Day 86: Prayer

Prayer

658. Is prayer acceptable to God?
“Prayer is always acceptable to God when dictated by the heart, for the intention is everything in His sight; and the prayer of the heart is preferable to one read from a book, however beautiful it may be, if read with the lips rather than with the thought. Prayer is acceptable to God when it is offered with faith, fervour, and sincerity; but do not imagine that He will listen to that of the vain, proud, selfish man, unless it be offered as an act of sincere repentance and humility.”

659. What is the general character of prayer?
“Prayer is an act of adoration. To pray to God is to think of Him, to draw nearer to Him, to put one’s self in communication with Him. He who prays may propose to himself three things: to praise, to ask, and to thank.”

660. Does prayer make men better?
“Yes; for he who prays with fervour and confidence has more strength for withstanding the temptations of evil, and for obtaining from God the help of good spirits to assist him in so doing. Such help is never refused when asked for with sincerity.”
- How is it that persons who pray a great deal are sometimes very unamiable, jealous, envious, and harsh, wanting in benevolence and forbearance, and even extremely vicious?
“What is needed is not to pray a great deal, but to pray aright. Such persons suppose that all the virtue of prayer is in its length, and shut their eyes to their own defects. Prayer, for them, is an occupation, a means of passing their time, but not a study of themselves. In such cases, it is not the remedy that is inefficacious, but the mode in which it is employed.”

661. Is there any use in asking God to forgive us our faults?
“God discerns the good and the evil: prayer does not hide faults from his eyes. He who asks of God the forgiveness of his faults, obtains that forgiveness only through a change of conduct. Good deeds are the best prayers, for deeds are of more worth than words.”

662. Is there any use in praying for others?
The spirit of him who prays exercises an influence through his desire to do good. By prayer, he attracts to himself good spirits who take part with him in the good he desires to do.”

663. Can we, by praying for ourselves, avert our trials, or change their nature?
“Your trials are in the hands of God, and there are some of them that must be undergone to the very end; but God always takes account of the resignation with which they are borne. Prayer calls to your help good spirits who give you strength to bear them with courage, so that they seem to you less severe. Prayer is never useless when it is sincere, because it gives you strength, which is, of itself, an important result. ‘Heaven helps him who helps himself,’ is a true saying. God could change the order of nature at the various contradictory demands of His creatures; for what appears to be a great misfortune to you, from your narrow point of view, and in relation to your ephemeral life on the earth, is often a great blessing in relation to the general order of the universe; and besides, of how many of the troubles of his life is man himself the author, through his shortsightedness or through his wrong doing! He is punished in that wherein he has sinned. Nevertheless, your reasonable requests are granted more often than you suppose. You think your prayer has not been heeded, because God has not worked a miracle on your behalf; while, in fact, He has really assisted you, but by means so natural that they seem to you to have been the effect of chance or of the ordinary course of things. And, more often still, He suggests to your minds the thought of what you must do in order to help yourselves out of your difficulties.”

664. Is it useful to pray for the dead, and for suffering spirits, and, if so, in what way can our prayers soften or shorten their sufferings? Have they the power to turn aside the justice of God?
“Prayer can have no effect upon the designs of God; but the spirit for whom you pray is consoled by your prayer, because you give him a proof of your interest, and because he who is unhappy is always comforted by the kindness which compassionates his suffering. On the other hand, by your prayer, you excite him to repentance, and to the desire of doing all that lies in him to become happy; and it is this way that you may shorten the term of his suffering, provided that he, on his side, seconds your action by that of his own will. This desire for amelioration, excited by your prayer in the mind of the suffering spirit, attracts to him spirits of higher degree, who come to enlighten him, console him, and give him hope. Jesus prayed for the sheep that have gone astray; thereby showing you that you cannot, without guilt, neglect to do the same for those who have the greatest need of your prayers.”

665. What is to be thought of the opinion that rejects the idea of praying for the dead because it is not prescribed in the gospel?
“Christ has said, to all mankind, ‘Love one another.’ This injunction implies, for all men, the duty of employing every possible means of testifying their affection for each other; but without entering into any details in regard to the manner of attaining that end. If it be true that nothing can turn aside the Creator from applying, to every action of every spirit, the absolute justice of which He is the type, it is none the less true that the prayer you address to Him, on behalf of a suffering spirit for whom you feel affection or compassion, is accepted by Him as a testimony of remembrance that never fails to bring relief and consolation to the sufferer. As soon as the latter manifests the slightest sign of repentance, but only then, help is sent to him; but he is never allowed to remain in ignorance of the fact that a sympathising heart has exerted itself on his behalf, and is always left under the consoling impression that his friendly intercession has been of use to him. Thus your intervention necessarily induces a feeling of gratitude and affection, on his part, to the friend who has given him his proof of kindness and of pity; and the mutual affection enjoined upon all men by Christ will thereby have been developed or awakened between you and him. Both of you will thus have obeyed the law of love and union imposed on all the beings of the universe; that Divine law which will usher in the reign of unity that is the aim and end of a spirit’s education.”**

666. May we pray to spirits?
“You may pray to good spirits as being the messengers of God, and the executants of His will; but their power, which is always proportioned to their elevation, depends entirely on the Master of all things, without whose permission nothing takes place. For this reason, prayers addressed to them are only efficacious if accepted by God.”

**This reply was given by the spirit of M. Monod, the well-known and highly-esteemed Protestant pastor of Paris, deceased in 1856. The preceding reply (no. 664) was given by the spirit of St Louis.

The above extracts are, again, from The Spirits’ Book by Allan Kardec.

Right, tonight I am going to join the hordes of eager book-buyers in central London to buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then, most likely, I shall tomorrow go to Sussex and stay until Wednesday. Therefore, I may be away from my blog until then, although I shall try and post something if possible.