The French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was a cat fancier and is known to have a kitten named Blanche. Among Montaigne’s contributions to literature were a number of observations about cats—such as no matter how much they fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
He also quipped: “When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?”
If I am not mistaken, C. S. Lewis once remarked that while Montaigne may have descended to his cat’s level to play with her, she did not ascend to Montaingne’s level. In other words, the essayist may have become catlike in play, but the cat did not rise above her nature to become humanlike.
Something similar applies to us when we relate to God, only we are in the position of the kitten.
We may—by God’s grace—become godlike after a fashion. In fact, St. Peter remarks that through his grace we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). But there is still a sense in which we never rise above our fundamental finitude. However much God may elevate us, we never become the kind of infinite being that he is.
God himself declares in the Scriptures:
[M]y thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts [Isaiah 55:8-9].
Thus there is a gap between us. And it is a gap that, compared to the gap between Montaigne and his cat is . . . y’know . . . bigger.
That gap is there even when we are thinking about God—or when we are talking to him. That is, when we pray.
This underscores a question that eventually occurs to all of us: If God is infinitely above us . . . if he is omniscient or “all knowing” . . . then why exactly are we praying?
Doesn’t God know what we need already? Doesn’t he know already how much we care about what is happening to us and how much we need his help?
If he knows those things, and if he cares for us, why should we pray at all?
In the Gospels, Jesus seems at first glance to confirm this suspicion, when he warns against at least overly-lengthy, insincere prayers. He tells us:
n 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 [Matthew 6:7-8].
Yet Jesus does not tell us not to pray. To the contrary, he goes on to give us the model Christian prayer, which we today call the “Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9-13), to use its opening words.
He is quite firm, though, on the point that God knows what we need even before we ask.
If that is so: Why pray at all?
The only conclusion we can draw is that prayer is not about informing God. It is not about giving him information. Because he is omniscient, he already has all the information that there is—about our needs and everything else.
It’s not like we could say, “Hey, God! I’m dying of cancer, here! Could you please help me out?” and then God say, “Thanks for letting me know! I was attending to something else! Here’s your healing!”
God already knows everything, so we cannot tell him anything he doesn’t already know.
Yet Jesus—as well as the whole biblical tradition—expects us to pray.
Why?
That’s the question we will be exploring in this series.
What are your thoughts?
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My first response to this topic is that we pray not to influence God’s nature, but our own. Humility and acceptance are two important byproducts of prayer. Another good prayer is the serenity prayer, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. So, serenity, courage and wisdom are also benefits of consistent prayer.
St. Thomas Aquinas: “We need to pray to God, not in order to make known to Him our needs or desires but that we ourselves may be reminded of the necessity of having recourse to God’s help in these matters…[O]ur motive in praying is not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that, by our prayers, we may obtain what God has appointed [i.e. “thy will be done”]...God bestows many things on us out of His liberality, even without our asking for them: but that He wishes to bestow certain things on us at our asking, is for the sake of our good, namely, that we may acquire confidence in having recourse to God, and that we may recognize in Him the Author of our goods.” (Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 83, a. 2 ad 1-3)
Let’s see, we pray because we have to hear ourselves ask. We have to make an effort and in that effort we can discern how much we desire the thing we are praying for. Like putting wood on the fire to get the heat. No wood, no heat!
1: Praying is not for God but for man.
2: Human has free will, but because of our fallen nature, our will need constant purification through prayer.
3: God respects our free will, and He will not grant us what we need unless we will God to fill our need with various goodness. We pray for the goodness which our conscience has judged to be indeed good.
My friend always described it like this to me:
Say I’m baking a cake and my 5 year old comes up and wants to help. I really don’t need her help. I know how to do it yet it is good for her (and me) to walk through this together. It is good for her to learn and it is good for me because I love her.
God doesn’t “need” me to help him but he wants me to. It is good for me to keep praying to him and learning and growing. It is good for him because he loves me and wants to be with me and me with him.
This is kind of simple but it’s the best I can do.
I thought this article was very good. David’s quote from St. Thomas Aquinas is a perfect answer to the question of “Why pray?” There are various forms and stages of prayer. Hopefully, as we grow in our prayer life, we will find a deeper, more intimate knowledge and relationship with God. Ultimately, prayer should lead us all to a union with God. Contemplative prayer is that instrument which will help ease us to that end. Contemplative prayer, for me, is total union with God—an emptying of myself and opening my heart to God’s grace. The only way to attain that type of prayer is through interior silence. This is where we remain in God’s presence and wait for Him.
