Teach us to pray

By Sr. Christine Gebel, O.L.M.
May/June 2010

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Learning to pray is a life-long project. These days I am learning at an Anglican convent and my teacher is Sr. Constance Joanna Gefvert, a Sister of St. John the Divine as well as a priest. Her course, Rooted in God: Prayer as the Soil of Ministry, is being offered through Wycliffe College and any student of the Toronto School of Theology is welcome to enroll. Thus, my classmates come from various Christian traditions and there are also those who are “seekers.” They are not yet sure where they most belong, but they know that they want to deepen their spiritual life. In addition to Sr. Constance Joanna’s input, we regularly gather in small groups to share our experiences of prayer. At these times, we are also learning from each other.

While living in the Philippines, involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue, I soon learned to expect my Muslim friends to excuse themselves for a short while during meetings when the call to prayer sounded. Indeed, five times each day the call to prayer rang out from a nearby mosque, teaching me the importance of fidelity to prayer.

Here in Canada, I cannot call my Jewish friend on the Sabbath or on other holy days because she would not pick up the telephone. On these days she avoids any action that would create or destroy, and focuses on being and letting everyone and everything else simply be. This allows her to spend time with her family and close neighbours celebrating God’s goodness and the goodness of all creation. This friend teaches me that it is possible amidst the hustle and bustle of life to make time to be with God.

It has also been my privilege to be a part of a few of Scarboro Missions’ interfaith retreats for high school students as well as attend some of their interfaith lectures for adults. By meeting people of many faiths one can learn so much about prayer.

Over the years my experience has shown me that there is great diversity in the how, the where, and the when of prayer, and there is great unity in the why: to become ever more aware of the Divine, who is Love, and to let that great love spill over into all my other relationships.

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