Short prayer: Lord, give me wisdom through prayer and reflection, rather than through bitter trials.
Today is Sunday. Today is the Resurrection, when all things become new and better, when heaven and earth become reconciled forever in the everlasting Covenant that is Jesus Christ. Today we can change forever, for the best. Rejoice!
Many times, especially lately, I have heard people saying "I am praying about it" or "I believe God calls me to do this", or "I can see this is God's will". All these expressions, even if well intended and honest, are terrible excuses and verbal manifestations of fear. It is very common to believe that God will give us an epiphany everyday, or that He will speak to us on a date with our bible at Starbucks, or another hipster coffee shop. My brothers and sisters, do not deceive yourselves from the truth that is so clear and giant, also, so grand and beautiful for us to enjoy. I shall address each one of these expressions individually. First, I will prove all the expressions mentioned above as equivalent, and then as silly and inadequate, then I will suggest how it is always our will what makes us do things, and that the only way we can do, experience and never-know-in-advance God's will is through devout, constant prayer.
The following lines are based on my conclusions and reading of St. Francis de Sales' Finding God's Will for You. First, "I will pray about it". How do people pray about this? Most likely they speak to themselves as opposed to speaking to God, by the intercession of the Saints and Mary, or without it. When people say that they prayed about something, they do not know or acknowledge that prayer is a process of stripping all distractions from our hearts and bodies, even if for a moment. This process entails reading of the Scripture, the Psalms are beautiful tools, and then the Gospels become clearer. For Catholics, this process will lead to the ROSARY. These three things: Tears, Scripture, and the Rosary (sometimes the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy) will lead to moments of desolation and consolation in which our will shall be broken. This is prayer. Therefore, we cannot pray about something, we can request something in prayer, in explicit communication with God. This is true of the other two expressions above. We cannot know what God calls us to, nor we can see what is His will. We are unable to interpret God. He is infinite and our language is finite, as a friend from Vandy Catholic would say.
Many times, especially lately, I have heard people saying "I am praying about it" or "I believe God calls me to do this", or "I can see this is God's will". All these expressions, even if well intended and honest, are terrible excuses and verbal manifestations of fear. It is very common to believe that God will give us an epiphany everyday, or that He will speak to us on a date with our bible at Starbucks, or another hipster coffee shop. My brothers and sisters, do not deceive yourselves from the truth that is so clear and giant, also, so grand and beautiful for us to enjoy. I shall address each one of these expressions individually. First, I will prove all the expressions mentioned above as equivalent, and then as silly and inadequate, then I will suggest how it is always our will what makes us do things, and that the only way we can do, experience and never-know-in-advance God's will is through devout, constant prayer.
The following lines are based on my conclusions and reading of St. Francis de Sales' Finding God's Will for You. First, "I will pray about it". How do people pray about this? Most likely they speak to themselves as opposed to speaking to God, by the intercession of the Saints and Mary, or without it. When people say that they prayed about something, they do not know or acknowledge that prayer is a process of stripping all distractions from our hearts and bodies, even if for a moment. This process entails reading of the Scripture, the Psalms are beautiful tools, and then the Gospels become clearer. For Catholics, this process will lead to the ROSARY. These three things: Tears, Scripture, and the Rosary (sometimes the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy) will lead to moments of desolation and consolation in which our will shall be broken. This is prayer. Therefore, we cannot pray about something, we can request something in prayer, in explicit communication with God. This is true of the other two expressions above. We cannot know what God calls us to, nor we can see what is His will. We are unable to interpret God. He is infinite and our language is finite, as a friend from Vandy Catholic would say.
We know God by doing. When we do pray, when we humble ourselves before the altar (most preferably the Blessed Sacrament) we let our hearts be broken and in misery. This is prayer. Then we make our requests, and it should be clear that ALL of our requests will be met. We oftentimes request the object for the object itself, and this may not be granted. Nonetheless, what we expect or hope to gain from the object in our path to holiness, that will indeed be granted. As you can see, our requests are a product of our own will. We will and desire this or that because those things are of use to our souls on earth, i.e. our bodies. Then if those objects are granted, or not, we act accordingly. This is still our will. This stage is the Sorrowful Mystery of the Agony in the Garden, when Jesus Christ wanted to refuse the Cup from the father, He still had a will of His own.
On the Cross, however, Christ said: "Father, in your hands I commend my spirit". Our will resides in our spirit, and I will explain this in our next post. This last word of our Lord means that He has no will left. He comes back to the Father. To us this represents when our decision is constrained by past decisions that we have made, and it is time to trust the Lord. Such as a test, or marriage. We prepared by using our will, and now how it turns about it, in the immediate run, is in the hands of God.
Finally, the only way our will is united to God's is through constant prayer. That is the only way when we do things it will not be longer us but Him who lives in us, as St. Paul said, and we will not know, we will just witness the marvel of His mercy as it happens.
