I often complain about "not having enough time for God" in my day. Apparently, God got a bit weary of hearing that, so he made time in my day this week. Twice. On Friday, I dropped my kids off at school, which means I get to work early. Usually that means I simply start work earlier. But as I neared my usual exit to work off the interstate, there was a huge traffic jam on the off ramp. Annoyed, I decide to go up to the next exit instead. It is the long way around, but it was going to be far shorter than sitting in the long line on the highway. But then a thought came to me. By taking this other exit, I would go right past a nearby church. This church has a Eucharistic adoration chapel which I like to go to, but I usually cannot go there, because they close the chapel at noon during the week. However, at this time it would be open. So I went there for a brief but fruitful period of adoration.
The second instance was Saturday. I was attending a day-long workshop on marriage at our local seminary. It was supposed to end around 3:15 that afternoon. We have confession at our parish on Saturdays at 3:00, and it had been 2 1/2 months since my last confession, so I was far past due to go. However, my son had been at a sleep over at a friend's house, and I didn't want to take too long relieving the parents. To my surprise and delight, the workshop ended before 3:00, and I was able to get to confession and still pick up my son just about on time.
I think this week God was saying, "Ok, this time I'll make the time in your week. But from now on, it's up to you!"
I was reading Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth today and came across the section where he talks about Jesus' temptation in the desert. The Holy Father writes:
At the heart of all temptations, as we see here, is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives (p. 51-Large Print edition).
This is in fact what I do, although I tell myself soothing rationalizations (lies) to make me believe that I am doing something far less grievous than this.
All of which ties in nicely with today's readings at mass. The first reading from Sirach and the Gospel reading from Luke focus on humility. Sirach tells us: "Humble yourself more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God" (Sirach 3:18). Jesus is our example here. He, Who is God, humbled Himself to become a human and to suffer a death of derision and humiliation. Then in the Gospel, we hear: "For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). Jesus, Who humbled Himself, was exalted in the resurrection. We are told that if we wish to participate in the "resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:14), then we must humble ourselves.
It is important for me to remember that pride--the opposite of humility--is making myself more important than God, more important than my neighbor. It is about exalting my time, my will, above the One Who humbled Himself unto death--for me. I pray that I will keep this in mind the next time I wish to sleep in instead of saying morning prayer or turn in at night without praying, even though found the time to watch television.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Writing Our Own Prayers
Sometimes we may feel that the only prayers worth praying are one written by other people. We certainly should feed on the treasury of prayer that has developed over the centuries by people who have diligently pursued closeness to God. The Psalms have been such a treasury for both Jewish and Christian believers for millennia. The Lord's Prayer has a special place, of course, because it came from the lips of Jesus. The Hail Mary is the foundational prayer of the Rosary. Prayers by such saints as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Patrick, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Teresa of Avila, and others can be tremendous helps to guide our thoughts towards God and deepen our relationship with and understanding of Him.
However, it is important that we learn to pray from our own hearts as well, to speak to God in our own words and through our own thoughts and feelings. We can even write our own prayers that we can pray again and again. Without any prompting, my daughter has written two prayers of her own in the last couple of days.
While the grammar and theology of these prayers may not always be precise (it is of course not possible for us to love God as much as He loves us), they are beautiful expressions of love for God.
Here is the translation into standard English:
Lord, let us praise you from our hearts. We love you as much as you love us. We promise to bow before you and worship you. I will show you love in the name of my heart. My family will praise you and so will I. Amen.
Store up your minds with all your love. We will worship you as the holy king of heaven. I love you as Mary, your mother loved you. Your father God has been a friend to all people and so have you. We thank you for all your help and teaching. Amen.
My daughter is teaching me a great deal about a contemplative life saturated with the presence of God. Hopefully, I can store up my mind with such love.
However, it is important that we learn to pray from our own hearts as well, to speak to God in our own words and through our own thoughts and feelings. We can even write our own prayers that we can pray again and again. Without any prompting, my daughter has written two prayers of her own in the last couple of days.
