![]() John of the Cross’ prayer “O Living Flame of Love,” St. Hildegard of Bingen’s prayer to the Holy Spirit, St. Patrick’s prayer within a prayer, “Christ Before Me,” St. ![]() Augustine’s prayer that begins, “Too late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, O Beauty so new,” St. The “Magnificat,” Mary of Nazareth’s hymn of praise, St. ![]() ![]() It is hard to improve on “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” It is telling that for hundreds of years people have been praying St. It is no accident that for thousands of years people have been praying Psalm 23. There are some written prayers that are so universally appealing, so beautiful, so evocative, so full of pathos, or so indigenous to the human heart that they are second only to silence as a way of connecting with the Divine or breaking open our hearts or both. ![]() “ Saying prayers” has gotten a lot of bad press over the last five decades - “prayer isn’t just saying prayers” the pretentious say, obviously forgetting it is if they are said prayerfully. Simone Weil, the twentieth-century French intellectual, mystic, and social activist used to try to pray the Lord’s Prayer in Greek all the way through wholeheartedly, attentively, without being once distracted or losing focus. ![]()
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