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    The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray
    The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray
    The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray
    Ebook84 pages1 hour

    The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray

    By Ron DelBene

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    About this ebook

    In this book, Ron DelBene introduces a concept of prayer that will help persons new to prayer as well as veterans of the life of prayer. The Breath Prayer is a short prayer of praise and petition that is meant to help us become aware of the presence of God. It is a way to have on our lips what is always in our heart, DelBene explains.

    The author leads the leader to discover his or her own personal and individualized breath prayer, a prayer that may be prayed at any time of the day or night. He gives historical examples of the breath prayer used in ancient writings as well as modern-day examples of how persons have utilized and been helped by this way of praying

    Other titles in the The Breath of Life Series are The Hunger of the Heart: A Call to Spiritual Growth and Alone with God: A Guide for Personal Retreats, both written by Ron DelBene with Mary and Herb Montgomery.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWipf and Stock
    Release dateDec 1, 2005
    ISBN9781630871215
    The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray
    Author

    Ron DelBene

    Ron DelBene has been doing spiritual direction and leading programs in the area of spirituality and pastoral care across the country since 1963. He holds a Master's agree in Theology and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Spirituality and Organizational Systems.

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      Book preview

      The Breath of Life - Ron DelBene

      Preface

      My friendship with Ron DelBene has established itself through the years. We first met when Ron had a newly acquired master’s degree in theology, and we both worked at a publishing company in Minneapolis—Ron as their national consultant in religion and me as an edi­tor. Although our careers have long since taken different paths, we have remained friends, and I have had the privilege of watching Ron grow personally and profes­sionally.

      Ron came of age during the turbulent sixties when religious institutions and traditional values were being challenged. He met those challenges with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn and grow—traits that have characterized his ministry and his own spiritual journey. Always moving on, Ron brought a dynamic force and his personal style to teaching, campus ministry, and renewal movements. After experiencing success in the business world, he was called to be ordained a priest in 1979 and in the years since has been active in parish ministry. Spiritual direction has long been an important part of Ron’s call to serve. In addition to giving spiritual direc­tion privately, he has traveled extensively to conduct con­ferences and lead retreats on spiritual development. In all his endeavors, Ron has been nurtured and supported by his family that includes Eleanor, his wife, and their chil­dren, Paul and Anne.

      The sum of Ron’s experiences gives him a particular empathy with those searching for meaning and purpose in their lives. A person of prayer himself, Ron feels strongly that prayer is at the heart of life. At seminars and retreats and in private sessions on spiritual direction, he has helped people discover their breath prayer—a prayer so simple that, when it is practiced faithfully, it comes as easily and naturally as breathing.

      When Ron told me about the breath prayer and its ef­fect on people’s lives, I encouraged him to extend his ministry by writing about it. He always found reasons not to, and finding time invariably headed the list. Fi­nally, I suggested that we collaborate, and the result was The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray. After its publica­tion, we collaborated on two other books: The Hunger of the Heart: A Call to Spiritual Growth and Alone with God: A Guide for Personal Retreats. Some ten years later all three books were still much in demand but needed updating. Ron and I invited my wife, Mary, who is also a writer, to join us in revising the books that are being reissued as The Breath of Life Series. The three of us want to thank Janice Lilly for reading the books and making editorial suggestions.

      Ron encourages those who come to him for spiritual direction to record their thoughts in journals that they then share with him. These deeply felt writings let us glimpse what happens when we choose to let God enter more fully into our lives. A number of journal entries are included in this book, and all are used with permission. The entries appear as they were written, but in the inter­est of privacy, names and some identifying details have been changed. The hope of those who let their entries be used is that others will benefit from their experiences.

      Throughout The Breath of Life you will find numerous quotations about prayer and the spiritual life. For the most part they were written during earlier centuries when the male pronoun referred to both male and female and was used exclusively in referring to God. Ron chose the quotations because he believes that what the writers have to say is of such value that readers will not let the noninclusive language get in the way of the message.

      The Breath of Life is an invitation to broaden your spiritual horizons by discovering your breath prayer—a prayer that will put on your lips what is always in your heart. The hope of all of us who have worked on this book is that you will discover for yourself how this short, simple prayer of praise and petition can help you more fully experience the presence and power of God in your everyday life.

      Herb Montgomery

      Chapter 1

      When God’s Time and Our Time Intersect

      Often things happen to us that have a meaning we don’t understand at the time. Yet we know that something of unusual importance has occurred. We may be sitting with a friend or reading or listening to music or walking alone in nature when something alerts us. Like Moses at the burning bush, we proceed carefully, aware that we are on holy ground. God’s time and our time intersect, and we have the gift to know it.

      These experiences are not as rare as some would have us think. Based on my own life and what others have shared with me, I have come to believe that being aware of when God’s time and our time intersect is not only a possibility—it is something we are called to. My own life has included a number of such experiences. As I share a few of them, you may feel that some, or all of them, are quite ordinary. Indeed, they may be, but while each was occurring I was aware of myself and my God in a mysterious and beautiful way.

      I was an adult before I could share how, as a young boy, I knelt in a candle-lit mission church in a small Ohio city and knew that I had seen into heaven, but dared not say so to anyone. God’s time and my time had inter­sected, and as a child, I had the gift to know it.

      Another incident occurred one Sunday evening in October of 1963.

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