Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Prayer has the power to heal the inner self, although it may not solve physical problems.
This quote by Abraham Joshua Heschel emphasizes the transformative power of prayer on a personal and spiritual level. While it may not address material or physical needs, prayer has the ability to nurture the spirit, repair emotional wounds, and strengthen one’s willpower, thus providing a sense of solace and resilience in times of hardship.
Themes
PrayerHealingSpiritualitySoulStrength
In practice
Example use cases
During a spiritual retreat, this quote can be shared to inspire participants to focus on inner healing.
More from Abraham Joshua Heschel
All quotes →Normal consciousness is a state of stupor, in which the sensibility to the wholly real and responsiveness to the stimuli of the spirit are reduced. The mystics, knowing that man is involved in a hidden history of the cosmos, endeavor to awake from the drowsiness and apathy and to regain the state of wakefulness for their enchanted souls.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
The worship of reason is arrogance and betrays a lack of intelligence. The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
We worship God through our questions.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
The true meaning of existence is disclosed in moments of living in the presence of God
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
Similar quotes
Most things don't work out as expected, but what happens instead often turns out to be the good stuff.
Judi DenchRead
If knowing yourself and being yourself were as easy to do as to talk about, there wouldn't be nearly so many people walking around in borrowed postures, spouting secondhand ideas, trying desperately to fit in rather than to stand out.
Warren G. BennisRead
Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people... or find a different room.
Michael DellRead
Whatever your work and whatever its worth, No matter how strong or clever, Some one will sneer if you pause to hear, And scoff at your best endeavor. For the target art has a broad expanse, And wherever you chance to hit it, Though close be your aim to the bull's-eye fame, There are those who will never admit it.
Ella Wheeler WilcoxRead
I do not know an instance of a major mathematical advance initiated by a man past fifty
G. H. HardyRead
Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding, our identity, and our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting… We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it and making it part of ourselves. That is how we grow.
Timothy KellerRead