“Then a priestess said, ‘Speak to us of Prayer.’ And he answered, saying: ‘You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether? And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing. Therefore, let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking, you shall not receive: And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted: Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.
We cannot ask Our God for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us: Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. ‘ ”
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran, published in 1923, p. 74-76.
