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Prayer requirements. - Prayer purpose. - Prayer action. - Prayer clarity. - Prayer for the deceased and for the suffering spirits. - Instructions from the spirits: The way to pray. - Happiness the prayer provides.

Prayer requirements

1. When you pray, be different from the hypocrites who appreciate to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen. They have already received their reward. Instead, go into your room, close the door and pray to God secretly, and the Almighty, who sees in secret, will reward you. Needless to speak a lot like the pagans, who believe they will be heard due to their many words. Pray differently from them, because God knows what you need before you ask. (Matthew 6:5-8.)

2. If you hold anything against anyone then forgive them before praying, so that God may also forgive you your sins. If you do not forgive them, neither will God forgive you your transgressions. (Mark 11:25 and 26.)

3. Jesus spoke this parable to some who self-considered righteous and despised others: Two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself: God, I thank you because I am different from the other ones, extortioners, unfair, adulterers and even from that tax collector. I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all I get. The tax collector, standing afar off, and keeping his gaze down, smote his breast and said: God, be merciful to me because I am a sinner! The tax collector went home justified, because those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and they who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14.)

4. The Lord defines the prayer requirements by teaching that we should pray in secrecy, with sincerity and faith, with previous forgiveness to everyone, since a prayer only pleases God if it comes from a rancorless heart, and with humility, as did the tax collector, who achieved a great spiritual leap by recognizing his own moral weakness. Christ also teaches that we are allowed to pray with briefness, because the prayer intensity matters much more than its length, and that we should, before praying, look at our own flaws, instead of our qualities, when comparing ourselves to others.¹

5. When you pray, whatever you ask for, believe you will receive it and you will have it. (Mark 11:24.)

For a prayer to become effective we need trusting in it. One who prays with faltering confidence resembles a man who goes to the mail station in order to post an application and, when arriving at the mail office, he feels insecure about the request approval. He leaves the agency doubting the success of the petition he has just posted. However, upon returning home, the doubtful applicant gets astonished when he notices that the letter which he supposedly sent still remains in his pocket! Would an application like this, that has not even been sent, achieve any success? Likewise, would a faithless prayer, that has not even been transmitted, produce any result? So, we need to understand that trusting in the prayer is essential to its effectiveness.

Prayer purpose

6. The universe is ruled by eternal laws that remain unchanged no matter our wish. Moreover, God knows all of our needs before we pray. So, one might ask: why then should we pray? There is a big mistake in believing that every life circumstance is subject to fatality. Human beings are active players and can build their own future. So, it is up to each one making the proper efforts to avoid misfortune and danger. Freewill allows us to adopt or discard the praying option. Humans have reason, intelligence and willpower. These means should be put into action. However, everyone can ask for additional - and decisive - resources, like guidance, calmness and strength, and prayer helps us to obtain them. One who uses the aid of a pump to transfer water up to a high tank do not counter the gravity law. In a similar way, we do not oppose any natural law by using the aid of a prayer. God perfectly asserts to certain petitions without changing the rules which govern the Cosmos.

7. Better than us, the Divine Majesty knows what is proper or harmful for our spiritual advancement. A prudent parent, for instance, refuses giving a knife to a small child who wants playing with it. In the same fashion, God has to deny some requests of ours. We normally see only the present moment. By beholding much farther than us, God lets us to experience trouble when it helps our spiritual cure, just like doctors do when they allow a patient to feel the bitterness of the medicine which brings healing.

What the Creating Source concedes us, when we pray with confidence, is energy, resilience, patience, serenity and guidance to overcome hardship. God helps all those who help themselves. Nevertheless, many people desire being saved by a miracle, without making any effort of their own. If their immature requests were fulfilled, what learning would they gain? One who insists in just waiting for others' assistance, without employing their own power, misses important opportunities of spiritual evolution.²

Prayer helps us to prevent the ill which stems from our own wrong behavior. Moreover, praying leads us towards charity practice, which alleviates our negative karma. Prayer attracts wholesome inspiration and thus strengthens us to resist the bad thought whose consequences are disastrous. Evil harasses us despite prayer, but the praying act gives us the power to repel the wrong inclination which would put ourselves into trouble.

