Prayer, A Participation With Christ

(4th reflection in a series on the Liturgy of the Hours)

We reflected last week on daily periodic prayer and how it has been a staple over the millennia. Today let’s reflect on maybe the most important aspect of this prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours – participation with Christ.  As the Mystical Body of Christ Holy Mother Church participates with the constant work of our Lord and Savior.  As members of this Mystical Body, of which Christ is the Head, we are an integral part of this participation.

We are aware that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass our active participation means that we are participating in Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on Calvary – in His offering to the Father for our sakes. Within this sacrifice we offer up our activities; our joys and sufferings, our hopes and fears. We participate through Christ, with Christ and in Christ.

The same action is in the Liturgy of the Hours. Though it is not the Mass, it is an extension and so:

We pray through Him,

As we read 1 Timothy ‘there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…’[1] ‘We pray through Christ the Lord of all, Mediator through whom alone we have access to God.’[2]

We pray with Him and in Him as we are told in Sacrosanctum Concilium:

‘Christ Jesus, high priest of the new and eternal covenant, taking human nature, introduced into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He joins the entire community of mankind to Himself, associating it with His own singing of this canticle of divine praise.’[3]

So brothers and sisters, our daily prayer that we offer to God in heaven is a participation with Christ in His constant prayer. As in the Mass where we participate in His great offering to His Father – so too is our prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, a sharing in Christ’s work.

From the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours:

‘The Head is Son of God and Son of Man, one as God with the Father and one as man with us. When we speak in prayer to the Father, we do not separate the Son from him and when the Son’s Body prays it does not separate itself from its Head. It is the one Savior of his Body, the Lord Christ Jesus, who prays for us and in us and who is prayed to by us. He prays for us as our priest, in us as our Head; he is prayed to by us as our God. Recognize therefore our own voice in him and his voice in us.” [51]

 The excellence of Christian prayer lies in its sharing in the reverent love of the only-begotten Son for the Father and in the prayer that the Son put into words in his earthly life and that still continues without ceasing in the name of the whole human race and for its salvation, throughout the universal Church and in all its members.’[4]

Our participation in Christ’s prayer is added to the eternal and continual prayer of the heavenly hosts – it is the obligation and delight of all faithful, in heaven and here on earth, to fulfill our vocation that St. Peter writes about: ‘and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’[5] And again: ‘you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…’[6]

I must admit that when I consider prayer in this light and what it means not to pray the Liturgy of the Hours; I can only think of one explanation: ungrateful and selfish.

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[1] 1 TM 2:5
[2] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours #6
[3] Sacrosanctum Concilium #83
[4] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours #7
[5] 1PT 2:5
[6] 1 PT 2:9

Time to Pray

(3rd reflection in a series on the Liturgy of the Hours)

 

In the past two weeks we have reflected on:

• Why we can pray;
• and that God calls us to pray, indeed has shown us how to pray.

This evening let’s start to look into the importance that continual, periodic prayer (such as this Vesper Service is a part of) is for us; by its importance throughout history.

As I mentioned in the first reflection, some people seem to dismiss the value of corporate prayer; others scoff at the idea of continual, periodic daily prayer. The idea of a day lived in prayer, to these people, is retreating away from the world and the responsibilities we have. In a sentence: ‘life is too short and we are too busy to stop again and again in prayer.’

The reasons, the fruits, of such prayer will be for next week, but a short review of the history of our faith shows us that this type of prayer; daily continual prayer is part of the structural integrity of our journey.  People, since the fall, have been striving to open their hearts to God in all that they do; and at certain times of the day stop and offer, as sacrifice, their valuable time to their creator.

If our Creator, the Living God, desires our dialog, then we should. After all it is He who gave us life, it is He who endowed us with divine dignity; it is He who gave the capacity for love, in all its forms. We need to offer it back to Him in adoration, praise, in hope and petition – return His love; and it is by prayer that we can do this. In addition, constant prayer throughout the day offered as a sacrifice back to God is a gift we give Him, because He has given us this day; the day in which we live His gift of life.

We can see from the earliest of times in the Old Testament, from the apostles, and the nascent church that it was understood that as community we must offer prayer; that constant prayer was an accepted obligation.

‘Seven times a day I praise thee for thy righteous ordinances.’[1] We hear proclaimed in Psalm 119. Daniel we hear ‘… went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem; and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.’[2] St. Paul comments many times on prayer ‘Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving;’[3] he tells the Colossians and us.

