I'm interested in hearing how you not taking that plane affected you. Two experiences I had. On September 25th 1978, my father was rushing to make PSA Flight 182 for a business meeting in San Diego. My father was never late. I was raised by him to uphold punctuality - and I always have. I think it's one of the most inconsiderate things you can do, to be late. But that day my father was stuck in traffic and by the time he got to the gate, it was too late. PSA flight 182 collided with a private jet and crashed into North Park near San Diego. It was the deadliest air crash in this country up to that point. My father completely changed. He had always been driven and he'd succeeded in becoming a top lawyer in this country and the head of what was becoming one of the most powerful law firms in the world, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. But now he wanted to celebrate life. And that lasted for about six months. But it was the best six months of my relationship with him.
As for prayers. I've written about this a lot in SB Current's comments section, but I very nearly died in January of this year. Had my husband not taken me to the ER, had I not had an outstanding surgeon, Dr. Christopher Quijano, operating on me, I would surely have died from Septic Shock. My husband held my hand when I was in a coma, and told me I would make it, even as the doctors were telling him my chances were at best 50/50.
Afterwards, I learned that a number of my friends and family had prayed for me. Did this save me? Or was it the excellent hospital I was in, Cottage? I will say that my mother, who passed away in 2021, visited me. She stood by me in that room. And when I came out of the coma, a beautiful young RN came in my room. i recognized her. She'd been a caregiver to my mom in her last year. She wasn't a nurse, just a companion I hired because I wasn't allowed to be with my mom during the lockdown. They became great friends with a 70 year age difference. And now she said that my mom had sat her down obe day and told her she needed to make something of herself, that she could do something good with her life and needed to instead of frittering it away. And she carried my mom's photo with her through nursing school. Now she is so happy and so fulfilled and she owes it to my mom.
Prayers are important. And so is reaching out to others with words and gestures that help them. Not just flattery but truth. I'm told this woman is a phenomenal nurse in the ICU. In her last days on Earth, my mother reached out to this woman. And who knows how many lives she will have saved. There are many ways to honor God. Prayer is just one of them.
Great personal experience of divine interventions. If someone stops, quiets the world and reflects on their lives I’m sure everyone has had an experience. But most chalk it up to luck.
I have had several experiences, numerous of you actually think about who you are and your normal routine and realize every so often you don’t follow your routine. We are creatures of habit and routine.
Several things I know. If everyone followed Jesus teachings this world would be a better place. The world, humans, animals are way too complex to be a random clashing of two ricks that came from nothing to create something. And all life did not originate from single cell organisms that arrived, again out of no where.
I also found that when you dive into the Bible and realize there is a common theme with repeated stories all progressing along the same agenda Stren out over thousands of years. There are messages hidden in plain sight and timelines that have been fulfilled to the year. Hind sight helps to see world events that fit the Bible.
And of course the theme that our forefathers knew when they created this country, man is corruptible; power, greed, ego throughout history has created wars and oppression of the people. We saw it in Roman times, we see it in the Papal church, in other churches and we most definitely see it in our government leaders today.
It is why the Bible states the remnant, few, will live in the kingdom of god.
Here another thought. If there is no heaven, why be a good person? You can see the government leaders who do not believe, despite claiming to be a Catholic or Christian, in the way they hold their office. Self serving. We see this locally.
Such as when the SBUSD school board chose to ignore the FDA disclosure stating children suffered the highest risk of myocarditis and a zero percent risk from Covid. I delivered the official documents directly to each of the, but there were millions of dollars on the line if they complied with Sacramento and Washington. So they ignored the safety data and put kids lives at risk.
Greed, power, ego. Not qualities we want in a public servant.
First, all prayers are heard and answered. It's just that some times that answer is "no."
Second, too many times we use prayer as if we were a child writing Santa at Christmas - please do this for me, please give me this - and many times we even forget to add the "please." We should try using prayer more for being thankful - even if its for the littlest things, like making all the green lights when we're in a hurry.
Finally, maybe we should try asking God how His day is going for a change and what we could do to make things a little easier on Him.
