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8 Foreword
prayed through the centuries. Robert Doud asks how we can be supported
in our own attempts to pray by what the Roman Catholic Church
traditionally calls ‘the communion of saints’. Bede Griffiths was a
Christian spiritual writer deeply influenced by Hinduism. Ambrose Ih-Ren
Mong explores his understanding of the Hindu concept of advaita, union
with the divine, and how this deepened Griffiths’s own faith. Finally,
prayer is at the heart of traditional religious life in community, and Loan
Le’s essay outlines the belief of the French Dominican Jean-Marie Tillard
that such a life could only be understood in the wider context of the
Church.
‘Say this when you pray’, said Jesus, and gave his disciples the Our
Father, a prayer that runs to only 66 words in the King James Version
of the Bible. There can be few followers of his who have been content
with that alone, and prayers, and words about prayers, have multiplied
ever since. Seen in one light, this edition of The Way is simply one more
addition to this conversation about conversing with God. But by pointing
not only to the prayers, but to those who are praying them, it may perhaps
invite you to join their number and explore for yourself what it takes to
deepen a life of prayer.
Paul Nicholson SJ
Editor