While the grammar and theology of these prayers may not always be precise (it is of course not possible for us to love God as much as He loves us), they are beautiful expressions of love for God.
Here is the translation into standard English:
God's Praying Prayer
Lord, let us praise you from our hearts. We love you as much as you love us. We promise to bow before you and worship you. I will show you love in the name of my heart. My family will praise you and so will I. Amen.
The Holy Prayer
Store up your minds with all your love. We will worship you as the holy king of heaven. I love you as Mary, your mother loved you. Your father God has been a friend to all people and so have you. We thank you for all your help and teaching. Amen.
My daughter is teaching me a great deal about a contemplative life saturated with the presence of God. Hopefully, I can store up my mind with such love.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Desire for Prayer
Prayer is something every person of faith struggles with. The saints often speak of "dry periods." Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta went through many, many years of such a dry period. St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, as well as St. Therese of Lisieux experienced different versions of this dryness.
In his excellent book, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist, Michael Dubruiel tells a story about cultivating a desire to pray:
One day a boy was watching a holy man pray on the banks of a river in India. When the holy man had completed his prayer the boy went over and asked him, "Will you teach me to pray?" The holy man studied the boy's face carefully. Then he gripped the boy's head in his hands and plunged it forcefully into the water. The boy struggled frantically, trying to free himself in order to breathe. Finally, the holy man released his hold. When the boy was able to breathe, he gasped, "What did you do that for?" The holy man said, "I just gave you your first lesson." "What do you mean?" asked the astonished boy. "Well," said the holy man, "when you long to pray as much as you longed to breathe when your head was under water--only then will I be able to teach you to pray." (p. 58)
Don't try this at home. Despite the resemblances to waterboarding, there is an important message here. One of the Acts of Contrition includes: "In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You whom I should love above all things." We certainly do not act as if we love God above all things. When we are drowning, what we want above all things is to breathe. That is how we are to love God.
Of course, as people wounded by Original Sin, we cannot love God to the fullest in this way. But it is an ideal for us to strive toward. Obviously, the holy man in the story is using hyperbole. Like infants, we must crawl before we can walk, walk before we can run. Baby steps.
It is often said--because it is true--that if we pray when we do not feel like praying, that is some of our most powerful and edifying prayer. So let us reach for the holy man's example but find solace if we only have the boy's curiosity at this point. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus started out at one level of relationship with Jesus, but they finished that road trip at a very different level.
In his excellent book, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist, Michael Dubruiel tells a story about cultivating a desire to pray:
One day a boy was watching a holy man pray on the banks of a river in India. When the holy man had completed his prayer the boy went over and asked him, "Will you teach me to pray?" The holy man studied the boy's face carefully. Then he gripped the boy's head in his hands and plunged it forcefully into the water. The boy struggled frantically, trying to free himself in order to breathe. Finally, the holy man released his hold. When the boy was able to breathe, he gasped, "What did you do that for?" The holy man said, "I just gave you your first lesson." "What do you mean?" asked the astonished boy. "Well," said the holy man, "when you long to pray as much as you longed to breathe when your head was under water--only then will I be able to teach you to pray." (p. 58)
Don't try this at home. Despite the resemblances to waterboarding, there is an important message here. One of the Acts of Contrition includes: "In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You whom I should love above all things." We certainly do not act as if we love God above all things. When we are drowning, what we want above all things is to breathe. That is how we are to love God.
Of course, as people wounded by Original Sin, we cannot love God to the fullest in this way. But it is an ideal for us to strive toward. Obviously, the holy man in the story is using hyperbole. Like infants, we must crawl before we can walk, walk before we can run. Baby steps.