And from the beginning of General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours we read:

‘Public and common prayer by the people of God is rightly considered to be among the primary duties of the Church. From the very beginning those who were baptized “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the community, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). The Acts of the Apostles give frequent testimony to the fact that the Christian community prayed with one accord.

The witness of the early Church teaches us that individual Christians devoted themselves to prayer at fixed times. Then, in different places, it soon became the established practice to assign special times for common prayer, for example, the last hour of the day when evening draws on and the lamp is lighted, or the first hour when night draws to a close with the rising of the sun.

In the course of time other hours came to be sanctified by prayer in common. These were seen by the Fathers as foreshadowed in the Acts of the Apostles. There we read of the disciples gathered together at the third hour.  The prince of the apostles “went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour” (10:9); “Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (3:1); “about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (16:25).’[4]

Our forefathers understood the importance of God in their lives and the need to keep this in the fore of all they did.  Prayer was a necessity and they built a structure within their lives to offer it. They understood the concept of sacrifice, of tithing, their first fruits – time is no different. Brothers and sisters the idea that prayer is a substitute good among the many in our day strips the awareness of the divine from this divine gift of life. 3,500 years, or so, of the tradition of tithing parts of the day to our God shows us that it can’t be just a temporal or cultural affectation – it is integral to our journey.  Our own hearts will tell us that it is important for our own spiritual and physical well-being. Our prayer community radiates the importance of this tithing in our relationships with each other.

So, our history teaches us, our community shows us, our heart tells us: Live a life of prayer by taking time in life to pray.

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[1] Ps 119:164
[2] Dan 6:10
[3] Col 4:2
[4] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours #1

Why We Should Pray

Second in a series of reflections on the Liturgy of the Hours.

Last week we reflected on why we can even pray to begin with. Today, I thought we could reflect on two fundamental reasons for participating in prayer. They are:

• that we are following Christ’s command to pray;
• and we are following His example to pray.

When I was talking with a friend about my series of reflections on the Liturgy of the Hours she commented that, from what she knows, it seems against what Jesus taught. She referred to Christ’s words in Matthew: ‘But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’[1] I pointed out to her that Christ made prayer an important part of our lives.

• In Mark, His disciples, who had failed to drive a demon out, asked Him why they had failed – to which He replies ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’[2]
• In Matthew, after Christ had entered Jerusalem, drove the money changers from the temple, and went back to Bethany He tells those around Him: ‘And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’[3]
• Also in Matthew, we hear Christ teach His followers how to pray: ‘And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven…’[4]
• In Luke, Christ tells us: ‘But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.’[5]
• In John, we hear Jesus tell His disciples, and us: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.’[6]
• And of course, and to anser my friend’s comments, Christ tells His followers, and us: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’[7]

Jesus teaches, indeed, commands us to pray.  He is our God, we are His faithful; His mission is ours; His teachings are our marching orders.  Work and prayer is what He calls us to – ‘Ora et Labora’ as the Benedictines will tell us. Prayer is as much a part of our work as the work itself is. In fact, work without prayer runs the very great risk of not bearing good fruit. St. Josemaría Escrivá wrote: ‘First prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much “in third place” – action’[8] It is through prayer that we can build the holiness of our actions; because living a life with prayer in first place our actions become prayer themselves.

But Christ does more than just teach and command us – He lives this ‘ora et labora’ as well; and so as His faithful disciples we honor the teacher by living our lives as He lived.

Throughout the Gospels we see the place prayer had in His life. From the very beginning of His public ministry, His baptism, He witnessed to the importance of prayer as we hear in Gospel of St. Luke: ‘Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,’[9]. He prayed right up to His last breath on the cross; ‘Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’[10] His whole life was prayer and work, He prayed constantly as the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours mentions:

‘The work of each day was closely bound up with his prayer, indeed flowed out from it: he would retire into the desert or into the hills to pray, rise very early or spend the night up to the fourth watch in prayer to God.’[11]

Again from the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours:

‘The Gospels many times show us Christ at prayer: when his mission is revealed by the Father; before he calls the apostles; when he blesses God at the multiplication of the loaves; when he is transfigured on the mountain; when he heals the deaf-mute; when he raises Lazarus; before he asks for Peter’s confession of faith; when he teaches the disciples how to pray; when the disciples return from their mission; when he blesses the little children; when he prays for Peter.’[12]

