The sixth passage of the Long Obligatory Prayer is as follows.
Thou seest, O my God, how my spirit hath been stirred up in my limbs and members in it's longing to worship Thee and its yearning to remember Thee and extol Thee; how it testifieth unto that whereunto the Tongue of Thy Commandment hath testified in the Kingdom of Thine utterance and the heaven of Thy knowledge. I love in this state, O my Lord, to beg of Thee all that is with Thee, that I may demonstrate my poverty, and magnify Thy bounty and Thy riches and may declare my powerlessness, and manifest Thy power and Thy might.
In this passage, the performer expresses love and gratitude for the act of prayer itself.
The first sentence is a recognition of the way in which the desire for prayer is felt throughout the body. This is because it too takes part in the lifting up of the prayer. As a whole, the Long Obligatory Prayer is very physical. Each passage is broken up by changes in posture. Sometimes one is standing with arms raised in supplication. Other times one is in prostration with the forehead to the floor. Other times one is sitting crosslegged. Each one of these postures is in its own way suited to the passage that is then recited.
In the third passage of the prayer we saw how God's transcendence above description is part and parcel with his sovereignty. But only the first part of this equation, the transcendence above description is contained in the words of the prayer. The recognition of his sovereignty enters the equation through the posture of the body. In that particular passage, body and mind testify each in their own way to some aspect of divinity. This is the most obvious example. But the theme of the body's silent participation is consistant throughout the Long Obligatory prayer.
In the next entry I'll take a look at the second line of this passage. It continues the expression of gratitude for prayer that begins in the first sentence. But it stands very much on its own. In fact, it is easily one of the most fascinating sentences in the entire prayer.
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3 comments:
Greg- thank you for these readings. i've been doing some thinking along these lines, too- the gratitude one can feel for the gift of prayer, and the ways that we come to approach or adore God through the 'icon' of a fixed prayer.
Yeah, the fixity of a prayer is a blessing inasmuch as it provides a consistent point of reference for engaging in devotion. Its something to fall back on when one's prayer life falls into shambles. Plus, since its a daily obligatory prayer it's a good way or reactivating a daily spiritual practice.
yes- i feel exactly the same way about my practice. and for the long obligatory prayer, there are so many things that one is saying. having that recitation gives one hope in fulfilling these things, and joy in being able to speak them. "i can pray, i can hope, i am alive".
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