pray: verb

1) to entreat, implore — often used as a function word in introducing a question, request, or plea; 2) to get or bring by praying; 3) to make a request in a humble manner; 4) to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.

Where is the spirit of humility in the weekly prayer circle for RFK Jr? Since when do we presume to authoritatively tell God to give us what we want?

Are we omniscient? Or is God?

When we pray, are we open to receiving angelic guidance? Or is it okay be be closed to everything but what we visualize?

How can we presume to assume that we know all the currents, cross- and under-currents at play in current events, much less the best way to surf over, around and through them to survive . . . even prevail?

Just maybe, as Hamlet once said to his friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Just maybe, there’s more at play than what meets limited human eyes. For example, remember apostle Paul’s warning in Ephesians:

¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Remember: there are two sides to every coin. Before praying, have we stopped to consider what deep, dangerous unforeseen consequences attach to what we think we want? Are there, just perhaps, other, wiser, more effective ways to achieve what we truly want, better than what we now know?

When we pray, do we limit ourselves to what is familiar and known? Why not be open? Ask for our leaders that which we would do well to ask also for ourselves.

For example, offer the white magician’s open-ended prayer: “May we be guided to know what serves the greatest good of the greatest number.”

Or, “Show us the way of the heart. Lead us on the path of all-encompassing compassion, so that, to the extent we show wisdom, mercy and loving-kindness to perceived friends and enemies alike, we receive it in return.”

Or, “Fill us with trust, that we may abide in the divine peace that transcends human understanding, that we be shown the path leading to true wisdom, well-being and enlightenment.”

Would it not be in the spirit of humility to SHUT UP? Stop filling the air with noisy words. STOP assuming we know best, telling God to give us what we want, exactly how it should play out and when.

And instead, simply be still.

Ask, “What is the will of God? What is the wisest way to proceed? What do we need to know now?”

And LISTEN!

Amen.