I have noticed on the mailing lists I am receiving at the start of this year a number of discussions on prayer.  I wonder if this is a recognition of how important prayer is and a felt need to “start the year right” in prayer.

I want to pass on to you this morning a remark from a mailing sent out by Richard Rohr

The word ‘prayer’ has often been trivialized by making it into a way of getting what we want. But I use ‘prayer’ as the umbrella word for any interior journeys or practices that allow you to experience faith, hope, and love within yourself. It is not a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven. It is much more like practicing heaven now.  (adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See by Richard Rohr, pp. 22-23)

Are his criticisms of our use of the word “prayer” justified?

Do you think he offers a “better” understanding of prayer?

Or is he “extending” prayer to cover too many things?

What does he “leave out” in this understanding of prayer?

And, what would it be like if we are “practicing heaven now?”

What do you think?