Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 178 -
PETER SUGGESTS THANKING AND PETITIONING. URON'S SIGNIFICANT REJECTION OF THE PRAYER TO GOD.
1
(Says Peter): "The Lord's omnipotence is His eternal order from which you, as well as all of infinity, have originated. If the Lord now wanted to change you, He would first have to change His entire order. This He is most unlikely ever to do, considering the fact that He Himself is this order.
2
However, your lives until now can be described as extremely comfortable and carefree; you have to overcome no resistance whatsoever, and nothing ever causes you trouble or costs you an effort. From birth until your voluntary departure from your body, you know of no imperfection worth mentioning, consequently, of no self-denial.
3
You are well aware that you, with your entire world, are the work of a supremely wise Divine Spirit Whom you highly revere. But have you ever prayed to Him for something or thanked Him for any of the great blessings He keeps bestowing upon you so abundantly?
4
Until now you have lived as if completely independent of Him. Would it be asking too much if in the future you condescended to become a little more dependent on Him? Speak again and tell me faithfully what you decide to do."
5
(Says the sage): "Friend, we would like that, indeed! Especially as concerns the gratitude we owe Him for so many and great blessings. We shall do our best to express this to the great, holy Giver of innumerable wonderful gifts from the bottom of our hearts. However, as far as petitions are concerned, I cannot agree with that at all, for I look upon every petition as an insult to divine wisdom.
6
For, by praying to the Godhead, I obviously profess to having better insight than God - in a way claiming to know better what I need than the Lord Himself. I think that even a child of God should not presume to do this; other creatures even less.
7
Besides, a prayer appears to me like a polite combat in which the creature endeavors to conquer a certain harshness and kind of stubborn cruelty in the Creator, and thus triumphing over Him.
8
Really, friend, I would rather not exist at all than approach the wisest and kindest almighty Creator with a petition as if I knew better than He what I need, or by praying for others show that I am more merciful than He. What kind of reverence for God, the ever wisest and mightiest spirit, would that be?
9
Therefore, my answer to your proposal is as follows: We want forever to completely depend on Him, as has been the case so far, for it is quite impossible to depend on anyone else. Thus, we shall forever thank Him - from the depths of our being - for every one of His gifts which we acknowledge as infinitely kind. However, we shall not, nor do we want to or can, ask Him for anything, for we are fully convinced that the Lord knows so much better what we need and He does not have to be reminded of it by miserable creatures. Thus, be it far from us to insinuate to Him by means of a prayer that He is a harsh God and has a weakness that can only be brought into the proper order by petitions on the part of His creatures.
10
Friend, all of us respect God, the Supreme Spirit, too highly and have too sublime an opinion of His perfection, that we could ever forget ourselves to such an extent as to approach with a petition Him Who has made us, without being asked, as perfect as is necessary for us.
11
We shall always thank Him for the many blessings and gifts, the smallest of which is so great and holy that we shall hardly ever be able to fully appreciate it. However, as already stressed, we shall never offend with a petition against Him, the Most Holy and Perfect One.
12
You may please yourself, but with all your wisdom you will not likely succeed in convincing us that we should pray to Him, unless the Lord Himself expressly demanded it. Naturally, no creature can ever oppose the will of God. Otherwise, we shall remain free in our actions and do what we consider right before God, men, and angels."