NICE QUOTES ON PRAYER

"I see him in the corridor of desperation..." … a dozen quotes on prayer…. And God… Quotes from a saint, a sage, a statesman, a philosopher, a poet, an author, a physician-novelist ... (01) “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” - Mahatma Gandhi (02) “I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.” - Friedrich Nietzsche (03) “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” - Søren Kierkegaard (04) “I talk to God but the sky is empty.” - Sylvia Plath (05) “Let us never forget to pray. God lives. He is near. He is real. He is not only aware of us but cares for us. He is our Father. He is accessible to all who will seek Him.” - Gordon B. Hinckley (06) “Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.” - Robert Frost (07) “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” - Bruce Lee (08) “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” - St. Francis of Assisi (09) “Every night I pray - I whisper into a megaphone, not only so God is sure to hear, but also my neighbors, because I pray to God that He’ll deliver pestilence and plague to the residents next door. I even tell God the exact address, as if He can’t read my heart. But it’s not for His benefit, it’s for my neighbors’.” - Jarod Kintz (10) “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me insufficient for that day.” - Abraham Lincoln (11) “...there is a God, there always has been. I see Him here, in the eyes of the people in this [hospital] corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him... there is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He will forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need. I pray that He is as merciful, benevolent, and gracious as His book says He is.” - Khaled Hosseini. (12) “Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”

WE ARE MADE FOR HAPPINESS

We are made for happiness. Happiness is possible only in relationship, friendship and in connectedness. We make friendships, we belong to groups and we marry—because we are looking for joy and happiness and want to make meaning of our life. True happiness dispels all hatred, fear, enmity, suspicion and all that divides us. The creation story teaches us that God who created a lone human being found the person incomplete and lonely and so he made a companion. He blessed this companionship and made it to last forever. He wanted them to be united and in union they might find in each other what they lacked in themselves. He wanted them to find complete joy in sharing and in complementing each other. So we are made for each other—made for sharing. We are for giving and in giving we become worthy of receiving. This is the meaning of companionship; it is all about giving and receiving—which is sharing. What do we share? We share one another, we share all that we are blessed with. We have beautiful gifts and talents, we have abundance of goodness and of course we also have limitations and weaknesses. That makes us human. It is our limitedness and incompleteness makes us to share and invite us to be complementary. In sharing our weaknesses and limitations we stand in need of care and support from our spouse. This makes the famous saying “my better half” makes sense. We are invited to give and find happiness in giving. We ought to give whatever we have and give it generously. When I hope the giver also hopes to receive in return. This “Give and Take Union”, this complementary union is blessed by God and it should help to overcome all the obstacles to happiness. When we refuse to give and when we count the cost of giving we become an obstacle to our spouse’s happiness. We begin to compromise our relationship and make our spouse to look for happiness elsewhere—outside the circle of love. Giving within marriage is a careful act, a pain-taking act and it is cultivated in selfless friendship. It is in this we find the pure joy. We are invited to use all the means—money, fame, comfort, reputation and all that we have made along the way as a means to our happiness and the things to share. They are not end in themselves but only small means to achieve greater joy.

Good liturgical site 4 various liturgies

http://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/LiturgyArchive.htm