When It Feels Impossible to Pray

Prayers for the Grieving

When words don't come easily, there are still ways to pray. This little book can be your entry to talking with God — with and without words — in this most difficult time. For those who have experienced a sudden and terrible loss, it is important to realize that you don’t have to do the things one normally associates with prayer to actually be connecting with God in a way that’s prayer-like. Just sit still, if you like. Grieving people often find themselves doing a lot of sitting still. Stunned. Allow yourself a time to be quiet, to answer to no one, to accomplish nothing at all. Quietness in itself is where prayerfulness begins. “In the end prayer’s essence is simply this: We need to open ourselves to God in such a way that we are capable of hearing God say to us, individually, ‘I love you!’” —Ronald Rolheiser