We are right in thinking that he took part both in public prayers: in the synagogues, which he entered on the Sabbath “as his custom was;” in the temple, which he called a house of prayer; and in the private prayers that for devout Israelites were a daily practice. He used the traditional blessings of God at meals, as is expressly mentioned in connection with the multiplication of the loaves, the last supper and the meal at Emmaus. He also joined with the disciples in a hymn of praise.’[13]

So when Christ teaches us to pray we should understand it with the importance that He gives it. It is paramount that our life is one of prayer. It is paramount because our Lord and God urges us to listen to Him in His teachings and follow Him in His example to us.  St. Athanasius wrote: ‘God became man so that man might become God.’[14] – prayer is a cornerstone in this interaction.

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All biblical quotes are from the Revised Standard Version
[1] MT 6:6
[2] MK 9:29
[3] MT 21:22
[4] MT 6:7-9
[5] LK 6:27-28
[6] JN 15:16
[7] MT 18:20
[8] The Way #82 St. Josemaría Escrivá
[9] LK 3:21
[10] LK 23:46
[11] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (GILH) #4
[12] ibid
[13] ibid
[14] St. Athanasius (ca 298-373)

Why We Can Pray

In today’s Gospel[1] we witness the reactions of Jesus’ disciples to His bread of life discourse; and in the first reading[2] we see Joshua meeting with the leadership of the tribes to discuss their allegiances – in both we see the people in dialog.  We see community interaction with each other and with their God. Prayer can be described as the communication of the faithful to He whom they have faith.  There are two basic types – personal and corporate. Personal prayer is just what it is called. With the corporate prayer we see community at work together.

Corporate prayer can be grouped into two broad classes: liturgical and non-liturgical. Liturgical prayer takes two forms – the Holy Mass is, of course, the highest.  It is the source and summit of our faith. Indeed our very existence on this journey needs to revolve around it because it is Jesus Himself. It is His action on Calvary, His sacrifice to the Father in which we too can offer our sacrifices as well. And of course His great gift of Himself to us in the Eucharist where we can be nourished and strengthened on our pilgrimage.

The other type of liturgical prayer is what we are participating in right now – the Liturgy of the Hours.  For the next few weeks, or so, I would like to delve into this great gift that also helps us in our journey; and not only us our actions in this liturgical prayer help the whole Universal Church, and the whole universe for that matter.

But maybe the best way to start reflecting on the Liturgy of the Hours is to reflect on a fundamental aspect of prayer. Why we can even pray to begin with? St. Josemaría Escrivá wrote: ‘The prayer of a Christian is never a monologue.’[3] Prayer is not a one way action, it is dialog.  If there is no dialog then there is no relationship, at least a healthy relationship.  Prayer is the communication of a healthy relationship.  But still, how are we even able to enter into this dialogue with God?

Because God desires it and initiated it. There is no other way; if God didn’t want to communicate with us then we would be just ‘howling at the moon’ so to speak. But to our great joy – He desires it. And even more foundational, it is in His very nature to communicate. Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in his book the Feast of Faith: ‘The basic reason why man can speak with God arises from the fact that God himself is speech, Word.’[4] This should be obvious when we consider that God is a triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons in one God.  Within God there is dialog, the dialog of love.  The Son Himself is the eternal logos, the Word, and when He came among us He enable us to enter into an even more intimate dialog than mankind had prior to His incarnation because He embraced human speech and ‘made it a component of divine speech’.[5] In addition, with the indwelling of His Holy Spirit we are brought into an even more intimate participation of the divine dialog. St. Paul tells us this in his letter to the Romans: ‘the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.’[6]

Brothers and sisters, let’s always remember that God has given us a great gift in being able to enter into dialog with Him, but even greater we have been given the ability to enter into His own divine dialog – we are an intimate part of His family and as family we are heard, our feelings and words are desired and cherished. For our part, we need to become active participants in this family discussion.

