Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.
Opening Hymn: He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Call to Prayer*
Aishah said, "The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) used to say, when he opened the prayer: 'Glory to Thee, O Allah! and Thine is the praise, and blessed is Thy name and exalted is They name and exalted is Thy majesty and there is none to be served besides Thee.'" A Manual of Hadith
Homily on Prayer
That necessity teaches prayer, is a dubious assertion. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that praying allows us to dwell only on what is necessary. Thus it is distinguished from wishing.
Wishing is playing with possibilities. Of this we have ample experience. With a hundred francs in our pocket we can dream of the fulfillment of many wishes at that price, but only one of them can be realized. Most of our wishes remain in the realm of fantasy. And this is generally a good thing. Nevertheless, wishing has its proper place. It is a sign of liveliness. The man who sheds his wishes as a tree in autumn sheds its leaves, shows that his soul is weary and dying. This is not, however, to be mistaken for dying in the spirit which by no means makes the believer look dried-up and barren in this life. Prayer does not kill our wishing, but purifies it and points to its limits. In this way our wishes also have a place in our prayer, like all other creaturely things. Not that they may dominate, but that we may gain the proper freedom towards them. Yet proper freedom - however strange this sounds - arises only where we learn to dwell on what is necessary. That comes harder to us than playing with possibilities, and so we are much less at home with praying than with wishing.
- Gerhard Ebeling, On Prayer
The passive hope that has been so prevalent in the history of religious attitudes corresponds to the objectified God from whom one may anticipate favors. Within that frame of reference human beings have tried to relate to ultimate reality as an object to be known, cajoled, manipulated. The tables are turned, however, for the objectified "God" has a way of reducing his producers to objects who lack capacity for autonomous action. In contrast to this, the God who is power of being acts as a moral power summoning women and men to act out of our deepest hope and to become who we can be.
- Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation
Magnificat: Marc-Antoine Charpentier