It is often said--because it is true--that if we pray when we do not feel like praying, that is some of our most powerful and edifying prayer. So let us reach for the holy man's example but find solace if we only have the boy's curiosity at this point. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus started out at one level of relationship with Jesus, but they finished that road trip at a very different level.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
On Prayer - Short Prayers
I do not spend enough time in prayer. Does that sound familiar to anyone else? I understand that Fr. Mitch Pacwa has a chapter in one of his books called, "If not wicked, then busy." I let busyness be my excuse, although it's not a good one. But I also received very good advice in confession one time when the priest told me to pray many times during the day in short, spontaneous prayer. I do that more now, and I do find it beneficial. In his book, Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women, Dom Hubert van Zeller reminds us that God expects us to pray in accord with our state in life. "The only serious mistake you are liable to make is to confuse the requirements of your sort of prayer with those of the contemplative nun's. The effect of both yours and hers have to be the same; it is the expression that differs" (pp. 26-27).
He also advocates being direct in prayer (p. 34). To that end, I have thought about short prayers that have meaning to me. Here are some of them.
Come, Lord Jesus.
This comes from Revelation 22:20 and is the second-to-the-last verse in the Bible. Another variation of this occurs in St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (16:22): "Our Lord, come" (Aramaic: maranatha). This prayer can be helpful for initiating spiritual communion. I imagine being present at one of the tabernacles I visit for Eucharistic adoration.
Be opened!
This comes from Mark 7:34. A man who was deaf with impaired speech was brought to Jesus. Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, spat and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven and sighed, and then said: "'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly" (34-35). I love the fact that Jesus sighed. Such a powerful expression of compassion in such a small gesture. What a truly inspiring prayer without words in that sigh! As Dom van Zeller says, "All you have to do is to lay your soul open to the impulse of grace" (p. 26). I think of "Be opened" when I try to make myself available to that grace.
Hold me in Your gaze.
Thanks to Fr. Mark from the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma and his wonderful blog, Vultus Christi (The Face of Christ) for this one. This entry is from February 23, 2009:
Held in His Gaze
Mother Marie-Thérèse Bonnin, a French Benedictine of Jesus Crucified, remarked that nothing "repaired" her soul like the contemplation of the Holy Face. In 1940 she wrote:
I have need of prayer in the same way one has need of recuperating physically. Time passes quickly close to Him. It is not that I feel anything, it is enough to know that I am held in His gaze, enough to believe in His love.
This is a good prayer to say while in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
This comes from one of my favorite formal prayers, the Anima Christi (Soul of Christ). I like to use this prayer when I am tempted, or when I feel overwhelmed.
I thirst.
This comes from John 19:28. It is one of the seven sayings of Christ from the cross. It calls to mind Psalm 42:
As a hart longs for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus links this saying and Psalm 42 in Chapter 5 of his book, Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross.
This prayer helps me to increase my longing for God, to recognize that I need God more than I need water to live.
Come, Holy Spirit.
When my wife and I went on an Engaged Encounter weekend nine years ago last month to prepare for the sacrament of Marriage (and I can't say enough good things about Engaged Encounter), I had a very powerful experience through the sacrament of Penance. In my room at the retreat house was a plaque that had the words, Veni, Spritus Sanctus (Come, Holy Spirit). It was painfully (literally) clear to me then and now that the Holy Spirit was at work in me. There is a holy water fount outside our bedroom door with a dove on it, and that fount acts as a reminder to say Come, Holy Spirit, and to remember that encounter with the Third Person of the Trinity who I have known the least. This prayer helps me to remember that I need to get to know the Holy Spirit a whole lot better. I also use this prayer before reading scripture, especially when praying using lectio divina.
God, be merciful to me a sinner.
This comes from Luke 18:13. It is the story of the tax collector who knows he is a sinner and asks God for mercy, and the Pharisee who forgets that he too is a sinner and a brother to the tax collector. That is easy for us to forget. One of the things I have gotten out of the habit of doing is an examination of conscience before bed. I had best start that practice again tonight. And yet, while we need to be mindful of our sinfulness, we also need to be mindful of God's mercy. So much of the scriptures is God telling us the mercy that awaits us if we come to Him. Clearly this was Jesus' message to St. Faustina.
Yes.
