The Love of the Father be with you! Pax Christi vobiscum! Come Holy Spirit!
...OOOOHHH, livin' on a prayer!
Well, since we finished the last post (almost a month ago...heh, but I did get one in during March!) with a hint of things to come, I figured we'd pick up where we left off: how to pray. And the hint I gave at the end of the last post is a good starting point for this one. I quoted the 11th chapter of Luke's Gospel where the disciples say to the Lord, "Teach us to pray." And when the disciples say that to Jesus, what does He give them? He tells them to say, "Our Father, who art in heaven...." So if it was a good enough place for the Lord to start in teaching others to pray, it's probably not a bad place for me either.
So the Lord's Prayer is basically the constitutive prayer of the first group of disciples gathered around Jesus. If we look at the passage in Luke 11, the disciples wanted to learn from their Teacher how to pray, just as the disciples of John the Baptist had learned from their teacher. And in response, the Lord gives them this prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
So let's just stop to think about this for a second. These words came straight from the Lord Himself. Which means two things:
1) This must be a pretty important prayer, and
2) the Lord spoke English.
Kidding on that last point of course. We have a translation that has come down to us from the Gospel of Matthew, and it is faithful to the original Greek. *Pushing my glasses up over the bridge of my nose.*
But let's go back to that amazing point: This really came from the Lord Himself, because He is the Son, and He wants us to know the Father, His Father. That's really the whole reason that Jesus came. He wanted us to know the Father, to know the Father's Love. So it is pretty clear that this must be a foundational prayer for all He wanted to do in bringing us back to the Father. In fact, this prayer has been called the "summary of the whole Gospel," in large part because Jesus' mission is all about bringing us back to the Father, from whom we had strayed and even continue to stray. In His mercy, God sent His Son to bring us back to Him.
But that's really what it's all about, turning back to the Father. Praying the Lord's Prayer is therefore a powerful way of coming back to Him and asking Him to provide for us as only a Father can. And it fits with Christ's call to become as little children (Matthew 18:3), because only little children will let the Father provide for him. I mean, let's be real, there's a reason God didn't call us to become teenagers (I say this having been one...) or adults for that matter (I say this trying to be one...). Again, only children allow the Father to be Father, and so the Lord, in His wisdom, gives us this prayer to pray, so that we will always let the Father be truly our Father.
So we are supposed to have this experience of God as our Father, because He just wants to give us so many gifts, if we open ourselves to receive them. And we also have to ask Him for them. He will not force them on us, but if we continue to receive from Him, He will continue to give.
So I leave you with this exhortation and this illustration. First, the exhortation: pray this prayer with an expectant faith, knowing that God really does want to provide for you and be there for you. And second, the illustration: Check out this sweet video.
If the link doesn't work, just paste this in your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbSieU8wcFQ.
What does this child do other than receive in joy all that the father wants to give him? Sure the child falls all over the place, but he lets the father pick him up so that he can receive more. Sure the child can't say any words, but the joyful laughter say more of the child's openness to the father than words could ever express. And the child just keeps receiving all the father has to offer, even in something as simple as tearing a piece of paper. God wants the exact same for us in our prayer life. Ask Him for it, and don't be surprised if something starts happening.
God bless! And please pray for my Latin exam this Friday. All I understand right now is "In vino veritas." So I have a ways to go! Ciao for niao!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Livin' on a Prayer, Part I
The Father's Love be with you! Pax Christi vobiscum! Come Holy Spirit!
Well, I know it's been a while, but I just wanted to say that I managed to get one post in during Februar... Wait a minute. Just a sec. My newsanchor earpiece is giving me updated information that February only has 28 days in it.... Which would mean that I have failed to get you a post within the month of February.
Considering that I had at least 2 days robbed from me because February is lazy, I am now declaring this day to be February 29th. Don't worry, March will still go till the 31st, it will simply start on the 2nd. There, I think that fixes it.
That business taken care of, I just wanted to say that we just had the IPF Symposium here this weekend, which is a fancy way of saying that we basically had a retreat weekend on Spiritual Fatherhood. It was a powerful weekend, full of graces and great talks. I can't thank God enough for all that we learned in it, and I know it will be a huge seed planted, only to grow over time as I approach the priesthood. In fact, it provided a lot of confirmation for my vocation, through a growing desire to show the Father's Love through the spiritual fatherhood found in the priesthood. So it was not a bad weekend.