I believe you are kept safe by Gods grace…not due to you praying or not praying…He has a plan for your life and waits for you to see it, if you have “eyes to see”…
Henry, I understand your uncertainty about the power of prayer—I’ve felt it too. But what’s interesting is that you and I seem to have discovered something more profound about who God truly is.
Like you, I have wrestled with how prayer works and whether it makes a difference. But over time, I discovered something far more important: the nature of God Himself. After years of searching, I realized I wasn’t finding Him because He was never lost—He was always there, patiently waiting for me.
God isn’t a cosmic Santa Claus, stepping in to grant wishes or fix problems on demand. He is much more personal than that. He’s a faithful Friend, someone who deeply cares, and like a wise and loving Father, He gently offers to guide our lives—if we let Him.
My journey with Him began in August 1997, during a moment of total frustration. I looked up at the sky, shook my fist, and demanded He reveal Himself—or I was done trying. That confrontation led me to start reading the Book of John, every day, with an open heart. Four months later, I had no doubt: God loved me. Personally. Unconditionally.
What did we both come to learn? That finding God isn’t about striving, hoping harder, or reasoning our way to Him. It’s about laying down pride, opening our hearts, and sincerely inviting Him in. That’s when we discover who He is—a Father who loves His children deeply. And from that, a quiet peace enters—a peace beyond words, something you don’t explain, but live.
Today, we don’t just believe in God—we know Him. Not because we figured Him out, but because He came to us. We’re friends because He found us.
I like you have faith that God is always here patiently waiting for us and I also absolutely agree it is pride that allows us to fail to notice and let Him guide us. There is so much I could say about pride and how it works in our personal lives, our communities, our culture our politics. But here is one angle that some may not have considered. There are certain kinds of pride we all recognize and work to avoid. There are subtler forms even springing from virtuous sources like a sense of duty and responsibility. While it comes from a good place and we might work very hard to take on what needs to be done, it is beyond what we were designed to carry on our own. With humility to our limits, to the fact that even while we are sacred we are also imperfect, we can find that if we let God in and let Him rule our life, we are then fit for purpose. It is a tremendous relief.
Love you guys and thanks for the replies. Most of the responses tie it all to a "God" and I guess there has to be someplace prayers are directed to you. But then prayers can just be something that comes from our personal hearts for all our own personal reasons. It didn't hit me until yesterday when I sat with Fr. Peter, of whom I was referring to in my column, who also shared he's had his doubts over the years. My conclusion is that prayer doesn't necessarily go out to help someone with something but rather is helps the person saying it. When people pray it consoles them. Makes them feel like they're doing something when nothing else can be done. It's medicine for the prayer giver and a message to the person or family that there are people who care about them. Does that make sense?
This does make sense. At the very least, when we pray, we make ourselves more centered on God and less on the temptations of the world or fears or wants or insecurities. When we pray before acting, we are less likely to act in anger or negative emotion. We are more likely to be calm and centered and grateful. We are more likely to remember to lead with love.
Here is my very rough, non-expert summary of my understanding so far on Catholic theology on suffering (in part thanks to the help of my priest, but all errors are mine and by no means his!) We believe we are sacred, but fallen. We live in a fallen world with evil carried out by sinful people and harm from natural disasters and afflictions and accidents because we were cast out of the garden. So the problem of suffering exists. We were created by God, creator of all things, with free will. We could have been created to love God, but then we would be robots, our love would have no meaning. There cannot be compulsion in love. We all know that from personal experience. So in order for us to be able to choose to love, we have to have the option to choose to not love, to sin, to harm. But God so loved the world, He sent His Son to suffer and die for our sins. Miraculously, Christ rose up after death. He defeated death. The greatest good, the opportunity for each of us to have salvation, was created out of the greatest evil, deicide. Christ on the cross gives meaning to suffering. We can't eliminate suffering, but we can center our lives on Christ and work to make good out of evil in our own small way throughout the day, every day. And if enough of us do that, imagine all of the good we can do.
