There is yet another form of prayer that is recognized in the Eastern Church, it is called the Many-to-One Prayer. We must always remember that on our Spiritual Journey – the Journey of Life – we are not isolated individuals, each groping our own lonely way on our own separate paths. Even though each person’s journey is unique, we still are on a common journey with   others. With them we reach out to God. With them we encounter Father, Son and Holy Spirit in various ways. We can call this common reaching out to God the Many-To-One form of prayer, or even the Prayer of Encounter because Jesus promised, “Where two or three of you are gathered in my name, there I am in your midst.” In meeting one another,   believers meet the Lord. When believers gather, Jesus is present and praying with them. He is part of the many who are reaching out to the Father. In meeting one another we become Church, which Paul describes as the Body of Christ, with Christ being the head and the rest of us being the members of this one body.

This prayer of encounter takes many different forms. When people gather to celebrate the Eucharist, they meet the Lord not only as individuals but as a group. The individual’s voice is joined to that of the group; the individual’s needs are joined to the needs of all the others in the group. Together, all those present and the entire Church reach out to the Lord in response to the Lord’s reaching into their lives. Because the believers are gathered   by the power of the Holy Spirit, what happens when they come together is more than the sum of our individual efforts.

Sometimes people find it difficult to meet God through a formal religious ritual because the words and actions are foreign to their experience. The words of the ritual are not their own and are not understood by them. This is one reason why I have shared with you my Liturgical Scavenger Hunt, to help all of us make the words and ideas of the Divine Liturgy our own words and ideas!