What this means is that prayer can be...

What this means is that prayer can be learned only in the vocabulary and grammar of personal relationship: Father! Friend! It can never be a matter of getting the right words in the right order. It can never be a matter of good behavior or proper disposition or skillful manipulation. It can ever be a matter of acquiring some information about God or getting in touch with myself. It is a relationship, exclusively and unendingly personal. And so it is imperative that we watch our language gauge, for the personal is constantly and increasingly in danger of suppression by the arrogant and…