Again, I am by no means an expert and I only mean to offer leads. Why even comment if I am not an expert? Because these conversations are so important and are desperately needed. We all need to bring these discussions back into the public square so we can hold our ideas up to the light and get to better understand the assumptions we and others hold in regards to morality since morality since our morality shapes our political and economic positions. So thanks for speaking about this important topic, Henry, and thanks to the Santa Barbara Current for being probably the only local publication that would allow it, let alone encourage it! God Bless!
Good article. I 'pray' all the time...rather I have a constant conversation with God. As a Taoist, I believe in supreme consciousness — the Big 'C'. We, each of us humans, are a part of that consciousness (Small 'C') — for this life, in this body.
I've mentioned it here before...that Jesus saved my life as a 20 year-old serving in the US military. So I love Jesus. However, my belief system does not comport with those taught in traditional Christian churches.
I believe that the power of Jesus comes from the collective consciousness, from billions and billions of people pouring their hopes, dreams, and love into the Jesus/God entity in order to realize positive outcomes in their lives (for more than 2,000 years!) It's the togetherness of each and everyone directing their consciousness in the same direction. So there is great power in that deep well of consciousness to be tap for goodness. Likewise, there is great power to be tap via the other religions (Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion followers, Islam around 1.8 billion followers, Hinduism 1.2 billion followers, Buddhism about 500 million followers…).
So, we are all part of God, in the sense that God is supreme consciousness…
"Universe provides and guides, my eyes to see, my voice to say, how wonderous is each day.”
PS…Pray for Team Trump & Our US Military…saviors of mankind
We who follow Christ's teaching are called to love our enemies, not pray for their death! Is anyone actually doing that out loud in Mass? Or is that a slightly creative paraphrasing on your part?
While we can say that a sin cries to heaven for vengeance, we understand that we are not trustworthy for the task of meting it out. Only God can be trusted with that responsibility. We can pray for those we perceive to be our enemies to change their hearts, to turn to Christ, to repent and change course.
For many, the idea of loving our enemies seems foolish and naive, but you are not called to trust the people you love and you are not asked to relinquish the right to self defense or the duty to protect the vulnerable from enemies. You are simply called to know that we are all sinners and we are all unconditionally loved by God, so who are we to not love another human being, even if they hate us or are involved in grave sin at the moment?
When you love and pray for your enemies, you are bringing God into the situation. You are seeking a solution that does not twist your heart and soul towards dark thoughts and means. I am not sure we lay people could or even should demonstrate the forbearance and love that Christian martyr Franciscan Father Luis Jayme showed when he was faced with an angry mob, but that example can be an important reminder to us to have more forbearance and love for those around us who are not nearly so angry and menacing.
Even if you don't believe Christ was God, He is the most influential person to ever live and His teachings created the moral foundation for Western Civilization. It is wise to examine His counsel.
Since you asked, pray or not. I've seen more signs from GOD than the Pope in a manner of speaking. I've seen things happen I didn't expect and could list 1,000 including crying 300 times feeling loved like a 4 yo child ( a friend cried for three days) and things not happening as I expected, so I still do not know exactly what gets GOD to respond.
Some hear GOD more than others, GOD told Dr. Clarice Fluitt, a former Catholic, to raise the pastor who died on the pulpit and take his place. Her book is Ridiculous Miracles.
*Richard met GOD (YouTube) and cried talking about GOD'S unconditional love. Happened at Cottage years ago.
*Ken Johnson (YouTube) heard GOD say I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW.
We see evil and wonder about GOD and overlook 2 Cor. 4:4 Satan is the god of this world..Anger opens the door to the devil and it doesn't take much.
I also married my highschool sweetheart ( she beat the top three handball players in Iowa at racquetball ). I blamed GOD when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 52 because Christians say GOD controls everything. Common sense should tell anyone GOD does not cause accidents, murder, disease, Parkinson's, etc. things happen in life.
GOD doesn't believe all the Bible HE said their worship is a farce, they teach man made ideas as commands from GOD Mark 7:7. GOD said their fear of ME is a command of men Isa. 29:13.
I prayed every night for 10 years until I fell asleep for GOD to heal my wife (before I believed). HE didn't but HE gave me a few dreams EITHER ONE THE OTHER and a dream of intertwined spirits in heaven. I woke my wife from a nap and she said Jesus told her GOD would always be with her. I never read the Bible until my wife died and found 1 Peter 3:1 and the verse we are spirits James 2:26..