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[1] JN 6:60-69
[2] JOS 24:1-2A, 15-17, 18B
[3] St. Josemaría Escrivá – The Way #114
[4] Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger – The Feast of Faith (pgs 25-26)
[5] ibid
[6] Romans 8:26 (RSV)

Dialog

One can make the point that a subcontex[1] of the First Reading and the Gospel today[2] concerns dialog; good dialog and useless, sinful dialog. We see Christ teaching those around Him the meaning of His mission – and this is obviously good dialog; while some of those listening whisper against Him to which He tells them ‘Do not murmur among yourselves.’[3] – you guessed it, bad dialog. So with life so short the question we should be asking ourselves is what type of dialog should we be focused on?

In our first reading today we see the prophet Elijah retreating into the desert for safety and withdrawing from the mission God gave him. His life, since becoming a prophet, has been hard and at this point his life is in danger.  Most, if not all, of the prophets share the same life – outcast, threatened, fearful.  But Elijah does something else while in the desert – he talks with God. Not rote prayers but he actually talks, opens his heart. From the 1^st Kings we heard: ‘he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.”’[4]. In response God, through an angel, comforts and urges him on – tells him what he should and so Elijah does it.  Later (past the end of our gospel today) we hear Elijah, once again, talking with God in prayer: ‘”I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”’[5].  Elijah is giving us a lesson in prayer – in dialog.  A lesson that each and every one of us should put into action.

First, it is very important for each of us to participate in the corporate prayer of the church.  It brings unity among us and strengthens our understanding of the ‘family of God’ as together we live, pray, and evangelize.  With this type of prayer we are comforted that we are not alone – we have others who are there to help.  Corporate prayer is essential in the life of a Christian and Holy Mother Church knows this.  She gives us the form of the Mass, which is the source and summit of our faith – therefore our lives.  She gives us the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours to help us extend the Mass throughout the day and enables us participate in the continual and universal prayer rising to heaven – thus sanctifying the day.  We have been given by our ancestors great communal prayers that we all know and use.  We have the Rosary in which we can pray using the life of Christ and seen through the eyes of His mother. God has even given us the community prayer par-excellence, the psalms, the prayers of Jesus Himself; which is the foundation of the Divine Office.  We have a robust and powerful arsenal of corporate prayers at our ready.  But God desires more.

Our Heavenly Father desires our communication, our dialog at all times.  He desires us to open our hearts and lift up our thoughts, fears, joys, ideas to Him just as we do with a close friend. St. Josemaría Escrivá writes:

‘You seek the friendship of those who, with their conversation and affection, with their company, help you to bear more easily the exile of this world – although sometimes those friends fail you. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

But how is it that you do not seek everyday, more eagerly, the company, the conversation of that great friend who will never fail you?’[6]

Brothers and sisters, this dialog, our prayer life is what leads us and strengthens us because it brings us into dialog with He who does these for us.  Let’s take the example of Elijah, and all holy people, and train ourselves to be in a continual personal dialog with our best friend.  Let’s offer to He who created us and loves us all of our heart and our mind by dialoging with Him.  If it works for the saints it will work for us.  We will be amazed how the troubles of our lives will be lightened and the loneliness that is within us will be washed away.

It is not hard to start – just talk to our Heavenly Father.  Again, St. Josemaría Escrivá: ‘you don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, “Lord, I don’t know how to pray!” you can be sure you’ve already begun.’[7] And don’t murmur.

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[1] 1 KGS 19:4-8
[2] JN 6:41-51
[3] JN 6:43
[4] 1 KGS 19:4b
[5] 1 KGS 19:10
[6] St. Josemaría Escrivá – The Way #88
[7] St. Josemaría Escrivá – The Way #90

Fashionable?

I have seen and been part of many discussions in the past 20 years about how we go about celebrating liturgy.  Great points have been raised and discussed but mostly leading to no definitive answer.  And that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Holy Mother Church is always trying to come to terms with bringing to the people the eternal message in ways that they can understand. The way people think and comprehend ideas morphs as experiences influence society – we need to take that into account.  However, there are deep seated feelings within mankind that some things/events are eternal, have a transcendent paradigm, and when these types of things are changed there is a dissonance within each of us. Certain things are meant to be a certain way, otherwise their ontology becomes hidden and their value diminishes.

