#The Theology of Prayer

[many-sparrows]

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

Y’ALL!!!! IT’S HERE!!!!

The Trans Halakha Project seeks to curate existing and developing resources that have been created for trans Jews, by trans Jews and engage trans & non-binary people in the creation of specific rituals and blessings. This work is expressed below in Tefillat Trans: Blessings and Rituals for Trans Lives.

[psalmlover]

by r_varashe on pinterest

[namedvesta]

“I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so sharp that it made me utter several moans; and yet the sweetness of this intense pain was so excessive, that I could never wish to be rid of it.”

— Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (XXIX.17).

— Giuseppe Bazzani, The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa (𝟣𝟩𝟦𝟪).

[godslove]

[austerity-audacity-asceticism]

Degrees of Prayer, according to St. Teresa of Avila

Teresa of Ávila, OCD was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Sh was born in 1515 at the brink of the Reformation in Ávila, Spain. The first female Doctor of the Church, she has had a significant impact on how we currently understand contemplative prayer, what it means to have a personal relationship with God, and how we can continue the spiritual practices of monastic life even though we work and live in a secular society.

Her writings demonstrate not only rigorous discipline and contemplative prayer, but also a dry wit. She should also be the patron saint of the audacity, because I remember distinctly reading the Interior Castle for the first time and coming across her writing to her fellow Carmelites, "From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!"

We celebrate her feast day today, October 15. In honor of the first female doctor of the Church, this is a brief rundown of St. Teresa's Degrees of Prayer, with explanations that are not meant to be exhaustive, but to encourage you to read more of her writings, as I pale in comparison to the lucidity of her writing.

Meditation: Drawing Water from the Well

According to St. Teresa, this degree consists of prayer through active meditation. This requires focused effort and withdrawing from the world for a bit, so that we may not be distracted by the concerns and anxieties that plague our minds on a day to day basis. These beginners should aim to be be happy and free and confident. They should attempt great things in the pursuit of active meditation.

Reference: the Life of Teresa of Jesus, chapter 11 and chapter 12 and chapter 13

2. The Prayer of Quiet: The Waterwheel

After a soul has become accustomed to active meditation, St. Teresa encourages moving towards the prayer of quiet. She writes, "Here the soul begins to be recollected and comes upon something supernatural because in no way can it acquire this prayer through any efforts it may make." The fruits of this degree is the movement of the soul away from earthly delights, and into a sense of peace. The efforts of prayer ease, while the activity does not. This degree of prayer reveals grace to us more clearly, and fills us with a deep inner satisfaction. When a soul experiences the Prayer of Quiet, it seems that no greater blessing is possible. Because of this, while many people are given to the prayer of quiet, few people think to go beyond it.

Reference: the Life of Teresa of Jesus, chapter 14 and chapter 15

3. Union: Water Flowing from a Stream

In this stage of prayer, St. Teresa reflects that it now seems that its fruits are all a product of God's work, while one's faculties seem to be asleep. The stream of divine water flows freely into the garden of one's soul; this may happy whether one is in a state of contemplation, or active charity. The inner work and relationship of prayer seems to be continuing beneath the conscious surface. One's faculties fall asleep, and the soul becomes absorbed in union.

Reference: the Life of Teresa of Jesus, chapter 16 and chapter 17

4. Rapture: Heavenly Rain

St. Teresa describes this degree as the prayer of union, using the image of "heavenly rain that saturates the whole garden in abundance." She writes these experiences as short-lived and scarce, but the goodness received as incomprehensible. St. Teresa had other words for this degree: elevation, flight of the spirit, transport, ecstasy.

Reference: the Life of Teresa of Jesus, chapter 18 and chapter 19 and chapter 20 and chapter 21

"My chief aim is to cause souls to covet so sublime a blessing." - St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Jesus, pray for us.

