Earlier this week as I was thinking about an acquaintance I met many years ago who had a great devotion to Padre Pio. I was reminded of St. Padre Pio’s quote “Prayer is the oxygen of the soul.”
Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. — St. Padre Pio
Powerful words from such a great saint. Words that really spoke to my soul and the need to make time for prayer in my own life.
With these words fresh in my mind and motivating me to re-prioritize my day and make time, not just yearn for more time in prayer, but make it happen, the words on prayer of another great and holy soul whose legacy and work I admire +++Herman Adrian Spruit came up in my reading:
Prayer is movement… I ask God, when I pray to manifest within me asa moving Force to take me from where I am to where I ought to be… Prayer is not a quiescent process of wool gathering in what I might think of as the Presence of the Lord. It may be a pious kind of good feeling. But it is not the Presence of God unless there is movement. In Prayer, I seek to apprehend that which I ought to be, the place in life I should be occupying, the boon of a blessing I sorely need… Prayer is Motion. It is God in Motion within me. — Patriarch Herman Adrian Spruit
Spruit, Herman A. THE SACRAMENTARIAN pgs 86-87
Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. Prayer is God in Motion within me. Powerful, renewing, sustaining, energizing thoughts to reflect upon as I strive to prioritize quiet time for prayer in my life.
My podcast I host and produce Spei Lumina — Lights of Hope, just celebrated it’s 1 year anniversary and the completion of our first season. I started Spei Lumina and exploring imaginal prayer and striving to transform the negativity of most media into something that helps us pause, pray, and respond as God inspires us or illuminates our imagination to respond to the issues around us in order to help myself and hopefully others move from reacting to the media’s influence on us and responding as God inspires us to respond.
Like St. Padre Pio who saw the importance of prayer as oxygen of the soul and Patriarch Herman Adrian Spruitt who saw prayer as God in Motion within ourselves, it is my hope that Spei Lumina and the imaginal prayer exercises we explore help provide that oxygen to those wandering souls worn by the negativity of the world around us and help all souls pause and take time to provide that space for the Divine to illuminate and be in motion within ourselves.
Please check out Spei Lumina on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.