I got this message from a particularly close friend, and pass it on for those who find that it resonates. It resonates with me, particularly in light of what I know of the terrible troubles Abraham Lincoln went through, and what I know of the power of spiritual intervention in world affairs.
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 6:48 PM
To: Frank DeMarco
Subject: for our President
A message came in last night that Obama needs our prayers, not our worries and disappointments. And that through your network this word can get spread. And that I’m not the only one getting this message. (So I shouldn’t feel that I’m trying to “make a hole in the ocean” as the Greeks expression for fruitless activity goes.) We need not judge his capabilities by apparent results, which are anyway better than he gets credit for. His intentions and abilities are good, the times are terrible, and the opposition intractable and cunning.
Hi Frank. I pray for him all the time.
I actually don’t know how to pray for someone, but I’ll send him Reiki, which should work as well as prayer. I agree that he has taken on an incredibly tough job, and that the opposition will stop at nearly nothing to move things to where they want them. Fortunately they haven’t gone so far as an assassination attempt (that we know of, anyway.)
MA
I would agree with Mary Ann that I’m not sure how to pray. Frank, can you tell us what you think a prayer is, and how it works?
That’s a very good question, better the longer you look at it. Those within a religious structure who believe in a personal God who answers prayers — especially Catholics, who can petition God via a whole universe of formerly-human saints up to and including the Virgin Mary — clearly see the process as focusing their attention and asking. I don’t think that conceptualization works very well these days for most people, although I think in one way or another people do ask favors of “the universe” or “chance” or whatever they believe in. (“Luck, be a lady tonight!”)
Speaking for myself, only, I would say that prayer is intent to be helpful; a sort of marrying energies with the intent to provide additional helpful or harmonious energy for the use of the one prayed for. I have a little better idea of prayer for the dead — I think our attention gives them energy that they can use to change, which is easier here than there — but as for praying for the living, I think Mary Ann’s Reiki analogy is as close as any. The shorter answer I suppose is, I don’t know, but I can’t believe it’s ever wrong to Intend good for others.
Whenever the thought of Obama enters my awareness, I ‘see’ him surrounded in brilliant white Light, protecting and guiding him. When I hear someone speaking negatively about our President, I speak up and ask them to stop. If they won’t I excuse myself so as to not contribute to the energy they are putting out. We are all in this together. Peace is our goal.
That’s very good practice. Hopefully this will encourage the rest of us to do the same. Thanks.