The power of prayer
Over the past several days, while spending time with my mother who was living out the last days of her life, many individuals had let my mother or family members know that they were praying for her and the family. Some, who were able to visit in person prayed for and with her. The palliative care doctor even asked to pray with her. My mother has always expressed some religious beliefs but has not, as far as I know, been active in a church or had daily religious practices. I do know that she has, at times, attended church. There are members of the family who are both very religious and some who are what I would call very spiritual. The family background is Christian and not Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or some other faith.
Many scientific studies have strongly indicated that prayer can be a very healing experience for the person who is ill, having a tough time emotionally, or experiencing grief or even worry.
The two questions which come up the most often relative to prayer is what is it and why or how does it work.
If one consults the Oxford dictionary one finds the brief definition of prayer to be:
· A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or another deity.
· A religious service, especially a regular one, at which people gather in order to pray.
·
The word prayer is derived from the Latin word precarious meaning ‘obtained by entreaty.’
I am not sure that just reading the definition is very helpful. I am confident that one of these days my six-year-old niece, Sam, and my twelve-year-old nephew, Paul, are going are going to challenge me to discuss prayer in a more scientific manner.
I will then suggest that we observe what happens when someone is praying. I will further suggest that we not use the example of the quickly uttered words we say as children or adults merely to satisfy an habit or obligation. Although some are quite amusing, they may or may not assist with digestion. On the other hand, a laugh can help relax the body and, thus, aid in digestion for the individual and the group eating together.
Sam and Paul are very good observers. I recall some of their observations when we went to eat with folks at Catholic Charities. I wrote them down. Here they are:
Sam: “I thought that he would never finish praying. I was hungry.”
Paul: “ Is everyone here a Christian Uncle Jim?
Did Jesus only love Christians?”
Sam: “I am glad that mom and dad does not give a long talk while the food is getting cold. Why don’t they pray after they eat Uncle Jim?”
Paul: “Why would non-Catholics come here to eat Uncle Jim?”
Sam: “Why do we pray? I thought God knew what we are thinking.”
Paul: “Does God care what religion we are Uncle Jim?”
Sam: “Why do we pray Uncle Jim?”
As usual, they were all good questions and we had a great discussion while making cookies to take back to Catholic Charities later in the day.
When the three of us observed prayer more carefully, we noticed that prayer is a time when we attempt to be intentionally present. It is also usually a time when we are either asking for forgiveness for something we have done, giving thanks, or asking for healing or another favor.
Paul also recalled from his science class that thoughts are energy. If the energy is positive it can have a calming and healing effect on the body. In fact, in some medical practices the healing team and perhaps the family stand around the bed of the sick person and think positive, healing thoughts. There are reports that during this process patients have been healed of very serious illnesses.
Paul asked if prayer was the same as meditation. I told him that it seems as if the effects are very similar. When the sick or upset person is shown love often they are able to relax which may calm the person, thus slowing down the heart rate.
Furthermore just thinking about something positive might help the body go into healing mode.
We also know that:
· The mood of a surgical teams affects the outcome of surgery even if it appears that the surgery and related procedures was exactly the same when the team was not intentional about being a nurturing team.
· Certain music seems to have a positive effect on the body.
· If the patient feels and/or thinks he or she is getting help their brain begins to send well messages to the rest of the body.
Paul also asked the following question:
“Uncle Jim, lots of good people die even with when many people are praying.”
I responded: “Paul and Sam, there is a difference between healing and curing or making sure a person lives. Healing, in my mind means a person is able to love themselves and others as well as accept the love of others. They are at peace. You might recall when we visited the hospice place where people were dying or that time Uncle Jim took you to a home where someone was dying. People were laughing or some just looked peaceful. You remarked that they seemed to feel really good even though they were going to die very soon. We talked about the fact that we are all going to die at some time. The goal is to feel good about how we love each other right now.”
So back to the Sam’s question. “Why do we pray if God already knows what we are thinking?”
Perhaps it does not matter whether we speak the language of a particular religion or any religion at all. Perhaps prayer is the power of love. Praying for emotional or spiritual cleansing, confession, sharing the 4th step in a 12-step program with one’s sponsor might all accomplish the same goal of making room for love. When we have resentments, when we feel that we are unlovable because of something we have done, when we feel we are undeserving for other reasons, we have barriers to love.
I suspect that we humans have a tendency to confuse the container or the framework with the content. Religion is a framework or a container. It is not the content.
Prayer, meditation, loving thoughts, music which is sung or played from the heart, is healing for the individual and for all who are caring for someone.
We may or may not one day be able to more precisely show the energy entering the body of a person or the body of a group and chart its path. In the meantime, we know that love works no matter the container in which it is delivered or the exact path it follows when it enters the body.
