The Centrality of Prayer within the Nazareth Community

1. Faithfulness

As when we love a person, so when we love God, love needs time, presence and perseverance. There are heady moments of infatuation, but there is also most importantly a constancy – a returning again and again to the beloved. That faithfulness will involve moments of beauty and transformation, but will also involve a faithfulness in the ordinary. And also in the struggles, mistakes and humiliations – those moments of our lives we would rather hide away. The more we pray, the easier it becomes. Prayer is as essential as breathing. Our prayer is not an optional extra. It is life itself.  

 

2. Time

Prayer needs a protected place and a space in our lives. We often think we have no time. When we are busy, contemplative prayer is often the first thing we sacrifice in a way we would not miss an arranged meeting or a planned event. The members of the Nazareth Community are called to make prayer a priority and to give it a place and space in their daily lives. The more time we give to prayer, the easier it becomes.  

 

3. Attentiveness

Our minds are like waterfalls of thoughts that never cease. Our practice recognises the weather within us, be it restless, uncertain, anxious or fearful. Whatever the weather, we try to hold our course – receptive to the light beyond those clouds. The way to the light is often through the cloud. It is a call to be awake to this present moment. It is a way of living intimately. When buffeted by those thoughts which overcome you, become like the tree which bends but does not blow over. Aim for a lightness of being. That sense you have put down the suitcases you have travelled with and now are simply open and receptive to live here. 

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4. Compassion 

As you pray more deeply, you will often feel the wounds and pain of the world more acutely. You are learning to live the Beatitudes. Our hearts are tenderised by prayer. The more we love, the more we feel the pain and humiliations of the beloved. We are not the solution to need. We are not the ones who can save single-handedly. But we are those who share the journey and help carry the load. Like Simon of Cyrene, we may carry the cross with no solutions to avert Calvary. Sometimes, the only thing we can do is just be there. When you recognise in your prayer that you are among the poor in heart, among the grieving, among the peacemakers, you are no longer the judge but one who is alongside and with. 

 

5. Space

Remember our prayer always reaches beyond what I want for myself. It leads into the mystery of difference and wonder. Prayer lets go of self to discover self. It lets go of certainty and self-interest to discover the beauty and uniqueness of the other. Prayer is a pilgrimage of the soul. It allows infinite space for growth and discovery. It opens itself to wonder, to trust and to the gift of love beyond us.

 

6. Patience

There are times in our prayer when we simply do not know the answers.  At such times our prayer is simply to keep the love of God alive in us. When God can’t help us, we need to help God. Our posture in prayer is one of readiness and openness to become God’s sanctuary. Bring all your moods to God – pray in all seasons. When our own prayer ends, it is then that the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf.

Romans 8, 26-27... "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the very Spirit intercedes with size too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for us, according to the will of God."

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7. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is at the very heart of our prayer. God’s forgiveness begins in the dust. It is from the dust that he breathes new life. In our prayer we recognise our deep need of redemption, and in our own woundedness the woundedness of the world. Sin is not a stain that needs to be scrubbed out – it is a wound that needs to be healed. The place of encounter with my God is the place of my wound and where I have wounded others. It is here in the love revealed on the cross that my resurrection begins.

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8. Praying at All Times

Remember always that prayer is not just the words you say – it is the prayer of your whole body. It is your seeing, your hearing, your touch, your taste, the fragrance of the world, your movement, your breathing out and your breathing in. It is your relationship to all that is around you and each person you will encounter. Each encounter is your prayer with God who is incarnate here and now. 

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9. Love

Take your prayer from the church into the street, the shop, the workplace, the underground, the email, the impossible meeting, the problem that has no resolution. Find God not just in the sunset, but on the battlefield, among the dying and at the hospital bedside. Live your prayer. Let your prayer not just be reserved for the sacred place, but be at the very moment when you feel that even God has abandoned you. And let your prayer be for all, not just the like-minded and those who are easy to love, but for all those who need God’s healing and peace.

 

10. The Power of Prayer

Believe in the power of prayer. Remember that nothing is so strong as true gentleness and constancy. Prayer centres you in God. The more you are centred in that Love of God, the more you will be empowered by it and need fear no evil, for God is with you – your strength, your comfort. Prayer is not something you do, it is something you are. Remember you are not alone – you are part of the company of those who pray and intercede with you. You are joined by members of the community and companions –you are joined by other Christians and all those who long for God’s peace, both in this world and in heaven.