In the midst of this weekend, I had some time to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and while in prayer, I got some inspiration to write a blog on prayer. This inspiration had been building, however, as I have recently received many questions on prayer and contemplation from a good friend of mine, a budding saint (and saintly bud). I was humbled and did my best to respond to his questions. It occurred to me, though, that people may want to know more about prayer, about how to pray. So here it goes.
There are basically two aspects to prayer. First, what is it? And second, how does one do it? In order to pray properly, it is obvious that one has to know what the heck it is that one is doing when one tries to pray. So we will start with what it is, and then that will move to how to do it.
So, what is it? Is it turning God into a divine Magic Eightball, where I just shake Him up a bit and then He spits out an answer to what I'm looking for? Try again...later. Is it turning God into a divine slot machine, where if I spend enough spiritual coins and time, eventually there will be the payout I'm looking for? Let's just say, gambling's not a virtue. Or is it perhaps (Hint: This means I am about to give the right answer) a turning of our own heart to God, so that we may receive His love and respond generously in joy to His will for our lives?
If you guessed the third one, you'd be correct, and I give you an e-thumbs up. So let me repeat that.
Prayer is:
So let's look at them in order. First, Repent. This part of prayer is especially important in this time of Lent, the Liturgical Season when we pray, fast, and give alms in order to help get our heart focused on and open to God again. It is a constant problem in our wounded human nature that we tend to have spiritual A.D.D. We are constantly losing our focus on God, and that's just going to be the constant struggle (and there's not really any spiritual Ritalin...at least that I know of). So every time we pray, we are consciously placing our focus back on God. We both turn away from sin and this world and turn toward God. That is what repentance is, a turning back to God. This is always the beginning of prayer, and we should strive to make this a conscious part of the beginning of our prayers.
The next part, Receive.
*Record Scratch*
"Wait, a minute, Paul," you say. "I thought prayer was where I just say a lot of things to God and hope for the best afterwards."
"Actually," I respond, happy that you are somehow interjecting through this one-way communication medium of internet blogging, "it's primarily about placing ourselves in the presence of God, so that we can receive the love He is continuously trying to show us."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now I have to get back to my blog, but thank you for your question, and don't forget to send cookies."
"You got it, Paul. I would be more than happy to send tons of cookies to you on at least a monthly basis."
Ah, I miss you guys. Okay, so that about captures the Receive part, but to explain it more thoroughly, we are called not so much to tell God what to do as to listen for what He is trying to tell us. He wants to give us so much, so many gifts of love and peace, and He wants us to know His love and will for our lives. So prayer then does not so much change God as it does us, making us holier in the process and bringing us into conformity with His will, which is always for our ultimate good and happiness.
Which leads right into the third part, Respond. Every gift demands a response (at the very least a simple thank you note), and it is no different with the gifts God gives us. He wants us to act on all that we receive in prayer, so that we will be strengthened in faith and so others may come to know His Love through us. And it is amazing when people truly respond to the gifts they have received. Healing happens, growth takes place, and lives are saved. I'm not exaggerating. The Love of God is a more powerful force than gravity, and when we receive and respond to it, there's no stopping the wonderful things God can do in this world.
Through prayer the world is transformed, because when we pray we give God permission to act in us. And when we give God permission to act in us, He can act in the world, even as He did while He walked the world about 2000 years ago. Just as the Word became flesh back then, so the Word must continue to become flesh in our lives each and every day.
Now that you've got a sense of what prayer is, in the next post, we will talk about some of the best ways to do it. But I'll give you this much for now. Simply saying, "Lord, I don't know how to pray, teach me to pray," is a prayer. God bless!
P.S. - Since this is the half-way point of a two part Blog, I can now sing: "OOOOOOH, we're half way there!"
Well, I know it's been a while, but I just wanted to say that I managed to get one post in during Februar... Wait a minute. Just a sec. My newsanchor earpiece is giving me updated information that February only has 28 days in it.... Which would mean that I have failed to get you a post within the month of February.
Considering that I had at least 2 days robbed from me because February is lazy, I am now declaring this day to be February 29th. Don't worry, March will still go till the 31st, it will simply start on the 2nd. There, I think that fixes it.