I use this as shorthand for Mary's "yes" when she answered the angel Gabriel's message that she would bear the Messiah. She said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). This is challenging stuff, because Mary is actually offering herself as a "slave" to the Lord (the Greek is δουλη or doule; the Vulgate translates it as ancilla). As Americans especially, we don't like to think that way. But Luke is trying to convey the complete openness of Mary to doing God's will, even if it is contrary to her own. We see this with Jesus when he asks in the garden of Gethsemane: "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). We see this when Peter, repenting of his denial of Jesus by giving his three statements expressing his love for Jesus after the Resurrection, is told by Jesus:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, "Follow me."
So we are asked to say "yes," and not count the cost, knowing that God will lead us to Himself if we just let him, if we just follow him.
He also advocates being direct in prayer (p. 34). To that end, I have thought about short prayers that have meaning to me. Here are some of them.
Come, Lord Jesus.
This comes from Revelation 22:20 and is the second-to-the-last verse in the Bible. Another variation of this occurs in St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (16:22): "Our Lord, come" (Aramaic: maranatha). This prayer can be helpful for initiating spiritual communion. I imagine being present at one of the tabernacles I visit for Eucharistic adoration.
Be opened!
This comes from Mark 7:34. A man who was deaf with impaired speech was brought to Jesus. Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, spat and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven and sighed, and then said: "'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly" (34-35). I love the fact that Jesus sighed. Such a powerful expression of compassion in such a small gesture. What a truly inspiring prayer without words in that sigh! As Dom van Zeller says, "All you have to do is to lay your soul open to the impulse of grace" (p. 26). I think of "Be opened" when I try to make myself available to that grace.
Hold me in Your gaze.
Thanks to Fr. Mark from the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma and his wonderful blog, Vultus Christi (The Face of Christ) for this one. This entry is from February 23, 2009:
Held in His Gaze
Mother Marie-Thérèse Bonnin, a French Benedictine of Jesus Crucified, remarked that nothing "repaired" her soul like the contemplation of the Holy Face. In 1940 she wrote:
I have need of prayer in the same way one has need of recuperating physically. Time passes quickly close to Him. It is not that I feel anything, it is enough to know that I am held in His gaze, enough to believe in His love.
This is a good prayer to say while in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
This comes from one of my favorite formal prayers, the Anima Christi (Soul of Christ). I like to use this prayer when I am tempted, or when I feel overwhelmed.
I thirst.
This comes from John 19:28. It is one of the seven sayings of Christ from the cross. It calls to mind Psalm 42:
As a hart longs for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus links this saying and Psalm 42 in Chapter 5 of his book, Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross.
This prayer helps me to increase my longing for God, to recognize that I need God more than I need water to live.
Come, Holy Spirit.
When my wife and I went on an Engaged Encounter weekend nine years ago last month to prepare for the sacrament of Marriage (and I can't say enough good things about Engaged Encounter), I had a very powerful experience through the sacrament of Penance. In my room at the retreat house was a plaque that had the words, Veni, Spritus Sanctus (Come, Holy Spirit). It was painfully (literally) clear to me then and now that the Holy Spirit was at work in me. There is a holy water fount outside our bedroom door with a dove on it, and that fount acts as a reminder to say Come, Holy Spirit, and to remember that encounter with the Third Person of the Trinity who I have known the least. This prayer helps me to remember that I need to get to know the Holy Spirit a whole lot better. I also use this prayer before reading scripture, especially when praying using lectio divina.
God, be merciful to me a sinner.
This comes from Luke 18:13. It is the story of the tax collector who knows he is a sinner and asks God for mercy, and the Pharisee who forgets that he too is a sinner and a brother to the tax collector. That is easy for us to forget. One of the things I have gotten out of the habit of doing is an examination of conscience before bed. I had best start that practice again tonight. And yet, while we need to be mindful of our sinfulness, we also need to be mindful of God's mercy. So much of the scriptures is God telling us the mercy that awaits us if we come to Him. Clearly this was Jesus' message to St. Faustina.
