When we talk about praying, usually the first image that comes into our minds is the one of old women kneeling in gloomy places, whispering unintelligible hymns.

Should only old people pray? Is it that only the ones who suffer, the dispossessed of the world are in need of praying?

Prayer is a dynamic process of dialogue with God. It is to elevate our minds to get in tune with the superior powers and from them extracting new ideas, fresh energy.

Without ready-made formulas, it must be dictated by our feelings. It is like opening our hearts to the good and dear Father.

Some defend that if God already knows everything there is no necessity of asking Him anything. He will give to all creatures everything they need.

What these people do not realize is that the Father indeed knows everything, He sees everything, but prayer has the virtue of opening the mental channels so that we can understand His answer. To pray is to become receptive to His support.

Does the answer always come? Let us remember Jesus’ lesson: “Everything you might ask to the Father in my name, He will concede.” Yes, the answer always comes.

What happens is that usually we do not realize it. Even because it does not always arrives through the way we expect it to do.

Divine answer is, sometimes, negative.  Other times, it comes through friends, through a message, intuitions, and other ways we do not even recognize.

And what to ask for? This is another doubt we might come across. Many defend that we should only ask for things to the spirit, and never ask for material things.

We have to agree that if we live in this word, we do need some material things.  What is the problem of asking for somebody’s health?

What is the difficulty in asking for help to get a dignified job, which will guarantee our sustenance?

What is the inconvenient if we request to the Divine Providence to stop the hunger that makes our bodies suffer or the cold that tortures them?

However, prayer is not only an endless plea. Above all, it is a given praise.

Teaching us how to pray, Jesus first praised the Creator of all things. “Sanctified be your name.”

And to teach resignation to the celestial spheres, He established: “Be done as you wish.”

Only after that did He give direction to a request.

Prayer is an everyday meal. Through joy and pain. Health and illnesses. Before our success or facing failures.

To pray with sincerity, knowing that it is not the extension of the pray that makes the difference, but its contents.

The best prayer comes from the man of good-will.

We should pray to God or Jesus, avoiding asking favours to familiars or friends who have already disincarnated, who are not in a position to attend our requests, for this attitude will only add to their worries.

Pray for us, for the sick, for the disincarnated, for the suicides, in special, for the ones who do not love. Pray for friends, as prayers sustain.

The teaching: “Pray for one another”, belongs to Christ.

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To pray favoring the ones who suffer has always constituted a valorous contribution to whom it has been directed to.

It does not solve their problem, it does not take their pain away, but it does soften the harshness of the test.

When the prayer is driven to the sick, it gives stimulus to the centre affected by the illnesses, restoring the equilibrium of the cells.

Prayer is always a balsam to the soul, and it becomes a remedy to the physical body.

A prayer makes people calmer, it gives equilibrium, makes life sweeter, and gives healthy results.

Text written by the Spiritist Moment Team, based on chapter 20 of the book Momentos de meditação, by the Spirit Joanna de Angelis, psychographed by Divaldo Pereira Franco. Publishing House: Leal. Translated by Huei Lin Allegretti.