Prayer is largely just being silent: holding the tension instead of even talking it through, offering the moment instead of fixing it by words and ideas, loving reality as it is instead of understanding it fully.
Prayer is commonly a willingness to say “I don’t know.” We must not push the river, we must just trust that we are already in the river, and God is the certain flow and current. That may be impractical, but the way of faith is not the way of efficiency.
So much of life is just a matter of listening and waiting, and enjoying the expansiveness that comes from such willingness to hold. It is like carrying and growing a baby: women wait and trust and hopefully eat good food, and the baby is born.
~ Richard Rohr The Freedom of Not Knowing (Meditation 32 of 52) Adapted from unpublished recording
Photographs and Memories 
Read it prayerfully and felt so peaceful – just to open my palms upwards towards the vast expanse of the sky and let go.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this wisdom about prayer and presence.
You are welcome, mk.
I had not heard of Rohr, but I might just look him up, as I really like the quote – hence, I think I would really like to read his works. Thank you, P! 🙂
He’s good. I subscribe to his daily e-mail meditation. Do you want the link?
There is an art in being silent and in choosing when to do so 🙂
And you are quite lately. When will resume posting?
Perpetua, ahhh — this is good and speaks to me. I had not previously heard of Rohr and your post of this excerpt prompted me to read a few reviews of some of his works. The above reads more like an “Eastern” view than what one would expect from a Franciscan perspective and now I see why. Wonderful!
Hi Brett: Sorry for the delay. I like his work because of the combination of two worlds. I receive his daily meditation which is really good, Try subscribing to it. Perpetua