8. Let us take an example. A man is lost in the desert. Thirst terribly tortures him. Fainting, he falls to the ground. Then he asks God to help him. He confidently waits. No bottle of water will magically appear in front of him. However, a friendly spirit suggests him the idea of picking himself up and taking the right-hand path. Then, by a mechanical move, uniting whatever is left of his strength, he gets up, walks and discovers a nearby brook. On sighting it he gains courage. If he has faith he will say, “Thank you, my God, for the idea and the strength you gave me.” If he forgets the powerful benefactor who has just helped him he will say, “I had a great idea! How lucky I was in taking the right-hand path instead of that on the left! Chance sometimes serves us admirably! I must congratulate myself for my courage and toughness!”

Then one, by discussing this example, might ask: Why did not the spirit clearly show themself, in order to plainly help the man in the desert? Why did not the angel expressly say to him to follow the right-hand path? In this way - this same person might still allege - the spirit would have convinced the man about the intervention of Providence! Nevertheless, thanks exactly to the friendly spirit's invisibility, the man could develop a hitherto-ignored power of his own. In addition, the uncertainty the man experienced meant a test which measured his degree of connection with the Supreme Governor. That man was in the same situation of a little boy who falls down and, when seeing himself alone, makes his effort to get up by his own. However, if the same boy had noticed an adult standing nearby, he could have just cried out loud, so as to lazily demand the adult to lift him.

If Raphael, the angel that accompanied Tobias, had revealed to him before the travel beginning, “I am sent by God to guide you on your journey and protect you”, then Tobias would have lost that great opportunity of developing his power by his own. He would achieve just a little merit because, by fully entrusting himself to the angel, he would feel himself excused even from thinking. This is why Raphael only disclosed himself after the return.³

Prayer action

9. Prayer is an outstanding privilege granted to the human beings. We may pray for ourselves, for others, for the incarnated ones and for the disembodied. Prayers addressed to God are heard by the spirits who are charged with the execution of divine will. The praying that is addressed to the good spirits are reported to the Almighty. When someone prays to beings other than God, these intercessors serve as divine mediators. Anyway, nothing happens without permission of God, the Supreme Judge in all things, the only intelligence capable of making the prayer to become effective.

10. Prayer is forwarded through thought transmission. The energy contained in the prayer is proportional to the mental intensity. Wherever the good spirits may be, they can hear the prayers directed to them and send us their sane inspiration.

11. Through prayer we can obtain assistance of the superior spirits, who come running to support our good resolutions and inspire us wholesome ideas. In this manner, we acquire the moral resilience necessary to surmount challenge and come back to the straight path. By prayer we can also keep ourselves away from the evil which we would attract due to our mistaken thoughts and acts. For example, a man loses his health due to abuse. So, he experiences a life of suffering till the end of his days. Has such a man any right to complain when the cure he asks is denied? No, because he could have found in prayer the force to resist temptation.

12. If we divided the problems of life into two groups, one containing the obstacles which are unavoidable, and the other comprising the tribulations of which we ourselves constitute the main cause due to our moral imperfection⁴, we would perceive that the number of troubles in the second group far exceeds the amount in the first.

We are the very authors of most of our negative karma, which we could have avoided if we behaved with prudence and wisdom. Most of life distress results from conduct which is disharmonious with the laws that govern the universe. If we duly observed the divine laws we would be happy. If we respected the limit of what is necessary for need satisfaction we would prevent the many disturbances which come from excess. If we decreased ambition we would be free from ruin fear. The more we raise ourselves higher than our neighbors, the more afraid we get of falling down. If we were humbler we would ignore the meaning of hurt pride. If we practiced more disinterested philanthropy we would be less slanderer, jealous, envious and quarrelsome. If we did only the good to everyone we would be immune from vengeance fear. And so on.

The prayer neither prevents God's laws fulfillment nor suspends pace of the laws of the Universe. By guiding our freewill, the praying act helps us to stop violating those laws and stimulates us to doing good. However, its action is, by default, imperceptible, so that it fully respects our freewill. We find ourselves in the position of one who asks for advice and then decides either following or forgetting the received counseling. We are completely free to accomplish or disregard the guidance we receive. Therefore, we retain responsibility for our actions and the merit - or demerit - of our choice. We can always be sure of obtaining orientation if we ask it with faith, and this is the kind of petition where, above all, the words “Ask for and you will receive” apply.

Despite our freedom of choice, it is important to remark that all the good spirits recommend prayer. To renounce this resource means ignoring the divine benevolence and assistance. One who discards praying resembles a person who prefers traveling on an unknown road, in a dark night, with lights off. In contrast, those who pray illuminate the path of their life.