So the point and there are Bible verses about this. Luke 17:21 NIV the KOG is in our midst. HE that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you Rom 8:11. At the end of our life HE will be there and loves us more than we know. That doesn't mean everyone goes to heaven but it does mean there is only ONE judge and it isn't the pastor or priest who told three people a loved one may go to hell.
My wife died in 2011. In 2012 two people I had never seen before told me your wife and parents are here. Another told me your wife is concerned about the problem in your neck. It was a lump and I was sure I might have a brain aneurysm playing handball. In 2016 Hollister Rand said in two minutes do you know Barb, she is with your wife. That is her mother who died three weeks earlier.
In 2018 Hollister said there is a very beautiful woman with you filled with love, joy and peace and she is connected to GOD, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. I've left out details I was told.
There are a lot of stories about GOD, Jesus and The Holy Spirit from ordinary people.
* Beyond Mile Marker 80 is a true story. A man in the hospital sees his wife who just died in the car wreck with Jesus.The nurse and doctor see the same thing and travel talking about this miracle to doctors.
*Howard Storm (YouTube), a former atheist cries talking about Jesus saving him from hell. He said GOD created other dimensions and you can explore heaven for eternity.
Do you not realize Christ Jesus is in you 2 Cor. 13:5.
* Lety, who helped my wife, does not go to church but believes, was healed the night before a major operation and said Jesus did it.
I had a dream one time of being handed beautiful flowers. I found the exact picture months later and it is the cover for a book. I'm not promoting the book but who would even think to take that picture and GOD knew about it. Seek Me and you will find ME: I did and I DID: Ziegler, Ron: 9798640058413: Amazon.com: Books
GOD tells us that His ways are not our ways. As a father, you enjoy it when your kids approach you...to talk, to ask for advice, to ask for something. You just enjoy hearing them. Our Heavenly Father enjoys it when we reach out to Him as well. So rather than try and figure out how prayer works (or doesn't work), just bask in the joy that you have a Father Above that loves you, and invites you to reach out to Him. Personally, I absolutely KNOW prayer works. My life and death experience is my testimony and the rock for my faith. Like the men in the boat that witnessed Jesus calming the sea, sometimes the answer of prayer is immediate and certain. Don't give up on prayer Henry, you may not get the answers right away, but you'll get the answers. Blessings
Very thoughtful musings. As I see it, prayer is really an attitude toward the world. Three steps from the mundane to the divine: First, two verses from my book The Garden Path, which describes the path in life from sleep to wakefulness. The first verse from Chapter 1, the second from Chapter 8.
God breath’s life into our clay,
Sees the meanings when we pray.
Believing we’ve reached Him
We’ve only impeached Him,
Preaching our dreams as His Way.
As I wander on my way
Be good, they say, there’s Hell to pay.
But outshining this
Are wonder and bliss.
True wonder is the way to pray.
Next, a poem by a woman named Loretta Carmickle that was published in the Tucson Weekly in 2010:
The young ones gathered at the feet of the old woman.
"Tell us, Mother, what is the chief end in life -
The summum bonum?"
Her mind rolls back through eighty-some years -
A life filled with
Sorrows and joys
Drudgeries and exhilarations
Tragedies and triumphs.
The young ones wait patiently for here answer.
Its simplicity when it comes, astonishes them.
No admonition to do or be good
No admonition to love God and keep his commandments.
No admonition to "know thyself."
No admonition to seek truth and grow in wisdom.
She answered simply:
"The chief end in life is gratitude,
And the only prayer you need ever utter is 'thank you.'"
Finally, the Theophany of Perfection, written by Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, the greatest Islamic mystic philosopher about 800 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U8qT24fpqw
Prayer can be the start a needed dialogue with, and within oneself.
This is why I like Unitarians.
