wonderful truths that you discover as your entire inner nature is uplifted and refined. The knowledge of the fundamental spiritual truths and realities comes to you automatically. The language of God is the same everywhere.

Go on developing your love for the Divine. When you see beautiful fruits and flowers, mentally offer them to God, the supreme Creator, who is everywhere and watching everything. And then, what happens? God, who is all-seeing, at once watches, registers and responds to your simple act. In consequence His Light and Grace shine upon your countenance. He increases your inner purity, your inner peace, strength, happiness, and your prosperity. He develops your faith, heightens your capacities, and renders your intelligence intuitive, your soul inspired. He increases your sense of the divine Presence. He makes you do good things. He prompts you to give a contribution to good works. He inspires you to serve and to sacrifice. As you advance, God pours His own Light, Love, Grace, through you to all creation.

Our movement towards the Divine is nothing other than a grand growth of our love, our wisdom, our strength, our sweetness, our brilliance, our perfection.

As a result of this turn towards the all-seeing, all-beautiful, all-peaceful, all-luminous, all-perfect Divinity, many of the higher qualities resident in our inner spiritual being are simultaneously unfolded into our outer life.

Turn all thy life into divine Light. Let thy speech flow from the Honey within. Render thy energies into divine Power, and convert all of thy inner being into divine Perfection.