In an article on sacred architecture[1] I was struck by something the author wrote; the nature of fashion is that it does not last.  He goes on to say that ‘succession of fashions is in itself a succession of failures.’[2] Fashions are meant to intrigue, to create intense reactions and then fade away – it is the reason that the word ‘contemporary’ is frequently used with it.  The etymology of the word ‘contemporary’ is telling, it comes from two Latin words: ‘con’ which means ‘with’ and ‘tempus’ which means ‘time’ and together, in our language, means: ‘characteristic of the present’[3]. Therefore, contemporary fashion by its definition is fleeting, changing, ephemeral.  Contemporary secular artwork, secular music, and clothing for examples are fashionable since people feel something that arouses appreciation and desire but after a while the feeling fades away; they are never meant to mean something in the long run – in a way fashion is a diversion until another comes along.

I also hear the word ‘contemporary’ used quite often when it comes to various aspects of the Church. It worries me that many followers desire the ‘contemporary’; I fear that their desire for the fashion of the time will obscure the transcendent reasons for what the fashion is trying relate.  But, as I said at the beginning, this is a tension that takes place when we try to bring people the eternal message in ways that they can understand.

Holy Mother Church has given us eternal ways to come to understand and live within the eternal.  Paramount in these is, of course, the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass where we participate in the eternal sacrifice of the Son to His Father with the heavenly hosts. Another is right now and here; our participation in the Liturgy of Hours. Coming together and praying Vespers is a participation in the eternal Church’s prayer to the Father through His Son.  By participating in the Divine Office we are imitating our Lord’s daily life of prayer. We are obeying His command to do as He did; as He told us in the Gospel of St. John:  ‘he who believes in me will also do the works that I do’[4] By participating in the Divine Office we are continuing Christ’s prayer and we are consecrating ‘to God the whole cycle of the day and night.’[5] And by praying the Divine Office we are extending throughout the day and night ‘the praise and thanksgiving, the memorial of the mysteries of salvation, the petitions and the foretaste of heavenly glory that are present in the Eucharistic mystery’[6]

It is important for each of us to realize the eternal and transcendent importance of what we are doing (especially in Mass and here at Vespers) because we are doing it for not only ourselves but for Holy Mother Church and her members.  Too often we are assaulted by ephemeral banal affectations and accretions on our most transcendent moments and we run the risk of losing their eternal import.  Let’s ask Christ to intercede for us in our desire to fend off these moments of confusion and to be able to participate in the eternal celebrations as we should regardless of whether they seem in fashion or out.

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[1] The Alphabet of Giants, Dale Ahlquist, Sacred Architecture Issue 27
[2] ibid
[3] Online Etymology Dictionary
[4] Jn 14:12 (RSV)
[5] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours paragraph 10
[6] General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours paragraph 12

Living in the Liturgical Year

Today we celebrate Father’s Day.  When families get together and honor an integral part of the family. Along with Mother’s Day it is one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States; just look at the restaurants, and the parties in the neighborhood.  And it goes without saying that this is good; families celebrating family.

But, as great as these days are they are very secular. Except for the faithful that always attend Sunday services most families don’t give consideration to the faith aspect of the celebration.  In fact, even the religious based holidays such as Christmas, Memorial Day and yes Thanksgiving have been stripped of their faith foundations by most people in the United States, even Catholics.

In the southern European countries of Portugal, Italy and Spain Father’s Day is celebrated on the Solemnity of St. Joseph.  A quick review online shows that seven other countries do this as well. In these countries there is still a religious awareness to this celebration.  I bring this up as an example of the beauty of social life that revolves around the liturgical year.

I know that bringing this up to you sitting here is the very definition of preaching to choir.  Our Sunday Vespers group have been living our lives the last eight years in and through this valuable gift.  Each Sunday we celebrate the fact that time belongs to God. We are not blindly traveling a path through chaos. Weekly we come together to dive deeply into God’s economy of salvation by calling to mind and heart different aspects; and while doing so lift up our hearts and minds by our collective voices in praise to our creator.  This gives us the peace of mind that, come what may, we are not alone; we are loved.  We have each other and we have our Creator. Together we celebrate each of our lives and we celebrate the revealed aspects of our Triune God.  Our group takes strength from those of our extended family, the saints, and we reflect on our lives through their witness.  Each of us, I am sure, has come to appreciate the joy of the flavor that the liturgical year gives us as we live our lives.

I offer this reflection to you not just to savor what we have; but to challenge us to show others what life lived within the liturgical year means to us. In two weeks we celebrate the ninth anniversary of this prayer group.  For nine years we have enjoyed the gift of the liturgical year and have allowed it to impact our lives.  Let’s go into our parish and show those unknowing and/or marginal Catholic brothers and sisters just what variety and intensity Holy Mother Church offers her family.

