Читать книгу The Woman's Book of Prayer - Becca Anderson - Страница 12
ОглавлениеPrayer Practice: Ritual Cleansing, Purification
Many religions and cultures have their own forms of ritual cleansings (Baptisms/Christenings, Mikveh, Ghusl/Wudu, Snanam, etc.) that each have different symbolic meanings. Though many of these ritual baths are purely spiritual, some have also incorporated material objects for both physical and metaphysical cleansing; for instance, the Romans used oils and fragrances, Indians used herbs and spices, and even Cleopatra added milk and honey to her ritual baths. These rituals are typically used to mark a rebirth or significant change in one’s life and are often believed to have purifying properties. While some of these ancient rituals have come under criticism by women for suggesting that women are unclean, modern feminists have reclaimed spiritual bathing as a way to appreciate femininity and oneself. Any woman can incorporate the idea of ritual cleansing into her life in many forms either similar to or symbolizing the original concepts. Taking a meditative bath with your favorite oils and candles, cleaning out your house, or even deleting toxic friends from social media can all be compared to the cleansing and rebirth that is at the core of these ritual ceremonies.
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Inspiration and Aspiration
Far away there in the sunshine
are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them,
but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow
where they lead.
—Louisa May Alcott
11
Arise in Radiance and Go Down in Joy
The earth is full of your goodness,
your greatness and understanding,
your wisdom and harmony.
How wonderful are the lights that you created.
You formed them with strength and power
and they shine very wonderfully on the world,
magnificent in their splendor.
They arise in radiance and go down in joy.
Reverently they fulfill your divine will.
They are tributes to your name
as they exalt your sovereign rule in song.
—Ancient Hebrew Hymn, 516 BC
12
The Magdalene’s Blessing
You hardly imagined standing here, everything you ever loved suddenly returned to you, looking you in the eye and calling your name. And now you do not know how to abide this ache in the center of your chest, where a door slams shut and swings open at the same time, turning on the hinge of your aching and hopeful heart. I tell you, this is not a banishment from the garden. This is an invitation, a choice, a threshold, a gate. This is your life calling to you from a place you could never have dreamed, but now that you have glimpsed its edge, you cannot imagine choosing any other way. So let the tears come as anointing, as consecration, and then let them go. Let this blessing gather itself around you. Let it give you what you will need for this journey. You will not remember the words—they do not matter. All you need to remember is how it sounded when you stood in the place of death and heard the living call your name.
—Jan Richardson
13
The Rewards of Risk
It is so easy to close down to risk, to protect ourselves against change and growth. But no baby bird emerges without first destroying the perfect egg sheltering it. We must risk being raw and fresh and awkward. For without such openness, life will not penetrate us anew. Unless we are open, we will not be filled.
—Patricia Monaghan
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Hearing the Music of the World
How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!
The heavens declare Your glory,
the arch of the sky displays Your handiwork
In Your love You have given us the power
to behold the beauty of Your world
robed in all its splendor.
The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills,
the rivers and the lakes all disclose Your presence.
The roaring breakers of the sea tell of Your awesome might,
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
bespeak Your wondrous will.
In Your goodness You have made us able to hear
the music of the world.
The voices of the loved ones
reveal to us that You are in our midst.
A divine voice sings through all creation.
—Ancient Jewish Prayer
15
A Perfect Love
AND GOD SAID TO THE SOUL:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now as you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
The love is perfected.
HOW THE SOUL SPEAKS TO THE GOD:
Lord, you are my love, my longing,
My flowing stream, my sun,
And I am your reflection.
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL:
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
—Mechthild of Megberg, Thirteenth Century Nun
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The Day Is Done
Even here in America,
we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom.
When Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country
where formerly he was not even allowed to vote
we were enlarged by tears of pride,
as we saw Nelson Mandela’s former prison guards invited,
courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.
We saw him accept the world’s award in Norway
with the grace and gratitude
of the Solon in Ancient Roman Courts,
and the confidence of African Chiefs from ancient royal stools.
No sun outlasts its sunset,
but it will rise again and bring the dawn.
—Maya Angelou
17
Some Things Are Worth Dying For
How do you say thank you to the men and women
who risked their lives, and lost their lives to secure our freedom,
our way of life, our peace and prosperity?
How do you say thank you to the men and women
who went through the most terrible experiences of their lives,
surrounded by death and carnage, losing friends and loved ones,
seeing things that would change their lives forever?