13. The prayer of good people uses to be more effective, because they naturally pray with confidence and positive vibration, qualities which are rare inside a corrupt heart. From the one who prays just with lips only empty thoughts come out, deprived of the charitable impulse which allows an elevated communication. This is why the one who seeks a someone else's prayer uses to prefer asking it to the righteous people, whose conduct, as it is commonly felt, best pleases God.

14. All human beings are entitled to pray. Thus, even those who self-consider unworthy should pray nonetheless. The very awareness of their own inferiority constitutes a proof of humility, which facilitates the prayer action. Their hesitant confidence in God means a start of awakening, which the divine emissaries feel blessed to boost. Moreover, the good spirits fix the insufficiency of everyone who, driven by sincere faith, asks for divine help. That is quite different from the ineffective prayer of the proud ones who, overestimating their own merit, believe as possible to superimpose themselves upon the divine will. Frustration is the first price they pay for their pride.

15. The prayer power lies in thought transmission, which dispenses with special words, temples and rituals. We can successfully pray in all places, at any time, alone or with others. Influence of place and time may exist when the associated circumstances help spiritualization. Group prayer is more powerful when all who pray together share a heartfelt noble thought. When they envisage the same target, it is like they begged together in one only powerful voice. But a lot of people physically together mean little when each one prays in isolation. A hundred people together may be praying selfishly, whereas two or three, joined by a same good purpose, pray like true siblings in God. In this way, they provide their prayer more energy than a hundred isolated selfish people would do.⁵

Prayer clarity

16. If I lose the meaning of what someone says I become a foreigner to the speaker, and they become like foreigners to me. If I pray in an unknown tongue, my heart prays but my mind keeps unfruitful. If you praise God by heart, how can the unlearned say Amen to your thanksgiving whether they lack the understanding of what you have said? You may be giving thanks well enough but the others remain unbuilt. (I Corinthians 14: 11, 14, 16 and 17.)

17. The value of a prayer is closely related to understanding. This is why prayers recited in an unknown language normally mean just a maze of words, which say nothing to the spirit. Each term of a prayer should awaken an idea. Complicated words are unable to do this. In such a way, they just compose a formula, whose virtue would depend on the greater or lesser number of repetitions. Many pray from duty. Others from obedience to habit, reason why they use to judge themselves justified as long as they have repeated an orison a certain amount of times, or in this or that order. This is an illusion. God deeply reads all hearts and minds. The Creating Intelligence sees all thoughts and notices their sincerity. Therefore, one who thinks that God is more sensitive to the format of a prayer than to its depth belittles the Supreme Mind.⁶

Prayers for the deceased and for the suffering spirits

18. The suffering spirits ask for prayers. Our orisons help them because, on feeling that someone thinks of them, and sends them loving energy, they feel comforted and less unhappy. Prayer exerts on them a direct action: refreshes them, gives them a desire to heal themselves through repentance and reparation, and turn them away from inferior thought. Besides alleviating them, prayer can shorten their suffering.⁷

19. Praying for the deceased is always useful. It means fraternal piety, a proof of love, a consolation, which can reach all of them without distinction, quench their thirst and lighten their burden. Praying for them means a moral assistance from those who wish them well.

20. All penalties, besides being temporary, have changeable duration. So, God adjusts our individual requests to the immutability of universal laws. Remorse, repentance and improvement intention are always taken into account. This is why all of us are entitled to pray. The benefit of praying is based on the divine decrees, which can be summarized as follows:

21. “People experience the consequences of their conduct. All of our inclinations, thoughts and actions that are disharmonious with the divine laws attract negative karma to ourselves.
“Whatever the error, penalty duration is indeterminate. It depends on each one's repentance and effort to return to the good. Correction lasts longer or shorter depending on each one's evildoing obstinacy. Punishment would only be perpetual if evil persistence were perpetual. It is short when repentance comes quickly.

“Provided we cry for mercy, God listens to our supplication and grants us hope. But just feeling remorse is insufficient. Reparation is necessary. This is why the repentant undergo new tests wherein they can, by the exercise of their own freewill, do good in reparation for the evil they did.

“Thus, each one is the judge of their own destiny, by willingly shortening or prolonging their own anguish. Their happiness or unhappiness depends on their resolution to do good to all and do wrong no one.”

These principles are in accordance with the goodness and justice of God. They comprise the never-changing law, the rule that establishes the condition by which one can self-heal. However, what the spirit often lacks is courage, willpower and strength. When assisting a suffering spirit, in answer to a prayer, a good spirit obeys another divine principle: the law of love and charity. Important to remember that no divine law is contradicted when one helps the other.⁸

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS

The way to pray

22. The priority duty of all human beings, their first daily act, should be praying. Many people use to pray but just a few know how to pray! Long sentences automatically spoken as a duty to perform, which weighs as heavily as any other obligation, mean little to God.

