Tag Archives: Prayer

Be Empty and Cry As a Reed Instrument

By Robin Bates | Published: March 9, 2024

This Rumi poem explains the mystical power of Ramadan fasting, which begins tomorrow or Tuesday.

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Different Ways to Pray

By Robin Bates | Published: April 23, 2022

In “Different Ways to Pray,” Naomi Shihab Nye expands the ways we can get in touch with the divine.

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Let Go Anger to Apprehend God Is Near

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2021

A Scott Cairns Pentecost poem on what it takes to apprehend that God is within us.

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Cheer and Tune My Heartless Breast

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2019

About prayer, Jesus at one point said to pay as though you are a desperate widow before an indifferent judge. Much of Herbert’s poetry sees God in this light.

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God’s Prayer to Us: Live Kindly, Live

By Robin Bates | Published: November 12, 2017

James Richardson’s poem “Evening Prayer” urges us not to narrowly constrain God within rules but to see God as something greater.

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How Can I Focus My Flickering Mind?

By Robin Bates | Published: November 5, 2017

If you have ever found your mind wandering as you knelt to pray, Denise Levertov knows how you feel.

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Implore His Aid, in His Decisions Rest

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2016

The famous passage from Ecclesiastes–“All is vanity”–inspired a great poem by Samuel Johnson. Johnson’s final conclusion is that we can find happiness only in prayer.

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Celebrate! The Month of Fasting Is Come

By Robin Bates | Published: June 4, 2016

In this Ramadan poem by Rumi, the month of fasting is compared to a friend, an intoxicant, “a beautiful fortune,” a secret illumination, a plentiful harvest, and a silk outfit than one dons.

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On Sickness and the Power of Prayer

By Robin Bates | Published: October 17, 2015

In “War and Peace” Tolstoy gives a powerful account of how prayer and church attendance can help in the recovery process.

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