God wants us to be co-creators with Him, He works through our will. A couple may want a child deeply, and God may know of this desire and want to provide them with one, yet if they choose to no act on it (as in have sex) he respects that choice. Or likewise, someone may have the desire to paint a beautiful image, yet if they never pick up that paintbrush to practice God will not materialize the final product in front of the ‘artist’. He is in the process of painting creation into being and has all the tools laid out, yet he wants to work through the imperfect creatures he created, so He waits for us to ask.
Moses’ face shone after talking to God. We must encounter him, and because we are creatures of need—i.e., flesh and blood—we must bring to him our neediness. It’s part of who we are. Even if we praised God all the time, which is by itself, a higher activity than petition, we would then not be bringing our whole self before him, and the encounter would not be sufficient and there would thus be in danger of falling away from him. Moreover we might fall into pride because we wouldn’t ecognize our own neediness and then our praise might fall short or cease altogether as has that of the fallen angel who won’t stoop to ask God for a glass of ice water though he’s everlastingly scorched.
I wholeheartedly agree with Sister Terese Peter. Prayer isn’t just about asking God for things. Sure that’s one aspect of prayer, but the major part is simply communicating with God. In prayer, we communicate, we beg forgiveness for our sins, we give thanks, we contemplate the mysteries of God, we discuss our day and our lives, but the main one in my opinion is to glorify and praise God. This is the most important, because he is so worthy of that praise and worship.
I’ve always found the words of St Thomas, as provided above by David Wallace, to be a perfectly sufficient answer to the question of why we should pray. Perhaps I’m missing something, though, and if so I hope that the rest of Jimmy’s series will enlighten me.
Although God always knows our hearts he likes to watch us grow in our faith. If we never prayed we would never grow. It is our prayer that helps build resolve to with stand life’s road blocks.
Even though God does not need to hear about our problems, prayer is still very important for one thing: relationship. We are called to be in relationship with God. An important part of any relationship is communication. Prayer is a form of communication with God. We tell God what’s on our hearts and minds. Communication is always a two way street, however. So our prayer needs to include silence to be able to “hear” God’s response. Prayer is important because it fosters our relationship with God.
The reasons we pray (catechism) are: Adoration, thanksgiving, contrition and petition—even though God knows all about us. You want to hear from a close friend so you stay in contact by speaking to them as often as you can. Doesn’t that seem logical in having a close relationship with God—contact via prayer? I have read that there is no salvation without prayer, and that makes sense. The pagan says, “I leave God alone and he leaves me alone.” Sad way of living.
When we teach our children to say “please” and “thank you,” and other ways to be polite, we do so in order to instill in them a sense of respect and humility. We know what they want; we know if they had a good time at our birthday party; we already know that they received the gift we sent them. But we watch them gain a sense of their own self, their place in the world, their relationships to other people. I think prayer is like that. The more we pray, the closer we come to understanding our relationship with God, and it helps us in many, many ways.
My take on this would be the same as if, when I was younger, sought the advise of someone wiser. Praying to God is not for his benefit, but ours. When we pray, we receive insight and guidance we would never had thought of on our own. Just like asking someone who has been in the situation before. Praying, also helps me to focus and take my burdens off my shoulders and on to my fathers. Very comforting.
Prayer is also a way to communicate in a relationship. In any relationship, there must be communication, otherwise, there is no relationship! And, it can’t be just one-way. So, God invites us to enter into a relationship with Him. Because we cannot see, touch, or hear Him, He gave us other means by which to intimately know Him: prayer. When I was a much younger woman I used to bargain with God. Sometimes it worked, but now, my relationship with Him is much deeper and intimate. But, I still bargain with Him every now and then! LOL!
Thank you for your article. Prayer is a blessing from God to renew a us and a way for our soul to commune with the Almighty. In your article you said that God does not need to be informed of our needs. Indeed, prayer is the way God uses to form us into what He would have us become. It is truly a gift and sadly one that many people rarely and sometimes never use.
Maybe prayer is also His way of teaching us how to give as He does, when we ask Him for help and grace and healing for others, we get to somehow be part of His giving. Our Father! Our Creator wants a relationship with us, amazing! Sometimes I’ll tell Him, after I’ve gone on and on about something, I can’t believe you’re still listening to me!