I'm interested in hearing how you not taking that plane affected you. Two experiences I had. On September 25th 1978, my father was rushing to make PSA Flight 182 for a business meeting in San Diego. My father was never late. I was raised by him to uphold punctuality - and I always have. I think it's one of the most inconsiderate things you can do, to be late. But that day my father was stuck in traffic and by the time he got to the gate, it was too late. PSA flight 182 collided with a private jet and crashed into North Park near San Diego. It was the deadliest air crash in this country up to that point. My father completely changed. He had always been driven and he'd succeeded in becoming a top lawyer in this country and the head of what was becoming one of the most powerful law firms in the world, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. But now he wanted to celebrate life. And that lasted for about six months. But it was the best six months of my relationship with him.
As for prayers. I've written about this a lot in SB Current's comments section, but I very nearly died in January of this year. Had my husband not taken me to the ER, had I not had an outstanding surgeon, Dr. Christopher Quijano, operating on me, I would surely have died from Septic Shock. My husband held my hand when I was in a coma, and told me I would make it, even as the doctors were telling him my chances were at best 50/50.
Afterwards, I learned that a number of my friends and family had prayed for me. Did this save me? Or was it the excellent hospital I was in, Cottage? I will say that my mother, who passed away in 2021, visited me. She stood by me in that room. And when I came out of the coma, a beautiful young RN came in my room. i recognized her. She'd been a caregiver to my mom in her last year. She wasn't a nurse, just a companion I hired because I wasn't allowed to be with my mom during the lockdown. They became great friends with a 70 year age difference. And now she said that my mom had sat her down obe day and told her she needed to make something of herself, that she could do something good with her life and needed to instead of frittering it away. And she carried my mom's photo with her through nursing school. Now she is so happy and so fulfilled and she owes it to my mom.
Prayers are important. And so is reaching out to others with words and gestures that help them. Not just flattery but truth. I'm told this woman is a phenomenal nurse in the ICU. In her last days on Earth, my mother reached out to this woman. And who knows how many lives she will have saved. There are many ways to honor God. Prayer is just one of them.
Lovely, Polly.
Beautifully said Polly.
Great personal experience of divine interventions. If someone stops, quiets the world and reflects on their lives I’m sure everyone has had an experience. But most chalk it up to luck.
I have had several experiences, numerous of you actually think about who you are and your normal routine and realize every so often you don’t follow your routine. We are creatures of habit and routine.
Several things I know. If everyone followed Jesus teachings this world would be a better place. The world, humans, animals are way too complex to be a random clashing of two ricks that came from nothing to create something. And all life did not originate from single cell organisms that arrived, again out of no where.
I also found that when you dive into the Bible and realize there is a common theme with repeated stories all progressing along the same agenda Stren out over thousands of years. There are messages hidden in plain sight and timelines that have been fulfilled to the year. Hind sight helps to see world events that fit the Bible.
And of course the theme that our forefathers knew when they created this country, man is corruptible; power, greed, ego throughout history has created wars and oppression of the people. We saw it in Roman times, we see it in the Papal church, in other churches and we most definitely see it in our government leaders today.
It is why the Bible states the remnant, few, will live in the kingdom of god.
Here another thought. If there is no heaven, why be a good person? You can see the government leaders who do not believe, despite claiming to be a Catholic or Christian, in the way they hold their office. Self serving. We see this locally.
Such as when the SBUSD school board chose to ignore the FDA disclosure stating children suffered the highest risk of myocarditis and a zero percent risk from Covid. I delivered the official documents directly to each of the, but there were millions of dollars on the line if they complied with Sacramento and Washington. So they ignored the safety data and put kids lives at risk.
Greed, power, ego. Not qualities we want in a public servant.
Just a few things.
First, all prayers are heard and answered. It's just that some times that answer is "no."
Second, too many times we use prayer as if we were a child writing Santa at Christmas - please do this for me, please give me this - and many times we even forget to add the "please." We should try using prayer more for being thankful - even if its for the littlest things, like making all the green lights when we're in a hurry.
Finally, maybe we should try asking God how His day is going for a change and what we could do to make things a little easier on Him.
Amen
I believe you are kept safe by Gods grace…not due to you praying or not praying…He has a plan for your life and waits for you to see it, if you have “eyes to see”…
Henry, I understand your uncertainty about the power of prayer—I’ve felt it too. But what’s interesting is that you and I seem to have discovered something more profound about who God truly is.