Links to additional resources:

St. Teresa of Ávila – Who St. Teresa of Ávila Was, Her Feast Day, Carmelite Spirituality, Prayers & Quotes

Four stages of Mystical Prayer in Teresa of Avila

Summary of the Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila - The Life of by Herself

The Interior Castle or The Mansions

[i4mth4ti4m]

⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚

My God,

I am sorry for my sins with all my heart.

In choosing to do wrong

and failing to do good,

I have sinned against you

whom I should love above all things.

I firmly intend, with your help,

to do penance,

to sin no more,

and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.

Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.

In his name, my God, have mercy.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ 

[teenageascetic]

Prayer of St. Benedict of Nursia.

English:

May the Holy Cross be my light Let not the dragon be my guide Begone Satan Never tempt me with your vanities All that pours from you is evil. Drink your own poison. Amen.

Latin:

Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux Vade Retro Satana Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana Sunt Mala Quae Libas Ipse Venena Biba. Amen.

[cath-lick]

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is wrongly accused and falsely imprisoned. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is mocked, and beat, and killed. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is murdered and raped by the millions. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is oppressed as a stranger in a strange land. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who's blood cries out from the ground. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who cries out from the concentration camps. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who dies with the word "forsaken" on your lips. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is murdered for the color of your skin. Blessed are you of Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who is sold as a sex slave. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who dies thirsty while the nations get drunk on your blood.

Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who causes the nations to drink from the cup of your passion. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who throws the mighty down from their thrones. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who will cause ever haughty knee to bow. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who brings the haughty from the heavens to the grave. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who vindicates the suffering of the righteous. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who vindicates the blood of the martyrs. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who causes Babylon the Great to fall. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who holds the lonely in your arms. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who elevates the lowly. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who causes justice to flow like a river and right relationships like a never ending stream.

Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who creates humanity in your image. Blessed are you oh Yahweh our God, King of the Universe, who identifies with the oppressed and stands against the oppressor. May the Day of Yahweh come in your timing. Amen.

[transtheology]

Blessing Our Many Masculinities: A UU Blessing by Kye Flannery

We bless today all the masculinities with us and within us.

We bless you who shelter us and are queer,

you who grow flowers,

you who take up welding and are proud to work in a shower of sparks.

We bless you whose heart hammers at taking up a power drill,

you who know the names of the birds and trees, each life regarded and held gently.

A gender fluid male, with very short hair, an earring, and makeup, with skirt fluttering in air

We bless you, who paper over fear with swagger, your little bird heart beating fast,

Saying, “Let me be free, please don’t laugh.”

We bless those of us who don’t have words for what we feel,

Whose strength lies in planning, hoping hard that action will be enough.

There is a space for you in the landscape of vulnerability.

We bless those of us who are confident,

knowing in our bones our own value.

We bless those of us who live with disability,

who find new ways of loving a body, its essence, its gifts,

not just what it can do with ease.

May we find a measure of strength again each day for the journey.

We bless you who try new things at age sixty, seventy, eighty.

May you find joy and not perfection.

We bless you who have to figure out how to relax, intentionally,

for whom retirement is a mystery to be tried one day at a time.

We bless you who never made enough money to retire;

Those who hesitate to sign anything because the Law has always taken away and never given.

May your name come to mean power and not suspicion.

We bless you who live with a government name or an assigned gender that doesn’t fit.

May the place where you live come to join you in embracing complexity.

We anoint those of us who don’t seek healthcare,

who seek self-sufficiency because it is safe and proud.

May you learn the rest and risk of being cared for.

We bless those who find courage in speaking up for others.

May you teach others your gift of saying hard things with kindness.

We bless you,

you whose hearts are a brilliant magnolia print and those whose hearts are plaid;

Those who live your masculinity in a skirt with sequins and boots, who learned how to work a sewing machine in secret.

We bless you who wait for others to speak first; those who use your power to lift up voices around you,

And those of us who don’t recognize our power and need to be witnessed again and again to know we are seen,

We bless you, we bless you, we bless you, we witness you.