What’s this meant to be, a penny dreadful?! You wrote an article to tell us about other articles you plan to write! Oh the anticipation…! Please, next time end your introductory post with at least one actual point which addresses the title. I echo some of your readers - we pray to praise God, primarily. Same as the angels in heaven do - after all, why do the angels pray? They were created to serve God, praise Him and do His bidding. They lack for nothing (unlike us humans). We also pray to communicate with our Creator and yes, to ask him for what we need, even though He already knows this - By this very act we are paying respect to our all-knowing, omnipresent King. It is like a child asking a parent for something - something which the parent already knows the child wants and has already bought. This act defines the relationship between parent and child, or between God and human. Don’t forget, we were told that our names are carved into God’s palm. All of us. One by one… That’s why we pray…
For me, prayer is the best way I’ve found to help me battle against pride, and I suspect that prayer would also be an excellent way to battle against the other 6 deadly sins. I notice that when I’m praying, I begin to feel a rush of humility, and this rush of humility, for me at least, seems to come out of nowhere. I never expected it to be there, but it just started showing up all on its own, and it’s now a regular companion when I pray. And of course the prayer I’m engaged in is simply reading or reciting any approved Catholic prayers, e.g. morning or evening prayers, The Rosary, and especially prayers written by Sts. Thomas Aquinas or Augustine.
Lou: What you described in your post is typical of someone who is “entering” (for want of a more precise term) into contemplative prayer. That feeling of humility is a profound awareness of God’s presence. We shouldn’t get too wound up in our “feelings”, though, because they can be deceiving. We all experience the desolations after experiencing the most wonderful consolations. But, those are to be expected: even Jesus experienced those moments of total desolation many times. What is important in this kind of prayer, or any kind of prayer for that matter, is that we open ourselves up to listening to God…allowing Him to take over and do the “talking”. Even when we are in a state of peace, there are many distractions during prayer…and God knows that. It is our WILL that we must surrender to God in prayer. He will take charge after that!
Peppin the Short: What does “a penny dreadful” mean?! This sounds almost like British terminology.
Sister Terese Peter: Thanks for your reply. Is there a book that explains in more detail what happens when you pray? Something that can be a sort of guide along the way?
@Sister Terese Peter. You’re right about it being British ‘terminology’. During the Victorian and Edwardian eras (mid-to-late 19th, early 20th centuries)there were many periodicals about which were published on a weekly basis. Some of these, in order to keep the circulation up from one week to another, used to employ writers to write murder mysteries. By ending each episode of the mystery on a cliffhanger they tried to ensure that the subscribers of a particular periodical would eagerly buy the publication the following week in order to read the next installment. Usually the quality of writing was not prize-winning material. However, I am not saying that the quality of writing is inferior at all. I just wish that that the blogger would have ended this his first of what promises to be an interesting series with something a little more substantial, that’s all.
@ Sister Terese Peter: oh, I forgot to mention; these periodicals only cost a penny, hence the name ‘penny dreadful’ (dreadful refers to the fact that the writing was not exactly high quality)
In my teens,when caught with a paperback adventure or romantic novel my father often chastised me for reading a ‘penny dreadful’ - so accurately described by peppin the short. I do of course read a much better quality of book now! Sister Terese Peter should not be surprised at the British usage. There are very many of us from this side of the pond contributing to these forums. I don’t know if anyone has written a ‘How to pray’ handbook but surely the Our Father is good for a start. Prayer is so personal, some times it flows, other times hard, particular achieving the complete inner silence to wait for the voice of God.
To Lou: There is a very good book written by Basil Pennington (a Trappist priest) some years ago entitled, “Centering Prayer”. It is a very easy read and it is beautifully written. It was given to me when I was still a young laywoman by my spiritual director, a wonderful Redemptorist priest. It introduced me to contemplative prayer. I’ve read several other good books on prayer (contemplative), but this one is good to start.
Peppin the Short: Thanks for the explanation! I am half British. My dad was a first generation English-American. My younger sister married a Brit (a wonderful man, but not even baptized) and they have a son in college now. I adore my British heritage and I’ve been trying desperately for years to make a visit to England. That is one thing I pray I can do before I die. It is a dream of mine since I was very, very young.
Marie Bell: Are you in ENgland? If so, I am very jealous! I’ve been wanted to go to England since I was a young girl. I actually dream about being in England—of course, my dreams will never be as wonderful as the actual country! How is the Catholic Church faring in the UK? I have a great interest in anything Belloc or Chesterton (and Lewis, too.) I’ve read a number of Caryll Houselander books, too. She was a great lady. Anyway, I am always interested in anything English, so if you have any suggestions, please send them along.