Like you, I have wrestled with how prayer works and whether it makes a difference. But over time, I discovered something far more important: the nature of God Himself. After years of searching, I realized I wasn’t finding Him because He was never lost—He was always there, patiently waiting for me.
God isn’t a cosmic Santa Claus, stepping in to grant wishes or fix problems on demand. He is much more personal than that. He’s a faithful Friend, someone who deeply cares, and like a wise and loving Father, He gently offers to guide our lives—if we let Him.
My journey with Him began in August 1997, during a moment of total frustration. I looked up at the sky, shook my fist, and demanded He reveal Himself—or I was done trying. That confrontation led me to start reading the Book of John, every day, with an open heart. Four months later, I had no doubt: God loved me. Personally. Unconditionally.
What did we both come to learn? That finding God isn’t about striving, hoping harder, or reasoning our way to Him. It’s about laying down pride, opening our hearts, and sincerely inviting Him in. That’s when we discover who He is—a Father who loves His children deeply. And from that, a quiet peace enters—a peace beyond words, something you don’t explain, but live.
Today, we don’t just believe in God—we know Him. Not because we figured Him out, but because He came to us. We’re friends because He found us.
I like you have faith that God is always here patiently waiting for us and I also absolutely agree it is pride that allows us to fail to notice and let Him guide us. There is so much I could say about pride and how it works in our personal lives, our communities, our culture our politics. But here is one angle that some may not have considered. There are certain kinds of pride we all recognize and work to avoid. There are subtler forms even springing from virtuous sources like a sense of duty and responsibility. While it comes from a good place and we might work very hard to take on what needs to be done, it is beyond what we were designed to carry on our own. With humility to our limits, to the fact that even while we are sacred we are also imperfect, we can find that if we let God in and let Him rule our life, we are then fit for purpose. It is a tremendous relief.
Love you guys and thanks for the replies. Most of the responses tie it all to a "God" and I guess there has to be someplace prayers are directed to you. But then prayers can just be something that comes from our personal hearts for all our own personal reasons. It didn't hit me until yesterday when I sat with Fr. Peter, of whom I was referring to in my column, who also shared he's had his doubts over the years. My conclusion is that prayer doesn't necessarily go out to help someone with something but rather is helps the person saying it. When people pray it consoles them. Makes them feel like they're doing something when nothing else can be done. It's medicine for the prayer giver and a message to the person or family that there are people who care about them. Does that make sense?
This does make sense. At the very least, when we pray, we make ourselves more centered on God and less on the temptations of the world or fears or wants or insecurities. When we pray before acting, we are less likely to act in anger or negative emotion. We are more likely to be calm and centered and grateful. We are more likely to remember to lead with love.
Here is my very rough, non-expert summary of my understanding so far on Catholic theology on suffering (in part thanks to the help of my priest, but all errors are mine and by no means his!) We believe we are sacred, but fallen. We live in a fallen world with evil carried out by sinful people and harm from natural disasters and afflictions and accidents because we were cast out of the garden. So the problem of suffering exists. We were created by God, creator of all things, with free will. We could have been created to love God, but then we would be robots, our love would have no meaning. There cannot be compulsion in love. We all know that from personal experience. So in order for us to be able to choose to love, we have to have the option to choose to not love, to sin, to harm. But God so loved the world, He sent His Son to suffer and die for our sins. Miraculously, Christ rose up after death. He defeated death. The greatest good, the opportunity for each of us to have salvation, was created out of the greatest evil, deicide. Christ on the cross gives meaning to suffering. We can't eliminate suffering, but we can center our lives on Christ and work to make good out of evil in our own small way throughout the day, every day. And if enough of us do that, imagine all of the good we can do.
Again, I am by no means an expert and I only mean to offer leads. Why even comment if I am not an expert? Because these conversations are so important and are desperately needed. We all need to bring these discussions back into the public square so we can hold our ideas up to the light and get to better understand the assumptions we and others hold in regards to morality since morality since our morality shapes our political and economic positions. So thanks for speaking about this important topic, Henry, and thanks to the Santa Barbara Current for being probably the only local publication that would allow it, let alone encourage it! God Bless!