That business taken care of, I just wanted to say that we just had the IPF Symposium here this weekend, which is a fancy way of saying that we basically had a retreat weekend on Spiritual Fatherhood. It was a powerful weekend, full of graces and great talks. I can't thank God enough for all that we learned in it, and I know it will be a huge seed planted, only to grow over time as I approach the priesthood. In fact, it provided a lot of confirmation for my vocation, through a growing desire to show the Father's Love through the spiritual fatherhood found in the priesthood. So it was not a bad weekend.
In the midst of this weekend, I had some time to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and while in prayer, I got some inspiration to write a blog on prayer. This inspiration had been building, however, as I have recently received many questions on prayer and contemplation from a good friend of mine, a budding saint (and saintly bud). I was humbled and did my best to respond to his questions. It occurred to me, though, that people may want to know more about prayer, about how to pray. So here it goes.
There are basically two aspects to prayer. First, what is it? And second, how does one do it? In order to pray properly, it is obvious that one has to know what the heck it is that one is doing when one tries to pray. So we will start with what it is, and then that will move to how to do it.
So, what is it? Is it turning God into a divine Magic Eightball, where I just shake Him up a bit and then He spits out an answer to what I'm looking for? Try again...later. Is it turning God into a divine slot machine, where if I spend enough spiritual coins and time, eventually there will be the payout I'm looking for? Let's just say, gambling's not a virtue. Or is it perhaps (Hint: This means I am about to give the right answer) a turning of our own heart to God, so that we may receive His love and respond generously in joy to His will for our lives?
If you guessed the third one, you'd be correct, and I give you an e-thumbs up. So let me repeat that.
Prayer is:
- a turning of our own heart to God,
- so that we may receive His love
- and respond generously in joy to His will for our lives
So let's look at them in order. First, Repent. This part of prayer is especially important in this time of Lent, the Liturgical Season when we pray, fast, and give alms in order to help get our heart focused on and open to God again. It is a constant problem in our wounded human nature that we tend to have spiritual A.D.D. We are constantly losing our focus on God, and that's just going to be the constant struggle (and there's not really any spiritual Ritalin...at least that I know of). So every time we pray, we are consciously placing our focus back on God. We both turn away from sin and this world and turn toward God. That is what repentance is, a turning back to God. This is always the beginning of prayer, and we should strive to make this a conscious part of the beginning of our prayers.
The next part, Receive.
*Record Scratch*
"Actually," I respond, happy that you are somehow interjecting through this one-way communication medium of internet blogging, "it's primarily about placing ourselves in the presence of God, so that we can receive the love He is continuously trying to show us."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now I have to get back to my blog, but thank you for your question, and don't forget to send cookies."
"You got it, Paul. I would be more than happy to send tons of cookies to you on at least a monthly basis."
Ah, I miss you guys. Okay, so that about captures the Receive part, but to explain it more thoroughly, we are called not so much to tell God what to do as to listen for what He is trying to tell us. He wants to give us so much, so many gifts of love and peace, and He wants us to know His love and will for our lives. So prayer then does not so much change God as it does us, making us holier in the process and bringing us into conformity with His will, which is always for our ultimate good and happiness.
Which leads right into the third part, Respond. Every gift demands a response (at the very least a simple thank you note), and it is no different with the gifts God gives us. He wants us to act on all that we receive in prayer, so that we will be strengthened in faith and so others may come to know His Love through us. And it is amazing when people truly respond to the gifts they have received. Healing happens, growth takes place, and lives are saved. I'm not exaggerating. The Love of God is a more powerful force than gravity, and when we receive and respond to it, there's no stopping the wonderful things God can do in this world.
Through prayer the world is transformed, because when we pray we give God permission to act in us. And when we give God permission to act in us, He can act in the world, even as He did while He walked the world about 2000 years ago. Just as the Word became flesh back then, so the Word must continue to become flesh in our lives each and every day.
Now that you've got a sense of what prayer is, in the next post, we will talk about some of the best ways to do it. But I'll give you this much for now. Simply saying, "Lord, I don't know how to pray, teach me to pray," is a prayer. God bless!
P.S. - Since this is the half-way point of a two part Blog, I can now sing: "OOOOOOH, we're half way there!"
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