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“Prayer is a necessity. Without it we see only our point of view, our own righteousness, and ignore the perspective if our enemies. Prayer breaks down those distinctions. To do violence to others, you must make them enemies. Prayer, on the other hand, makes enemies into friends. When we have brought our enemies into our hearts in prayer, it becomes most difficult to maintain the hostility necessary for violence. In bringing them close to us, prayer serves to protect our enemies. Thus prayer undermines the propaganda and policies of governments designed to make us hate and fear our enemies. By softening our hearts toward our adversaries, prayer can become treasonous. Fervent prayer for our enemies is a great obstacle to war and the feelings that lead to it.”
~Jim Wallis
Wallis, Jim. “Prayer is a necessity.” Peace Prayers: Meditations, Affirmations, Invocations, Poems, and Prayers for Peace. Ed. Carrie Leadingham et al. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. 35.
4 comments:
Great quote.
It is great. I have decidedly mixed feelings about Wallis in general, but this is him at his best.
Brilliant- needed - thank you!
And peace and prayers to all.
Beautiful. I completely agree. Through prayer can also come the determination to treat everyone as human beings, to maintain the dignity of all, to see everyone as human beings like yourself.
I wish the need and ability to pray could be injected into people like insulin or B vitamins. So it would be as instinctual as peeing.
Nice quote. I think that prayer is more than just composing an oral letter to God, complete with a greeting "Dear God", and completed with a closing "Amen", which might as well be, "Sincerely, Me." Real prayer, if it means being in the presence of the Sacred, can really accomplish wonderful things. If it opens us up to God, then many things are indeed possible.
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