The first prayer of whatever cult must be made as soon as the spirit returns to the body. Thought should be raised up to the feet of the Divine Majesty with humility, deepness and gratitude for the benefits received till that moment. The morning prayer should thank for the night, during which you are often permitted, although with imperfect remembrance, getting close to your friends and guides to obtain more strength and perseverance. Through prayer you should humbly knee to the feet of the Supreme Majesty, in order to confess your weakness and ask for assistance, indulgence and mercy. Prayer should be consistent, because your soul has to raise itself up to the Almighty to become transfigured, showing a radiant shine of love, as was Jesus on the mount Tabor.

Prayer may include a request for the blessings you need, that is, for those that you really need. It is frequently useless asking for ordeal shortening, wealth receiving or instant happiness. Instead, ask for patience, resignation, guidance and faith. Notwithstanding, what you often ask for is material success in your earthly projects. After having been disappointed, you use to blaspheme, like this, “It is worthless praying because God ignores our requests!” But let us think. What do you ask for while praying? How frequently do you ask to be more charitable and self-controlled? Others complain like this, “God is careless about us. Otherwise there would be only justice in the world.” This ungrateful reasoning is false. If God were less dedicated to you than you are towards your own children, the All-Perfect would be worse than a human being. This is an absurdity. The injustice you see stems from your own moral imperfection. One who deeply reflects finds in their own wrong behavior the first cause of most troubles they complain about. So, before all else, you should ask for guidance to becoming better people. In this way you will notice showers of blessings and consolations all over you.⁹

You must frequently pray, without needing neither going to an oratory nor kneeing in public. It is important to broaden the concept of prayer. The earnest fulfillment of your duties, without exception, whatever their nature, is also a kind of prayer. The act of giving your best affection to your beloved ones is also a form of prayer. Assisting your neighbor in moral or physical need is another type of orison. It is also a prayer the act of raising a thankful thought to God whenever you experience a happiness, avoid an accident or just eat a meal. You also pray whenever you, even through a fleeting thought, silently unburden to the Supreme Judge, like this, “Forgive me God for I have sinned. Give me humility, charity and strength to avoid failing again and courage to mend the harm I did!”

Such a recommendable act independs on the regular prayers of morning and night. As you can see, prayer can happen every time, in a simple way, with no harm to your work. Rather, prayer sanctifies your activity. One of these quick thoughts, when it comes from heart, is best heard by the Supreme Goodness than the long and cold prayers recited just out of memory, to which the conventional hour mechanically calls you. - V. Monod. (Bordeaux, 1862).

Happiness the prayer provides

23. Come here all who wish to believe. The celestial spirits are come to announce great news. My children, God opens up the divine treasure, so as to distribute you all of its benefits. Incredulous one! If you knew the outstanding benefit that faith makes to the heart, and how it induces the soul to repentance and prayer! Prayer! How touching are the words which leave the lips of the faithful one who humbly prays! The prayer is the divine dew which lessens the excessive heat of passion. Favorite daughter of faith, prayer leads us along the pathway which takes to God. In moments of recollection and solitude you find yourself with the Almighty. For you the mysteries disappear, because God discloses them to you. Apostles of thought, the life is for you. Your soul liberates itself from matter and launches itself into those infinite and etheric worlds which the poor earthly humanity ignores. Go forward. March forward along the path of prayer and you will hear the voices of the angels. What harmony! No longer the confused noise and strident sound of the Earth, but the lyres of the archangels; the soft and gentle voices of the seraphim, more delicate than the morning breeze, when it plays among the foliage of woodlands. Among what delights you will walk! Your earthly language cannot express such bliss, so quickly it enters through all your pores, so alive and refreshing is this spring, from which one drinks through prayer. So sweet voices, so heady perfumes the soul hears and breathes when it launches itself into the unknown and inhabited spheres of prayer! Free from carnal desire, all of the aspirations are divine. You too, pray as did Jesus while he was taking his cross to the Golgotha, to the Calvary. Courageously carry your cross and you will feel the sweet emotions which passed through the Lord's soul, although bearing the weight of an infamous wood. He was going to die, but in order to live the celestial life in the house of God. - Saint Augustine. (Paris, 1861.)

   
   
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