GESTURE AS PRAYER
Throughout the ages, spiritual writers have maintained that posture and gesture are important components of prayer. Kneeling, for example, is a traditional posture of submission and can call to mind God's sovereignty. Genuflecting and bowing are gestures of reverence and can make us more aware of God's majesty. Closing our eyes can help us to focus better during prayer, while sitting quietly with opened hands on our lap can actually encourage our receptivity to God's word.
Bodily gestures do more, however, than merely aid us in prayer. Sometimes they themselves can actually become our prayer. Rabbi Abraham Heschel once said, "When I marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, I felt my legs were praying." How insightful! Ordinary physical movement becoming prayer! In a way, then, our body prays every time it is engaged in loving acts. What kinds of acts? Here are but a few:
Washing the dishes ... shoveling snow .... pouring coffee at a soup kitchen ... addressing Christmas cards ... filling a bird feeder ... rocking a cranky baby ... watering plants .... making love with one's spouse ... offering an arm to an elderly friend .... giving someone a back rub.
GOD, MAY I BECOME MORE AWARE OF MY BODY PRAYING TODAY!
(This reflection is by Sr. Mellanie Svoboda, Snd, and appears in her book. EVERYDAY EPIPHANIES: Seeing the Sacred in Every Thing. Twenty-third Publications copyright 1997)
No comments:
Post a Comment