Pray the Rosary daily.
Pray the Rosary daily.
In Christ,
Through Mary,
Mateo, thank you for this poignant reflection. I think that you make an incisive distinction between imposing our will through prayer and surrendering our will through prayer. You describe prayer as letting our hearts "be broken and in misery", and show us a model of prayer in Jesus' agony in the Garden. I would appreciate it if you would comment on surrendering our will joyfully and praying with an overflowing heart, instead of a broken one. What about the Magnificat? When our souls are full and overflowing, we glorify the Lord in prayer, as well. Why do you choose to highlight only the sorrowful aspect of prayer when our spirits are broken? Do we surrender our will to God's will in our joyful moments, as well? If we are truly praying (i.e. our souls are united to God and our will becomes His will), then shouldn't prayer be joyful as His love erases our fear?
ReplyDeleteThank you Kelly.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point!
The thing is that our souls can also be broken of joy, and our sorrows can be joyful. This is, joyful prayer is also humbling ourselves to God when we make Him present in every joyful moment. We should remember though the solemnity of joy. We can also find desolation in joy, in true cheerful joy. For instance, when we partake with our friends, this is a very joyful moment, and we invite God in this moment when we thank Him for the laughter, and the most beautiful way of thanking Him is to remember Him in His sorrow, not to dwell in it, but to accompany Him in such a moment of loneliness. Everyone went to see Baby Jesus in Bethlehem, but not everyone climbed with Him to Calvary. So when we laugh, and when we pray in thanksgiving, we laugh for the moments He cried, and in memory of the moments He also laughed, and we're grateful for the joys of life.
Also, my last post referred to the moments when people try to find God's will in their lives, and this by definition is a sorrowful moment, for when we're happy we do not ask what is God's will in our lives, we just enjoy it without us knowing.
I think maybe we are walking a fine line between the contemplative and the active. One of the real dangers of this world is activism-- thinking that DOING triumphs over passivity. The role of a Christian in this world is to remain docile and let God's will work on them in God's due time and at their willingness to cooperate with that Grace.
ReplyDeleteAs we grow in prayer we must remain patient with those learning to strengthen themselves. Because while I find it difficult to imagine Christ working in trendy folks in Starbucks, I would equally find it to be difficult to imagine the King of the Universe being brought into the world in a manger. Indeed, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and in His good time...not ours. Remember the path from whence you developed your life of prayer and remember that the first time you hit your knees you did not totally surrender. But it was prayer, undeniably, because it put you into contact with the First Cause. And, ever slowly, He began working on you. Not even now are we experts in prayer. Only the Blessed Mother and Christ were. Until then, just hit your knees and pray for the Holy Spirit to teach you to pray and grow as you must. Starbucks and tight jeans work for some people. Rosaries work for others. Cross and mangers, still others.
Dear Chad Michael (assuming that's your real name), your comment is full of wisdom. Furthermore, I'd like to emphasize that contemplation is also action. Everything that is human implies decision, action. The reason for this is our nature. By nature we have a will, someone in a vegetative state still has a will, in this case contemplation in prayer or action through reflection will be an inner process, and her decision will be still in place. Therefore, when we contemplate the Sacrament in prayer, we are acting. This very typing online is acting.
ReplyDeleteWhat then is the purpose of meditating on the Joyful Mysteries? Or the Glorious? Or the Luminous? These are not sorrowful prayers, but prayers of joy, awe, and enlightenment. These emotions all have their place in our interaction with God.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we need to say that the moments people look for God's will have to be sorrowful ones. Or that remembering and thanking God has to be centered in remembrance of His sorrow. I would agree that we most often seek God’s Will when we are feeling down, but I really believe we should strive to be thankful to God and look for His Will in positive ways. He died for our sins, but that wasn't the end of the story: He rose again to new life and granted us life eternal. We definitely need to remember the cost of our sin, but what did the Blood of the Lamb purchase for us? Everlasting life with our God, something I find quite joyful!
For the purpose of this discussion, I believe that contemplative prayer and actions are mutually exclusive: while sure, when you pray you are doing *something*, but it is something between you and God. Once you act, you are taking those resolutions outside of that relationship, hopefully to make a good difference in the world.
I believe people can take advantage of phrases like "I'll pray about it" to talk to themselves as you say, but I believe it is also a legitimate statement to make. You brought up Christ's Agony. It was a prayer to the Father, where He did just what these people are claiming to do: Open them self to God's will, presenting their desires before the Lord, but allowing His Will to be communicated to them. Christ did not seek the Cross before He determined in prayer that it was God the Father's Will. It wasn’t on the Cross that He first accepted the Father’s Will in this matter; it was still in the garden when he could have acted and prevented His arrest. In that way, prayer and contemplation preceded action, just as it should with us.