Good article. I 'pray' all the time...rather I have a constant conversation with God. As a Taoist, I believe in supreme consciousness — the Big 'C'. We, each of us humans, are a part of that consciousness (Small 'C') — for this life, in this body.
I've mentioned it here before...that Jesus saved my life as a 20 year-old serving in the US military. So I love Jesus. However, my belief system does not comport with those taught in traditional Christian churches.
I believe that the power of Jesus comes from the collective consciousness, from billions and billions of people pouring their hopes, dreams, and love into the Jesus/God entity in order to realize positive outcomes in their lives (for more than 2,000 years!) It's the togetherness of each and everyone directing their consciousness in the same direction. So there is great power in that deep well of consciousness to be tap for goodness. Likewise, there is great power to be tap via the other religions (Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion followers, Islam around 1.8 billion followers, Hinduism 1.2 billion followers, Buddhism about 500 million followers…).
So, we are all part of God, in the sense that God is supreme consciousness…
"Universe provides and guides, my eyes to see, my voice to say, how wonderous is each day.”
PS…Pray for Team Trump & Our US Military…saviors of mankind
We who follow Christ's teaching are called to love our enemies, not pray for their death! Is anyone actually doing that out loud in Mass? Or is that a slightly creative paraphrasing on your part?
While we can say that a sin cries to heaven for vengeance, we understand that we are not trustworthy for the task of meting it out. Only God can be trusted with that responsibility. We can pray for those we perceive to be our enemies to change their hearts, to turn to Christ, to repent and change course.
For many, the idea of loving our enemies seems foolish and naive, but you are not called to trust the people you love and you are not asked to relinquish the right to self defense or the duty to protect the vulnerable from enemies. You are simply called to know that we are all sinners and we are all unconditionally loved by God, so who are we to not love another human being, even if they hate us or are involved in grave sin at the moment?
When you love and pray for your enemies, you are bringing God into the situation. You are seeking a solution that does not twist your heart and soul towards dark thoughts and means. I am not sure we lay people could or even should demonstrate the forbearance and love that Christian martyr Franciscan Father Luis Jayme showed when he was faced with an angry mob, but that example can be an important reminder to us to have more forbearance and love for those around us who are not nearly so angry and menacing.
Even if you don't believe Christ was God, He is the most influential person to ever live and His teachings created the moral foundation for Western Civilization. It is wise to examine His counsel.
Hello Henry,
Since you asked, pray or not. I've seen more signs from GOD than the Pope in a manner of speaking. I've seen things happen I didn't expect and could list 1,000 including crying 300 times feeling loved like a 4 yo child ( a friend cried for three days) and things not happening as I expected, so I still do not know exactly what gets GOD to respond.
Some hear GOD more than others, GOD told Dr. Clarice Fluitt, a former Catholic, to raise the pastor who died on the pulpit and take his place. Her book is Ridiculous Miracles.
*Richard met GOD (YouTube) and cried talking about GOD'S unconditional love. Happened at Cottage years ago.
*Ken Johnson (YouTube) heard GOD say I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW.
We see evil and wonder about GOD and overlook 2 Cor. 4:4 Satan is the god of this world..Anger opens the door to the devil and it doesn't take much.
I also married my highschool sweetheart ( she beat the top three handball players in Iowa at racquetball ). I blamed GOD when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 52 because Christians say GOD controls everything. Common sense should tell anyone GOD does not cause accidents, murder, disease, Parkinson's, etc. things happen in life.
GOD doesn't believe all the Bible HE said their worship is a farce, they teach man made ideas as commands from GOD Mark 7:7. GOD said their fear of ME is a command of men Isa. 29:13.
I prayed every night for 10 years until I fell asleep for GOD to heal my wife (before I believed). HE didn't but HE gave me a few dreams EITHER ONE THE OTHER and a dream of intertwined spirits in heaven. I woke my wife from a nap and she said Jesus told her GOD would always be with her. I never read the Bible until my wife died and found 1 Peter 3:1 and the verse we are spirits James 2:26..
