How to Say the Perfect Prayer

Training as a chaplain is the most beautiful and challenging education I have embarked on since I learned how to be a mother. This process is transformative, which means it is illuminating and exhausting. I felt the heaviness of this late one afternoon on a shift. I took a time out and went to the Center for Spirit at the hospital where I am serving. I needed a spiritual boost to help me to finish my shift. Sitting quietly on a bench in the holy space, I silently prayed.

A few minutes into my visit, another staff person entered the space. He took a prayer rug and placed it facing east towards Mecca. He began to pray his afternoon salat, or Muslim prayer. I watched him prostrate himself. I noticed the energy emanating from him. It was love. I continued to silently pray my Catholic litanies of devotion alongside him. I could feel in my heart that we were praying to the same God using different languages. The God we prayed to is a loving God.

The Divine Spirit sees our hearts. It is the wordless moving of our hearts that defines who we are and how we are, regardless of where we come from. God sees us with clarity because She understands what motivates us. We cannot hide who we are from that which is far greater than we.

After five or ten minutes, the other staff person rose up and folded the rug. He continued on with his shift. I finished my prayers and then walked the labyrinth woven into the carpet. Feeling centered again, I returned to the office. When another chaplain requested support with a consult, I happily offered. I was full again. I had something to offer another human being again.

Afternoon prayer time with my Muslim co-worker had replenished me. It also brought home to me something which I had thought but now could feel, which is that we pray to God using many languages and many cultures; God speaks all of our languages and understands all of our cultures. The energy that connects us to the Divine and to each other is love. Those who know love, know God, as scripture confirms.

So how do we say the perfect prayer? Simple- say it with love. We say the perfect prayer when we open our hearts to the Sacred with vulnerability and humility. We receive what we need the most, to be full of love. With holy love we are strong in the face of adversity, generous in the threat of scarcity, and brave against all odds. We are fortified. Pray lovingly.