Prayer and Choice

Today, Jesus enters into Jerusalem a Hero, at least to those who are following Him. Of course not everyone is happy to see Him: the Sanhedrin is not happy; the Romans are nervous; of the citizens of Jerusalem, many of them are not pleased.  But His followers, those who profess Him as their Messiah are exuberant.  These followers choose to be with Him. They see in Him a winner, one who gives them the hopes they are desiring. But, in a few short days that exuberation will dissolve; they will flee from being followers; they will walk away from their choice and melt back into the people of Judah.

Brothers and sisters, we too have professed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; we have chosen to be followers and we are exuberant.  We have, with special intensity, walked with Christ during this Lenten season and hopefully we have reached Holy Week stronger disciples.  Unlike almost 2,000 years ago where His followers fled on Holy Thursday I am confident that our intensity in our devotion to Christ will grow throughout the Triduum.  Our test will come after Easter. Will the fruits of our Lenten exercise remain with us once Easter is celebrated? Will our desire for a renewed closeness with Christ continue? Will we continue to choose Christ as our example and model for living our lives?

These are very important questions to ask ourselves. They are not questions brought about by fear of failure in as much as they are questions of love. God, who is Love, has given us freewill to choose Him or not; and Satan knows this all too well.  As members of God’s family, out of our love for them, we need to concern ourselves with our ability to live up to our familial responsibilities and to defend ourselves from the attacks of our powerful enemy. We should ask ourselves every day, if not more frequently, about our choice.  To not do so is putting ourselves in danger of drifting away from Jesus Christ; in effect turning our backs from our loving family.

This is made all the more imperative because the demands that society seemingly forces upon us makes living within our family very difficult. At times we can spend the extra effort and time to push society and Satan away, and Lent is a very good season to do this, but to do so continually is a very hard undertaking. How can we hope to live in the family of God when these pressures from Satan and society implant within us doubts about our capabilities?

A few years ago I spent five days at a Cistercian Monastery near Dubuque Iowa. At one point I was talking with the retreat house master about their life in the order.  During the conversation he said that He and His brothers choose with their feet every day; they could just up and leave whenever they felt like it. But he said – the intimacy of prayer was a great strength, beyond imagination.

As we transition from our Lenten journey and enter the great events of the Sacred Triduum and onward I urge us all to dive deeply into our prayer life and allow God to open our hearts to His wisdom and most importantly His Love. Let’s follow the words of that wise Cistercian brother and take advantage of prayer – this great strength that is beyond imagination.  It is the surest way to keep our choice of Christ ever first in our hearts like we are in His.

 

The Center

The Center[1]

In the 1^st Letter of Timothy we are told that God ‘desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’[2]. It is the desire of Jesus that we all come to be one with Him and the Father as we hear Him pray in the Gospel of St. John: ‘that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’[3] Our life was radically changed when we were baptized into His Mystical Body; and our life is, or should be, directed towards growing our relationship with Jesus, being closer to our Savior.

But to grow our relationship it is foundational that we get to know Jesus, understand Him better – know what makes Him tick, so to speak.  Scripture tells us much about Jesus and today’s Gospel reading highlights what is the center of His life – constant communication with His Father.  We hear it today, Christ who was busy healing and proclaiming made time to pray. ‘Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.’[4] Again in Matthew: ‘And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.’[5] His communication with the Father was done not only in private but also out loud in public – from Matthew: ‘At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes;”’[6] He even died praying: ‘“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”’[7] In fact, His final words were communication with the Father: ‘Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’[8]  His whole passion and death was a prayer.  All in all there are around 30 New Testament passages that show us Jesus’ communication with the Father. It is very clear that the center of Christ’s life is constant communication with His Father; so much so, that theologians have posited that of all the names and titles given Jesus throughout two millennia – one stands out: ‘Son’[of God][9].

For us to come to a deeper understanding and relationship with Jesus Christ we need to enter into what is most central about Him – His prayer life.  This makes sense since humans are experiential; we come to better and deeper understanding of things by participation – book learning alone doesn’t do it.  In relationships we come to better understandings, and indeed love grows, as we participate in what is important with the other; so it is with our relationship with Jesus.