So the point and there are Bible verses about this. Luke 17:21 NIV the KOG is in our midst. HE that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you Rom 8:11. At the end of our life HE will be there and loves us more than we know. That doesn't mean everyone goes to heaven but it does mean there is only ONE judge and it isn't the pastor or priest who told three people a loved one may go to hell.
My wife died in 2011. In 2012 two people I had never seen before told me your wife and parents are here. Another told me your wife is concerned about the problem in your neck. It was a lump and I was sure I might have a brain aneurysm playing handball. In 2016 Hollister Rand said in two minutes do you know Barb, she is with your wife. That is her mother who died three weeks earlier.
In 2018 Hollister said there is a very beautiful woman with you filled with love, joy and peace and she is connected to GOD, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. I've left out details I was told.
There are a lot of stories about GOD, Jesus and The Holy Spirit from ordinary people.
* Beyond Mile Marker 80 is a true story. A man in the hospital sees his wife who just died in the car wreck with Jesus.The nurse and doctor see the same thing and travel talking about this miracle to doctors.
*Howard Storm (YouTube), a former atheist cries talking about Jesus saving him from hell. He said GOD created other dimensions and you can explore heaven for eternity.
Do you not realize Christ Jesus is in you 2 Cor. 13:5.
* All veterans with PTSD see Jesus at operationrestoredwarrior.org.
* Lety, who helped my wife, does not go to church but believes, was healed the night before a major operation and said Jesus did it.
I had a dream one time of being handed beautiful flowers. I found the exact picture months later and it is the cover for a book. I'm not promoting the book but who would even think to take that picture and GOD knew about it. Seek Me and you will find ME: I did and I DID: Ziegler, Ron: 9798640058413: Amazon.com: Books
Jesus gave us clear directions regarding prayer.
His words are documented in Matthew Chapter 6
It is commonly referred to as The Lords Prayer.
Many have heard it and Christians have it etched in our minds.
I suggest all reading this flip open a Bible and read what God said about how to pray
GOD tells us that His ways are not our ways. As a father, you enjoy it when your kids approach you...to talk, to ask for advice, to ask for something. You just enjoy hearing them. Our Heavenly Father enjoys it when we reach out to Him as well. So rather than try and figure out how prayer works (or doesn't work), just bask in the joy that you have a Father Above that loves you, and invites you to reach out to Him. Personally, I absolutely KNOW prayer works. My life and death experience is my testimony and the rock for my faith. Like the men in the boat that witnessed Jesus calming the sea, sometimes the answer of prayer is immediate and certain. Don't give up on prayer Henry, you may not get the answers right away, but you'll get the answers. Blessings
Very thoughtful musings. As I see it, prayer is really an attitude toward the world. Three steps from the mundane to the divine: First, two verses from my book The Garden Path, which describes the path in life from sleep to wakefulness. The first verse from Chapter 1, the second from Chapter 8.
God breath’s life into our clay,
Sees the meanings when we pray.
Believing we’ve reached Him
We’ve only impeached Him,
Preaching our dreams as His Way.
As I wander on my way
Be good, they say, there’s Hell to pay.
But outshining this
Are wonder and bliss.
True wonder is the way to pray.
Next, a poem by a woman named Loretta Carmickle that was published in the Tucson Weekly in 2010:
The young ones gathered at the feet of the old woman.
"Tell us, Mother, what is the chief end in life -
The summum bonum?"
Her mind rolls back through eighty-some years -
A life filled with
Sorrows and joys
Drudgeries and exhilarations
Tragedies and triumphs.
The young ones wait patiently for here answer.
Its simplicity when it comes, astonishes them.
No admonition to do or be good
No admonition to love God and keep his commandments.
No admonition to "know thyself."
No admonition to seek truth and grow in wisdom.
She answered simply:
"The chief end in life is gratitude,
And the only prayer you need ever utter is 'thank you.'"
Finally, the Theophany of Perfection, written by Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, the greatest Islamic mystic philosopher about 800 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U8qT24fpqw
If you are not born again God does not hear your prayers.