Written April 28, 2016
Over the past several days, while spending time with my mother who was living out the last days of her life, many individuals had let my mother or family members know that they were praying for her and the family. Some, who were able to visit in person prayed for and with her. The palliative care doctor even asked to pray with her. My mother has always expressed some religious beliefs but has not, as far as I know, been active in a church or had daily religious practices. I do know that she has, at times, attended church. There are members of the family who are both very religious and some who are what I would call very spiritual. The family background is Christian and not Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or some other faith.
Many scientific studies have strongly indicated that prayer can be a very healing experience for the person who is ill, having a tough time emotionally, or experiencing grief or even worry.
The two questions which come up the most often relative to prayer is what is it and why or how does it work.
If one consults the Oxford dictionary one finds the brief definition of prayer to be:
· A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or another deity.
· A religious service, especially a regular one, at which people gather in order to pray.
·
The word prayer is derived from the Latin word precarious meaning ‘obtained by entreaty.’
I am not sure that just reading the definition is very helpful. I am confident that one of these days my six-year-old niece, Sam, and my twelve-year-old nephew, Paul, are going are going to challenge me to discuss prayer in a more scientific manner.
I will then suggest that we observe what happens when someone is praying. I will further suggest that we not use the example of the quickly uttered words we say as children or adults merely to satisfy an habit or obligation. Although some are quite amusing, they may or may not assist with digestion. On the other hand, a laugh can help relax the body and, thus, aid in digestion for the individual and the group eating together.
Sam and Paul are very good observers. I recall some of their observations when we went to eat with folks at Catholic Charities. I wrote them down. Here they are:
Sam: “I thought that he would never finish praying. I was hungry.”
Paul: “ Is everyone here a Christian Uncle Jim?
Did Jesus only love Christians?”
Sam: “I am glad that mom and dad does not give a long talk while the food is getting cold. Why don’t they pray after they eat Uncle Jim?”
Paul: “Why would non-Catholics come here to eat Uncle Jim?”
Sam: “Why do we pray? I thought God knew what we are thinking.”
Paul: “Does God care what religion we are Uncle Jim?”
Sam: “Why do we pray Uncle Jim?”
As usual, they were all good questions and we had a great discussion while making cookies to take back to Catholic Charities later in the day.
When the three of us observed prayer more carefully, we noticed that prayer is a time when we attempt to be intentionally present. It is also usually a time when we are either asking for forgiveness for something we have done, giving thanks, or asking for healing or another favor.
Paul also recalled from his science class that thoughts are energy. If the energy is positive it can have a calming and healing effect on the body. In fact, in some medical practices the healing team and perhaps the family stand around the bed of the sick person and think positive, healing thoughts. There are reports that during this process patients have been healed of very serious illnesses.
Paul asked if prayer was the same as meditation. I told him that it seems as if the effects are very similar. When the sick or upset person is shown love often they are able to relax which may calm the person, thus slowing down the heart rate.
Furthermore just thinking about something positive might help the body go into healing mode.
We also know that:
· The mood of a surgical teams affects the outcome of surgery even if it appears that the surgery and related procedures was exactly the same when the team was not intentional about being a nurturing team.
· Certain music seems to have a positive effect on the body.
· If the patient feels and/or thinks he or she is getting help their brain begins to send well messages to the rest of the body.
Paul also asked the following question:
“Uncle Jim, lots of good people die even with when many people are praying.”
I responded: “Paul and Sam, there is a difference between healing and curing or making sure a person lives. Healing, in my mind means a person is able to love themselves and others as well as accept the love of others. They are at peace. You might recall when we visited the hospice place where people were dying or that time Uncle Jim took you to a home where someone was dying. People were laughing or some just looked peaceful. You remarked that they seemed to feel really good even though they were going to die very soon. We talked about the fact that we are all going to die at some time. The goal is to feel good about how we love each other right now.”
So back to the Sam’s question. “Why do we pray if God already knows what we are thinking?”
Perhaps it does not matter whether we speak the language of a particular religion or any religion at all. Perhaps prayer is the power of love. Praying for emotional or spiritual cleansing, confession, sharing the 4th step in a 12-step program with one’s sponsor might all accomplish the same goal of making room for love. When we have resentments, when we feel that we are unlovable because of something we have done, when we feel we are undeserving for other reasons, we have barriers to love.
I suspect that we humans have a tendency to confuse the container or the framework with the content. Religion is a framework or a container. It is not the content.
Prayer, meditation, loving thoughts, music which is sung or played from the heart, is healing for the individual and for all who are caring for someone.
We may or may not one day be able to more precisely show the energy entering the body of a person or the body of a group and chart its path. In the meantime, we know that love works no matter the container in which it is delivered or the exact path it follows when it enters the body.
Written April 28, 2016
RSS Feed