Also, for those of you on the “other” side of the pond, I can make smashing roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and an authentic English breakfast with black pudding! Pip-Pip and all that rot! (Sorry, I just had to say that…)
To Sister Terese Peter: Thank you, sister. I’ll get to work running down a copy of it. If I ever get the chance, I’d like to ask God why it is He eschewed the 2 x 4 upside the head to get our attention, in favor of the way He does it now. I’m a 2 x 4 kind of guy myself, and would have greatly appreciated such attention years ago.
Like anyone that is important in our life, we need to cultivate that relationship. I believe that prayer is absolutely essential if we are to be in a relationship with God. I have found this to be true in my own life. As busy as I am working and also very active in parish life,if I don’t discipline myself to keep up my prayer life I can begin to feel somewhat detached from God. Prayer is the “glue” between us and God. We need it and God is pleased when we pray and give Him our time.
Lou: Don’t worry, you’re not the only 2 x 4 person! St. Peter is a perfect example! I mean, the poor guy was always stickin’ his proverbial foot in his mouth! (That’s the reason I took his name at my final profession! I can definitely relate!) Yet, Our Lord made him Prince of the Apostles and the Head of His Church…so I guess there’s hope for all of us 2 x 4’ers, which, I too, was/is!! (There are still sometimes that I get clunked in the head by God’s “school board”!) When you have progressed further in the prayer/spiritual life, I would highly recommend (and even before you progress) getting a good, solid priest for a spiritual director. He will guide you on your path. An order priest is preferable because they are generally trained in the spiritual life/prayer life. That is, unless, of course, you find yourself with a Jesuit!! (Only kidding!!) There are lots of other books you can read on this topic. One that I would recommend for you later on would be St. Alphonsus Liguori’s (I might have the title wrong as it has been many years since I first read it…) I believe the title is: “The Way of Salvation and Perfection.” It is not one of his more well-known writings; it is considered an ascetical writings, but it is all about our path to God through prayer. And, if you should ever find yourself in the darkness (which you will, if you stay on your present course), I would recommend reading St. John of the Cross’ “Dark Night of the Soul” and even “Story of a Soul” by St.Therese of Lisieux. Anyway, I hope that helps. And, don’t forget, MOST OF US ARE 2 X 4 FOLKS!! God bless!
Sister Terese Peter: I hope to be so lucky as to “get clunked in the head by God’s ‘school board!’”, as you put it. Sign me up for a couple dozen of those, if you have any influence in that area. Once again, many thanks.
Relationship: the Lord’s Prayer starts with “Our Father” not “Dear God.”
Humility: God is the owner of everything. Anything I want needs to come from Him. Psalm 50:10
Motivation: sometimes I realize how selfish my petitons are by merely saying them out loud in the presence of the creator of the universe. James 4:3
God doesn’t want to hear your PRAYERS if he has equipped you with gifts and resources to assist those in need…. Prayer is useless without ACTION. So if your an auto mechanic and you know someone who’s car is broke, don’t pray for them FIX IT. If your a contractor and your neighbor has a hole in the roof, don’t pray for them FIX IT…If you have a friend without food and your shelves are full don’t pray share some food with them….If you have a friend who is having difficulty’s with life and have a shoulder,don’t pray for them, give them your shoulder to cry on. Prayer is an easy out to just ignore the problem.
Prayer + assisting those in need is always a virtuous combination.
Prayer didn’t help much in Texas—the drought is worse than ever.
God heard the prayers for the drought conditions in Texas….and for mysterious reasons known only to God the drought continues.
It’s certainly true that prayer changes us. And I think God is giving us the opportunity to grow closer to Him when we enter into prayer. When I think about a parent-child relationship, certainly a parent learns about her child in communication, which is different than God our Creator who knows us better than we know ourselves, but there can be even in the human-parent child relationship the element that when the child communicates with the parent the child is growing as he “reaches up” to the parent. I think just in our act of “reaching up” to God, by His grace we grow nearer to Him as we stretch beyond ourselves.
I God has His own plans that we can’t understand, why pray for things to be different? It’s like being frozen in the headlights of an on-coming car and praying for it not to hit you, or praying you won’t really be hurt by it, instead of moving out of the way.