Yes.
I use this as shorthand for Mary's "yes" when she answered the angel Gabriel's message that she would bear the Messiah. She said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). This is challenging stuff, because Mary is actually offering herself as a "slave" to the Lord (the Greek is δουλη or doule; the Vulgate translates it as ancilla). As Americans especially, we don't like to think that way. But Luke is trying to convey the complete openness of Mary to doing God's will, even if it is contrary to her own. We see this with Jesus when he asks in the garden of Gethsemane: "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). We see this when Peter, repenting of his denial of Jesus by giving his three statements expressing his love for Jesus after the Resurrection, is told by Jesus:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, "Follow me."
So we are asked to say "yes," and not count the cost, knowing that God will lead us to Himself if we just let him, if we just follow him.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Caravaggio and the Rest on the Flight into Egypt
I was looking at Caravaggio's Rest on the Flight into Egypt (ca. 1597). I love the picture of Mary holding the infant Jesus (even if Mary looks like she's from Ireland or perhaps Northern Italy with her red hair rather than a Middle Eastern Jewish woman). The full picture includes Joseph listening to an angel play a violin. That's part of the angel's wing in the part of the picture shown above.
The image of Mary holding Jesus in her arms as both sleep is so peaceful. At mass on Saturday I contemplated this image as I was receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. Anyone who has held a sleeping baby knows the peacefulness of the contact of flesh to flesh, of the little heart beating against your chest. You know the joy of holding someone who loves so purely, so completely. I thought about Jesus as that little baby, as the one in my hands who holds me and loves so purely, so completely.
I have also tried to reverse that image to enhance my prayer life. Jesus taught us to call God not just "our father," but "our dada" (abba). We are to become like a child, totally dependent on the one who gave us life. So I try to think of myself as a baby, being held tightly in God the Father's arms, resting, being soothed, trying to be as close to Him as I can get.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
More on listening
I was thinking more about listening, and remembered Samuel's response to the Lord: "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Samuel 3:10).
I tried to be a listening servant while saying the Rosary today. During the Fifth Glorious Mystery, the Crowning of Mary, Queen of Heaven, I was thinking about Mary and how she leads us to Jesus. It reminded me of the icons of her and the Infant Jesus, where she is pointing towards him. These images of her are known as the hodogetria, meaning "One who shows the way." Mary shows us the way to Jesus.
The image of rivers running to the sea came to mind to describe how Mary and the Communion of Saints help bring us to Jesus. They are a multitude of rivers, rushing to the Jesus, who is the sea. Mary is perhaps like the Amazon, or the Mississippi: a great river into which many other rivers, the saints, meet to join together in their journey to the sea. Those of us on earth are like boats, which sail upon their guiding waters so we can put out to sea in our heavenly home with Jesus.
We do not worship Mary and the saints; instead, their earthly lives serve as examples to us of how to live, and through their prayers they intercede with us to help us live the lives God has called us to live. Mary and the saints show us the way to Jesus.
I tried to be a listening servant while saying the Rosary today. During the Fifth Glorious Mystery, the Crowning of Mary, Queen of Heaven, I was thinking about Mary and how she leads us to Jesus. It reminded me of the icons of her and the Infant Jesus, where she is pointing towards him. These images of her are known as the hodogetria, meaning "One who shows the way." Mary shows us the way to Jesus.
The image of rivers running to the sea came to mind to describe how Mary and the Communion of Saints help bring us to Jesus. They are a multitude of rivers, rushing to the Jesus, who is the sea. Mary is perhaps like the Amazon, or the Mississippi: a great river into which many other rivers, the saints, meet to join together in their journey to the sea. Those of us on earth are like boats, which sail upon their guiding waters so we can put out to sea in our heavenly home with Jesus.
We do not worship Mary and the saints; instead, their earthly lives serve as examples to us of how to live, and through their prayers they intercede with us to help us live the lives God has called us to live. Mary and the saints show us the way to Jesus.
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