Prayer

In its simplest sense, prayer is the soul's communication with God, often completely unverbalized conversation with the ground or core of all being. Prayer, above all, is not magic -- the polite coercion of an unwilling God into doing our will. Nor is it the attempt, by wheedling, pleading, and cajoling, to get God to change his mind, as though he were some capricious tyrant in need of obsequious courtiers. Prayer makes changes in us, not in God. It's a little like tuning the radio or TV dial in order to open the right channel to the infilling of his Spirit. Nor is prayer for others an attempt to alter God's actions. Rather, it unleashes an unseen but very real energy towards others. The power of the mind, tuned to God and directed to the good of others, is a dynamic that may be as yet little understood, but it is undeniably active in our world.
-- Tom Harpur