Good topic. Most still think of prayer as talking with God and getting Him to ” Do it MY way.” We are despite the quote and comment in the arrticle raised tO Divine level not to be Divine but He comes into us, Father Son and Holy Spirit, “sharing in the Divine nature” as in Peter’s letter quoted in the Akin article, and the Holy Spirit is the chief Actor; He cleans out the dross and replaces it with the Divine life, a created share yes, we are still human and finite. However the cat beomes the human in the sense that we come to Have the same mind in us aas was in Christ Jesus” as Phil 2;6-11 asks and shows how. We avoid the Buddhist New Age concept that we are naturally divine we do agree with the Fathers that we are adopted (Paul) and are thus become Gods. Created and raised up, not Adam-Eve’s temptation by Satan to ignore God, disobey and therefore try to “steal” Divinity and avoid creaturehood.
Prayer helps us take on the mind of Christ Jesus and drop the Adam-Eve wrong choice.
Eve and Adam’s “sin” was curiosity—wanting to know why God set the rule of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge is what makes humans different from the other animals. Adam and Eve didn’t make a “wrong choice”, they were following God’s reverse psychology.
Mary: HUH?? I’m not sure I’m following your line of reason. Adam and Eve’s sin was sin of disobedience, not curiosity. Curiosity is not a sin unless it LEADS one to commit a sin. And even then, it still is not a sin. It is the possible action which was fueled by the curiosity that could be sinful. If we did not have the gift of curiosity, we would not have advanced beyond dragging our knuckles along the ground. (Oh, FYI: I am NOT an evolutionist!) God instilled in us an inherent curiosity to learn about our world and ourselves. That is a gift. But when we use God’s gifts for selfish and sinful ends, then we are misusing our gifts. Yes, A & E did make the wrong choice, and we all inherit the consequences of that choice. But, God sent His Son to Redeem all of mankind. Praise God!
Sister Terese Peter: The A and E sin was a fundamental refusal to accept their creaturehood, the Satan temptation was they would become gods and know all good and evil. Same as Lucifer’s refusal to accept(angelic) creaturehood. Basically hubris. As our mothers said, “too big for their britches.” Peace to all as we search for a deep prayer life that makes is “Have the same mind as Christ Jesus” Phil 2:6—11 who “abandloned” His Divinity and took on the perfect humble life as one of us to reverse the original hubris of Lucifer and his seduction of everyone of us with two exceptions Jesus and His “full of Grace” Mother who said “Let it be done to me.”
If God wanted us to be ignorant of good and evil, how could we have the gift of free will? And isn’t one of God’s greatest qualities free will?
Mary: “If God wanted us to be ignorant of good and evil, how could we have the gift of free will? And isn’t one of God’s greatest qualities free will?”
God did not want us to be ignorant of good and evil. In order for us to choose good over evil, we have to know the difference. That is elementary. I think the meaning of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is far more complicated than that.
Free will is not an attribute of God as He is far above free will. He, of course, has Free Will as He is the Author of free will. However, in the teachings of the Church, free will is not one of His attributes. I think what you meant is that free will is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. That is certainly true. And yes, the whole purpose of life is to will to be with God—to love God. He wants that from us. He created us out of love—not out of some weird need to watch us squirm around like worms…although many times we do do that! I hope that clarifies this issue for you.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/the-question-of-prayer-why-should-i-pray/#ixzz1Xb6el7nA
I’m afraid I do not understand what it means to be “above free will”. Does it mean that God IS the definition of good and evil? Is it our lot to accept whatever happens as God’s will, no matter how we suffer or feel that justice is not served? I thought that was the theme of Islam—to submit to God’s will.
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How is the meaning of the Tree of Knowledge more complicated? I do think that free will is one of God’s greatest gifts, but the teachings are confusing. God gave all of us intelligent minds, but the Church says we cannot be saved unless we believe in God and Jesus. There is so much injustice in the world that I can understand why it is so difficult for some. God is not revealed to everyone—how can we tell what is true?
