Silwer vreugdesduiwe of bitter tranevloed: wanneer gebed 'n verskil maak

Ek lees die volgende gebed van Karl Rahner:



In the final analysis,
talking about prayer doesn’t matter;
rather, only the words that we ourselves say to God.
And one must say these words oneself.
Oh, they can be quiet, poor, and diffident.
They can rise up to God’s heaven
like silver doves from a happy heart, or
they can be the inaudible flowing of bitter tears.
They can be great and sublime
like thunder that crashes in the high mountains,
or diffident like the shy confession of a first love.
If they only come from the heart.
If they only might come from the heart.
And if only the Spirit of God prays them together also.
Then God hears them.
Then God will forget none of these words.
Then God will keep the words in his heart
because one cannot forget the words of love.
And then God will listen to us patiently, even blissfully,
an entire life long until we are through talking,
until we have spoken out our entire life.
And then God will say one single word of love,
but God is this word itself.
And then our heart will stop beating at this word.
For eternity.