La oración es una fuerza en nuestra vida

The prayer is a force in our life

silhouette-of-christian-praying-hands-spiritual-and-religious-people-praying-to-god-christianity-concepts-photo

The main work of spiritist doctrine – The Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec – devotes an entire chapter to prayer, defining it as a legitimate act of adoration of the Creator of life, whose importance to us is very great and far greater than we generally imagine.

"To pray to God"’ teaches Spiritism, "is to think of Him; it is to draw near to Him; it is to put oneself in communication with Him". (The Spirits' Book, item 659.)

Taught by the Christ and by His spiritual teachers, prayer is, in truth, a manifestation of the soul in search of the Divine Presence, a kind of talk with the Creator or with His representatives, and must therefore be stripped of all and any formalism.

Prayer should be the first act in our return to our daily activities and, accordingly, cultivated daily. The Spirit of Monod recommends it in a constant message in chapter 27, item 22, of The Gospel according to Spiritism.

Let us recall here some recommendations on prayer found in the spiritism doctrine:

• The Prayer, when done from the heart, is always pleasing to God.

• The prayer should be secret, need not be long and should be preceded by the act of forgiveness.

• The Prayer cannot be paid for, because "it is an act of charity, an act of the heart".

• The essential is not to pray a lot, but to pray well.

• The Prayer should be spontaneous, objective, full of high feelings, which need to be cultivated always.

• The form of the sentence is irrelevant, but the content is.

• The attitude of the one who prays is intimate, eminently spiritual. Conventional attitudes, outward posture and rituals are dispensable garments for the act of prayer.

• The prayer should translate what we are really feeling, thinking and wanting at that moment, in a precise way, without being a repetition of terms that, most of the time, are unintelligible to the speaker.

• The Prayer turns the man better, because he who prays with fervour and trust becomes stronger against the temptations of evil, and God sends him good spirits to assist him.

• We can ask God to forgive us for our faults, but we will only obtain forgiveness by changing the way we act, for good deeds are the best prayer and actions speak louder than words.