We bless you who shelter us and are queer,

you who grow flowers.

Your children are all around you.

We bless today all the masculinities with us

and within us.

[many-sparrows]

Friends, does anyone here knit or crochet or make prayer shawls? I have heard from Pastor Sally Azar in Jerusalem and I will be sending her some prayer shawls for her congregants who have lost family in Gaza, and refugees as they trickle through the rafa border crossing, and maybe people sheltering at the Augusta Victoria Hospital and so on.

Do you want to participate, expressing solidarity and care for our siblings in Palestine? Does your church have a prayer shawl ministry that would like to contribute? (I'm looking particularly at you, clergy and div school friends). I will do everything in my power to facilitate this, I will literally pay your shipping costs if you need me to. I have a super fast crochet pattern I can send you.

Participation is open to all! Please let me know!

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

Y'ALL!! CHECK OUT THIS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS HANDMADE SIDDUR!

In this letterpress-printed and hand-bound pocket siddur, you'll find an intention-setting prayer to recite before taking a step towards gender transition and blessings for trans milestones like taking hormones or coming out. These texts draw on the rich and vibrant Jewish liturgical tradition in order to create new rituals for trans life.

The five texts in this book, printed in Hebrew, transliteration, and English translation, were originally written by Lexi Kohanski, Binya Koatz, Hannah Maya, and Rabbi Elliot Kukla for an online anthology called "Tefillat Trans," compiled by SVARA, a traditionally radical yeshiva in Chicago. With generous and enthusiastic permission from the authors and compilers, they are presented here in a deliciously ornamental chapbook, printed in deep purple ink and bound with gold and silver thread. It is dedicated to my friend and mentor Sarah Sands, who so beautifully exemplifies trans Jewish resilience and creative flourishing.

At its heart, this project is by Jewish trans people, for Jewish trans people. If that describes you and you cannot afford the price listed here, please reach out through the contact form on this website so that I can send you a copy at a sliding scale price which is accessible for you.

[psalmlover]

gorgeous prayer candle by FannyPippin on Etsy

[pratchettquotes]

"I thought you whispered something," said Agnes.

"I was, er, saying a short prayer," said Oats.

"Will that help?" said Agnes.

"Er...it helps me. The Prophet Brutha said that Om helps those who help one another."

"And does he?"

"To be honest, there are a number of opinions of what was meant."

Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

[austerity-audacity-asceticism]

a short reflection on st. francis of assisi

there are few saints as iconic as st. francis, and for very good reason. however, i think the current zeitgeist sort of removes the teeth from his legacy. he is known to be cheerful, generous, giving-- somebody who had an amazing force of personality.

but there is a thought that always come back to me when i try to contemplate my life: he failed the first time.

after his father sent him out, hoping that francis would return no longer a squire but a knight, francis stumbled back home, not even a month later, a failure. he was a lost young man. he wandered the woods nearby assisi. many scholars theorize that he was beginning to form his own ideologies at this time, but when he tried to act on it, his father prevented him from doing so.

he fixed a chapel, he read the Bible more, he prayed more, he talked to a priest more. the transformation and strengthening of his convictions took time. the visionary that set italy ablaze was still figuring out his own identity.

when it came to that crucial point when his own father disowned him, st. francis famously undressed and handed his clothing to his father, he said, "From now on I will no longer say, My Father Peter Bernadone, but Our Father who art in heaven."

even if he would spend his years thereafter struggling with the weight of his earthly father's abandonment, even if there were times when he was unsure if what he was doing was right, even if st. francis was not sure what he was supposed to do-- there was one part of his identity that remained always:

God was his father. He was a son.

in times of our uncertainty, in times when we look at the mirror and do not recognize the face looking back at us, let us take inspiration from the poorness of st. francis's soul, its simpleness-- it's complete reliance on the enduring truth that God will forever be our father.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.