Religious Life Prayer

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Prayer in Religious Life: It is often said “a prayer-less person is a powerless person”. In fact throughout the history of saintly persons and religious men and women prayer has played a very important role and it can be said without doubt that prayer was the force behind their success and source of strength and inspiration. In religious life prayer plays a very important role. Prayer is a link between human being and the Divine. It is a sign of submission to God and an intrinsic awareness of one’s dependence on Him. However, prayer is not a monologue but it is a dialogue. It consists of talking and listening. Prayer is a relationship the bond of which is strengthened by regular interaction. It is the source of communion and sharing. And the Eucharist is that sign of unity and the foremost gathering for prayer. Apart from this the liturgy of the hours and other community prayers are also a way of strengthening the bond of unity in a religious life. However, prayer is not that all. It is an inside job which manifests itself in one’s life and relationships. For this reason a prayerful religious would be the one who radiates that love and joy of Christ. And if a religious meditates constantly on God a complete revolution takes place in his/her behavior. An important aspect of prayer in religious life is meditation. In meditation the ear of the soul is more important than the tongue. What matters in prayer, as Joe Mannath says, is whether we learn to listen to God like Our Lady, trust him and then rush to help our neighbors in need . This listening, indeed, paves the way to enter into the mystery of God thereby strengthening the bond with God who “first loved” us. And this listening also facilitates growth, transformation and conversion for it opens the heart. This openness leads to awareness of one’s liability and short-comings and thereby allows a person to mend
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