How do you say thank you to those who went through all this
with the belief that their one life, whether lost or saved,
could make a difference, had to make a difference, for our sake,
the generation they had not even met yet?
How do you say thank you to the men and women
who had faith in us before we were even born,
faith that we would become people worth fighting for,
and worth dying for?
—Military Prayer
18
Live the Life That Is Given to You
Your life is the only opportunity
that life can give you.
If you ignore it,
if you waste it,
you will only turn to dust.
—Rab’ia al-Adawiyya
19
Help Me Live a New Life
Dear Lord God,
cover my sins and guilt
with the righteousness
of your Son, my Savior.
Create in me a pure heart
and help me live a new life in you!
Amen.
—Jes Woller
20
Rite of the Righteous Woman
Dear God, please make us dangerous women.
May we be women who acknowledge our power to change,
and grow, and be radically alive for God.
May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.
May we weep with those who weep and speak for those
who cannot speak for themselves.
May we cherish children, embrace the elderly,
and empower the poor.
May we pray deeply and teach wisely.
May we be strong and gentle leaders.
May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.
May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction
compel us, and righteous anger energize us.
May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.
May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.
May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.
May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus.
And in that name and by that power, may we change the world.
Dear God, please make us dangerous women.
—Solano Sisterhood
21
Faith, Hope, and Charity
A faintish journey do I make
As through this frazzled world I wind,
With heavy heart and weary steps,
But with determined mind.
Beseech I for a flicker of
The faith that can a mountain move,
And hold that tenet close to me,
Believing where I cannot prove.
The pow’r that comes when sinking low
To man who grasps for straw or rope,
Will clutch til has he breathe no more
For where there’s life, there’s hope.
If my good turn be given to
My fellow man’s deficiency,
I’ll try to share my lowly gifts
Of Faith and Hope and Charity.
—Anne Shannon Demarest
22
Grace of Our Mother
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
—Catholic Holy Rosary
23
Living in Peace
Come, Spirit,
make me docile to your voice.
Help me debate angels.
Let your will be done in me
even if it means
misunderstanding,
rejection,
scandal.
Give me wisdom to find you
in the irrational:
heavens gone awry,
astrologers’ predictions,
Give me such hospitality of heart that
songs in the night.
family,
foreign seers,
poor shepherds and animals
find a home in my presence.
—Benedictine Sisters
24
Who Made the World?
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver
25
Let There Be Peace and Justice for All Creation
Let us see one another through eyes
enlightened by understanding and compassion.
Release us from judgment so we can receive the stories
of our sisters and brothers with respect and attention.
Open our hearts to the cries of a suffering world
and the healing melodies of peace and justice for all creation.
Empower us to be instruments of justice
and equality everywhere.
—Jean Shinoda Bolen
26
Invocation for Future Generations
Divine Earth—
bring greening and surety to the world.
Like the stretching branches of the tree,
May we stretch ourselves
Into the life-affirming paths of reconciliation and healing.
Like the deep peaceful dome of night,
May we stand firm in the Goddess and the God,
Through this “dark night” of confusion and fear, and false “stars.”
May our souls be strong, steady, and revealing.
May our spirits be enlightened, faithful, and sure.
May our choices be wise and enduring
for the generations to come.
By all that is Sacred and True,
So Mote It Be.
—Pashta Marymoon
27
Living in the Heart of God
God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.
God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.
God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.
God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.
—Ancient Celtic Oral Blessing
28
A Life of Service Is a Holy Life
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men
throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger.
Give them through our hands this day their daily bread,
and by our understanding love, give peace and joy.
—Mother Teresa
29
Stand in Your Own Power
I stand in my own power now, the questions of permission that I used to choke on for my every meal now dead in a fallen heap, and when they tell me that I will fall, I nod. I will fall, I reply, and
my words are a whisper
my words are a howl
I will fall, I say, and the tumbling will be all my own. The skinned palms and oozing knees are holy wounds, stigmata of
my She.
I will catch my own spilled blood, and not a drop will be wasted.
—Beth Morey
30
Find Courage and Comfort in the Everyday
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, memorize the words for thank you in three languages.
—Judyth Hill
31
When Times Are Hard, Create Something
Children, everybody, here’s what to do during war:
In a time of destruction, create something.
A poem.
A parade.
A community.
A school.
A vow.
A moral principle. One peaceful moment.
—Maxine Hong Kingston
