Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness

244 Pages·1984·18.825 MB·English

by  David Steindl-Rast

Brother David
Steindl-Rast
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An
Approach to Life in Fullness
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Gratefulness,
the Heart ofPrayer

Gratefulness,
the Heart of Prayer
An Approach to Life in Fullness
Brother David Steindl-Rast
Paulist Press ^}z) New York/Ramsey
CopyTight © 1984 by David Steindl-Rast
All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or b\' any means, electronic or me-
chanical including photocopying, recording, or by any infor-
mation storage and retrieval system without permission in
writing from the Publisher.
Library ofCongress
Catalog Card Number: 84-60724
ISBN: 0-8091-2628-1
PubHshed by Paulist Press
545 Island Road, Ramsey, X.J. 07446
Printed and bound in the
United States ofAmerica
Contents
Foreword
1
By Henri J.M. Nouwen
Aliveness and Wakefulness 7
That you have not yet died is not sufficient
proof that you're alive. Aliveness is mea-
sured by degrees of awareness.
Surprise and Gratefulness 9
Waking up to the surprise that we live in a
"given" world means coming alive.
Awareness of this surprise is the beginning
of gratefulness.
Heart and Mind 26
Our mind can recognize a gift as gift, but
only our heart can rise to gratefulness.
\i Contents
Prayers and Prayerfulness 39
What counts is prayerfulness, not prayers.
And the fullness of prayer is grateful liv-
ing.
Contemplation and Leisure 60
For all of us inot only for ""conterapla-
tives") the fullness of grateful life is con-
templation: the art of li\-ing leisurely.
Faith and Beliefs 84
Gratefulness implies courageous trust in
life (as—"given"): the prayer offaith beyond
beliefs Living b\- the Word.
Hope: Opennessfor Surprise 123
Gratefulness implies openness for the sur-
prises—in life: the prayer of hope beyond
hopes Prayer of Silence.
Love: A ''Yes" to Belonging 163
Gratefulness is an unconditional "yes" to
life as give-and-take: the—prayer of love
beyond Ukes and dislikes Contemplation
in Action.
Fullness and Emptiness 190
ABC
.Aq of grateful living: ke>"vvords as
memorw
aids to the
In gratefulness
I dedicate this book
to my Mother, my Brothers, and my Sisters
and to all without whom it could never have
been written.
Special thanks to Peter Stewart,
founder of the Center for World Thanksgiving
me
at Dallas, Texas, for urging to write this
book and supporting me in doing so.
Mission Bay, New Zealand: June 13, 1983.
Brother David
Acknowledgments
Excerpts from Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot, copyright 1943 by
T.S. Eliot, renewed 1971 by Esme Valerie Eliot, are reprinted
by permission of Harcourt Brace Jo\'ano\ich, Inc. and Faber
and Faber Ltd. The excerpt from Trio in a Mirror by Dorothy
Donnelly, copvxight © 1960, is reprinted by permission of the
University ofArizona Press. Selections from TheKabirBook by
©
Robert Bly, copyright 1977 by Robert Ely, is used by per-
mission of Beacon Press. Excerpts from "Winds," © 1955 by
W.H. Auden, and "Precious Five," © 1950 by W.H. Auden, are
taken from W. H. Auden: Collected Poems, edited by Edward
Mendelson, and reprinted by permission of Random House,
Inc. Excerpts from DuinoElegies by Ranier Maria Rilke, trans-
lated byJ.B. Leishman and Stephen Spender, are reprinted by
permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., cop\Tight 1939
by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., cop\Tight renewed 1967 by
Stephen Spender andJ.B. Leishman. The poem "Pax" is taken
from The Collected Poems of D.H. Lawrence, collected and
edited by Vi\-ian de Sola Pinto and F. Warren Roberts, copy-
right © 1964, 1971 by Angelo RavageH and CM. Weekley,
executors of the estate of Frieda Lawrence Ravageli, and re-
printed by permission of\'iking Penguin, Inc.
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