This participation in the central life of Jesus does more than deepen our relationship with Him; it opens ourselves up to our true self. To enter into this centrality of Jesus, to participate in His constant communication with the Father brings us into the unity of human and divine – it allows us to live within the Trinity – where we realize true liberation and freedom.

But it does even more; it brings us not only within Himself but it brings us to each other. We become part of a family of like-desiring people. As the reception of the Eucharist does par excellence; our prayers do as well – where two are within Christ they are with each other.

Brother and sisters, we have been given a chance to participate in the center of Jesus Christ’s life; we need to strengthen this part of our life. We need to give prayer the priority it deserves, the priority that Jesus gave it.  It is not like we are ignorant of what it means to pray; Jesus taught us to pray[10]. Prayer is all around us; He allows us to participate in His final prayer within the sacrifice of the Mass and He is with us in the Eucharist.  Our part is to take these gifts and dive headlong with each other into this participation – and together come to the heart of God.

                                                                                                                                                         

[1] Inspired by an address by Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) to a CELAM Congress on Christology in September 1982 ( found in the book ‘Behold The Pierced One’ 1986 Ignatius Press)
[2] 1 Tim 2:4 (RSV)
[3] Jn 17:21 (RSV)
[4] Mk 29:35 (RSV)
[5] Mt 14:23 (RSV)
[6] Mt 11:25 (RSV)
[7] Lk 23:34 (RSV)
[8] Lk 23:46 (RSV)
[9] ‘’Son’[of God] is a basic confession in the sense that it provides the key to interpretation, making everything else accessible and intelligible’ – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: ‘Taking Bearings in Christology’ – see footnote 1
[10] Mt 6:9 (RSV)

Eternal Truth

In today’s readings[1] it struck me that the first reading from Isaiah and the Gospel were almost duplicates – humorously I noted to Fr. David that Jesus plagiarized Isaiah. Of course, as Fr. David pointed out, it can’t be plagiarism since Isaiah was Christ’s mouthpiece. But it does strike me at how similar the words are – and yet different. Throughout the bible we see the same type similarities between the Old Testament prophecies and Christ’s parables and teachings – just not as obvious as today’s pair.

As I reflected on these readings this week two aspects of this seemingly repetitive message came out.

1. Mankind is very dense when it comes to what is good for them. Freewill has enabled mankind to turn to what seems easy and fun and away from what is right and good.  But, more importantly, and because of that.

2. God’s message is eternal, but its delivery is a constantly changing process to better relate to the times and people.

This is very good news – God is constantly trying to evangelize His flock.  He has done so since the fall in Garden of Eden.  He brings His creation the good news of Himself and what it means to be in relationship with Him. He has done so through the prophets, the judges, the kings.  He brought it to its fullness through His Son Jesus Christ; the Eternal Word. He continued, and continues, to bring the message through the apostles and their successors the bishops, and his continuing message shines through the ages with His saints – both known and unknown and most clearly through our Blessed Mother and her apparitions.  And most importantly for us – His message should continue by coming through us!

But how? How are we to go out and evangelize those we encounter? Words don’t suffice, words don’t convince, truly convince – even the Word Himself didn’t rely on His words only.  The other day I heard Archbishop Wenski, of Miami Florida, point this out in a very poignant way, he said (and I paraphrase) Christ didn’t bring the Good News to those He met by first introducing them to the cross, He introduced the Gospel by His words and His actions first – the Cross came later.[2]

Actions, love, concern, joy, something people can see, feel, and desire – this is what brings weight to the Gospel message.  God knows that eternal truth needs continual witnessing, needs to be lived within the society and times of humanity.  He knows that what was written or spoken or lived in Gaul of the 900s will not resonate with the people of England of 1500s or China of the 1980s or with us right now.  Our Heavenly Father depends on us and our lives to continue the Good News.  We, in turn need to rely on His eternal truth to live our lives, and in so doing bring this eternal message to those around us in methods and way relatable to our times and culture.  How?

St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, that we heard today, gives us valuable insight into how. He urges us to look for ‘whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.’

In short keep in touch with God through prayer and holy reading, keep His truths ever in our hearts and minds.  When we do we will know it because of the peace that it brings.  A peace that will enable us to live the witness and bring those we witness to, to the great joy of the Cross.

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[1] IS 5:1-7; PHIL 4:6-9; MT 21:33-43
[2] 2014 Napa Institute Conference 7/24-27/ 2014