Prayer Circle
A prayer circles is most simply where participants join hands in a literal circle of prayer, often as part of a vigil. Informal prayer circles have been practiced for centuries. Their recent resurgence in popularity is frequently attributed to their use in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. Similarly, amongst North American and specifically Native American Catholics, prayer circles have formed around Kateri Tekakwitha, who was the first Native American to be beatified by the Roman Catholic Church. Tekakwitha Conference prayer circles, called Kateri Prayer Circles, have been formed on nearly all U.S. Indian Reservations. In Islam, Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca will form concentric circles around the Kaaba in prayer, and these too are commonly referred to as prayer circles.
A prayer circle may also refer to some online communities where people share their thoughts and prayers with other like-minded worshippers, usually within specially-designated message board areas.
Famous quotes containing the words prayer and/or circle:
“Your sins have found you out, and now you must pay the price of all women like you. You have brought a child into this world against the commandment. Prayer is wasted on your sort. You should be cast out into the utter darkness ‘til you have learned your lesson. Michael Lewis do you admit your sin?... Then prepare to suffer your punishment.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)
“To love someone is to isolate him from the world, wipe out every trace of him, dispossess him of his shadow, drag him into a murderous future. It is to circle around the other like a dead star and absorb him into a black light.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)