The Spirits’ Teachings

How to Pray

22. The first duty of all individuals, the first act that should signal their return to active life each day, is prayer. Nearly all of you pray, but how few of you know how to pray! Of what importance to the Lord are the sentences you mechanically  say one after the other out of habit because it is a duty to fulfill, and like every duty, weighs on you?

The prayers of Christians, of Spiritists, of whatever belief, should be made the moment the spirit retakes the yoke of the flesh. They should lift themselves to the feet of the divine majesty with humility, with profundity, in a rapture of gratitude for all the benefits that have been granted up until this very day; and also for the night that has passed and during which you have been allowed – although you do not remember it – to be with your friends and your guides in order to acquire more strength and perseverance from their contact. Your  prayers should humbly ascend to the feet of the Lord to commend your weakness to him, to ask for his support, indulgence and mercy. They should be profound because it is your soul that should ascend to the Creator, that should be transfigured like Jesus on Mt. Tabor and become white and radiant with hope and love.

Your prayer should entail a request for the blessings you need, but the need must be real. Thus, it would be useless to ask the Lord to shorten your trials, to give you joy and wealth. Instead, ask him to grant you the more precious possessions of patience, resignation and faith. Do not say, as many of you do: “It’s no use praying, since God does not answer me anyway.” What do you ask of God most of the time? Do you often think to ask him for your moral improvement? Oh no, not very often at all! Instead, you think of asking him for success in your earthly undertakings,  and then you exclaim: “God is not concerned about us; if he were, there would not be so much injustice.” How foolish! How ungrateful! If you were to delve into the depths of your conscience, you would nearly always find within you the starting point for all the ills you complain about. So, before anything else, ask for your betterment, and you will see what a torrent of blessings and consolations pour over you. (See chap. V, no. 4)

You must pray without ceasing, but without having to go to a church or kneeling in the public squares. Daily prayer is the fulfillment of your duties, of all your duties without exception, of whatever nature they might be. Is it not an act of love for the Lord for you to assist your brothers and sisters in any moral or physical need? Is it not an act of appreciation to lift up your thought to him when a joy comes your way, when an accident is averted, or even when a difficulty only grazes you minimally, by saying in your mind: Blessed are you, my Father! Is it not an act of contrition to humble yourselves before the supreme judge when you feel that you have failed, even if only by means of a fleeting thought, by saying to him: Forgive me, my God, for I have sinned (out of pride, selfishness or lack of charity);  give me the strength not to fail again and the courage to make reparation?

This is besides the usual prayers of the morning and evening and the holy days; but as you can see, a prayer can be offered at any instant without causing any interruption in your labors; on the contrary, said this way, it sanctifies your activities.  You can be certain that just one of such thoughts arising from the heart is heard more by your heavenly Father than the long prayers said out of habit, frequently without any determined motive and to which the conventional time of day is mechanically calling you.

V. Monod (Bordeaux, 1862)