The "Thin Places" of Prayer

                                      Sea of Galilee - Father James Martin 

Father James Martin is a Jesuit priest whose generous Christian orthodoxy has led him to an inclusive outlook on the LGBTQ2 community with the accompanying wrath of a segment of Roman Catholics. His social activism is balanced with a personal devotional life which includes prayer.

He has written a new book called Learning to Pray:A Guide for Everyone, suggesting that there is no one way to pray. Even though releasing a book in a pandemic is not ideal, he offers this wise perspective in a Crux magazine interview:

 These days many of us are involuntary monks. Our lives are physically circumscribed, as they might be in a monastery. There has been a natural moving inward. That points us to prayer. Also, in times of discord, people look for a sense of stability. That also points us to prayer.

Martin also speaks in the book about what he calls "thin places" where we may be more attuned to God while in prayer. The notion of the  "thin place" comes from Celtic spirituality, in the November pagan celebration of Samhain, then incorporated in the Christian All Hallow's Eve and All Saints Day. It is a time of the year when the membrane between this life and the next is at it's most permeable.

Father Martin has posted photos of his "thin places," including a couple of chapels and a panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel. Many of us do feel that we have been ushered into the presence of God, the Creator, when we are in the natural world. What our senses give to us is a form of prayer, steeped in wonder, which may then be expressed in words, whether a hymn, or an exclamation, or a tumble of words of gratitude.

Perhaps we can all ask, as Father Martin did on Twitter, to identify our "thin places" of prayer.