猶大人的祈禱

昨晚教會祈禱會學習到的引句，讓一年伊始我們都作個禱告人 !

PRAYER IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL in conversation with GOD. It is the most intimate gesture of the religious life and the most transformative.
禱告是靈魂與上主交談的語言，它是宗教生活中最親密的，也是最有轉化力的姿態。

In prayer we speak to a presence vaster than the unfathomable universe, yet closer to us than we are to ourselves: the God beyond who is also the Voice within.
在禱告時，我們向一個比這無窮的宇宙更大的存在講話，然而這存在卻又比我們自己還要接近我們：在外面的神也同時是在裡面的聲音。

Without prayer, something within us atrophies and dies. It is possible to have a life without prayer, just as it is possible to have a life without music, or love, or laughter, but it is a diminished thing, missing whole dimensions of experience. We need space within the soul to express our joy in being, our wonder at the universe, our hopes, our fears, our failures, our resolves, bring our deepest thoughts as an offering to the One who listens, and listening, in turn, to the One who calls.
沒有禱告的話，我們裡面的一些東西會衰敗及死亡。生活而沒有禱告是可能的，但就如生活沒有音樂，沒有愛，沒有歡笑，都是可能的，只是這種生活是一種萎靡的東西，失去了經驗的完整層面。我們需要靈魂內在的空間去表達我們存活中的喜悅，我們對受造的宇宙的讚歎，我們的盼望，我們的恐懼，我們的挫敗，我們的決心，我們帶者我們最深層的思想來到那聽我們的一位面前作為供物，也聆聽那位發出呼召者。

There is space in Judaism for private meditation, personal plea. But when we pray publicly we do so as members of a people who have served, spoken to, and wrestled with God for longer, in more varied circumstances than any other in history.
在猶太教裡，有私下默想和作個人懇求的空間。但當我們公共地禱告時，我們就要如作為子民中的一分子那樣地禱告，這子民比歷史中的其他人更長時間服侍上主，跟祂說話，跟祂摔交。

(Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, “Understanding Jewish Prayer”)
英聯邦首席拉比 約拿單薩士 〈了解猶太的禱告〉