Mary: Your questions are very relevant and I wish I were more able to explain my meanings. I, am however, not a scholar. The questions you pose are metaphysical and philosophical and require answers from someone who can better answer them for you. I asked the same questions many years ago when I was searching for God. What I found out was that God was and is always with me, particularly in the most difficult of situations. I am just not always perceptive of His Presence…I am just a human with many limitations. So, for me, that is where Faith comes in. I believe that there are and were many more intelligent and gifted individuals whom God chose as His “representatives.” Jesus knew that His teachings had to be handed down from one generation to the next. How was He to do that? He appointed His representatives—the first Pope (St. Peter) and the rest of the Apostles as the first Bishops. He entrusted His complete and unadulterated teachings to them—to hand down to others who would also become Bishops, Popes, etc. Although it seems fantastic, it is how Jesus established His Church. We also have to believe His words when He promised to send the Holy Spirit to His Church—and that same Holy Spirit guides and directs HIS Church even unto this day. And so, when I am confused about life, spiritual matters, etc., I always go to the Church because that is where the Truth lies. Even if I don’t agree, or I don’t see the rationale, or the “justice” of whatever it is I am troubled over, I still must submit my will to the True representative of God—the Catholic Church in the person of our Pope. Otherwise, I become just like other people running around making up my own rules, making up my own “teachings” or interpretations of God—and that is not truth in the universal sense—and that is what Catholic means: universal. This is why we have today over 500,000 various Christian sects…one broken off from another, and so on it goes. With those figures, how do we know which one has all of the truth of God? We don’t. The only way we know what the Truth is is by following the teachings of the Catholic Church, whose Founder is none other than Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As I have been a “cradle” Catholic, I have not always been a good Catholic. It has been a rocky road for me. I am 60 years old now and I am still learning things about the Church and about Our Lord each day. What pleases me is that we are promised that when we get to Heaven (eventually for me—I will be the one turning the lights out and locking up in Purgatory!) we will, for all eternity, learn new and wonderful things about God! Can you imagine what that will be like??? It gives me goose bumps…but I have gotten off the subject, as usual. That is how I live my faith—each day at a time. I hope you also find that peace.
That temptation from Satan to A and E was an offer for a Divine-style knowledge of good and evil that is not ours as humans. The story, which is written against the background of their Babylonian culture shows that they violated their “space” stepping into God’s uncreated Being, they were created and confined to that dimension of life on earth. God’s essence is to be a giver of Grace. That is He chooses to give us the Gift of Grace, which is the same word, Grace is Gift, freely given by God out of love. In that sense we can definitely say that God has free will, of course He can only choose what is good for us even though He created a world where we can choose to kill, hurt and destroy each other and pollute His Earth. The Earth itself can hurt us- ice falling on walkers, hurricanes killing people. The Genesis Creation story is a Myth in the classical meaning of that word, a sacred story which has a meaning in the religious world. It does not mean “fake” or “lies” so do not attempt to corect this use of the word. The meaning here is that we as humans, represented by The Mud Man, Adamah, creature of clay and Eve, mother of the living are given a choice to step outside our limits, in Hubris, unbridled Pride. The coming of Christ as described in the Phil. 2;6-11 Hymn showed Him who was God became a human and hid His Divinity, accepted the human condition in humility and was totally humbly dedicated to doing His Father’s will which led to His death. That is why Paul said “have the same mind in you as was in Christ Jesus.” Old theologies that He had to pay the Devil a ransom, “redeeming” as in “buying us back” and that He as God had to come down and be a human to “satisfy” the Father’s anger are not Catholic Christian theology, they were attempts to “explain” and misused words and took the Genesis story wrongly.
Should have thanked you Sister for your faithfulness to Jesus The Christ guiding His Church through its sin with His Holy Spirit’s Grace to sort out the Truth from Evil and Lies, the domain of the Devil who is alive and well today with his misuse of the gifts of all the media which are not used as much for Jesus’ Good News. Let us continue to pray for each other as we walk the Pilgrim Way to our Calvary and onto Resurrection. I am tall so can help you with the higher up lights in Purgatory!! I spent my life teaching the Humanities all the way up to the University level, and being as faithful a Catholic as I could
HermitTalker: Thank you for your beautiful explanation of a subject to which I am woefully and inadequately learned. Although much of what you said, I feel in my heart, I find it very difficult to put those feelings into adequate words. Thank you. And, since I am very short, I will need help in turning those lights off! Thank you and God bless you. Be assured that you will be in my daily prayers before our Holy Eucharistic Lord when I pray with my community, the Divine Office during our daily Holy Hour. May God grant you many graces for your faithfulness to His Word Made Flesh.
Thanks Sister for your prayers and kind words. I fell in 2010 and between medical neglect and a misread x-ray of a fractured left hip I can no longer walk, in wheel chair since May 2011. My miracle I pray for is to ask Pope Pius X11 and a few others to get it for me. At least I want the constant pain at certain times to be eased. Thanks for adding that to your Community’s intentions. Peace Francis
@Mary- Adam & Eve’s sin was one of pride and not curiosity. God is Omnipotent. God is spirit and is Pure Love. God never condones evil; however there is something that is called God’s permitting will (he permits evil to take place), to bring about a greater good. When we pray we are at that moment in a “special place” with God. He knows everything about us and yet He desires that we pray. Jesus taught us how to pray in the Lord’s Prayer which is the most perfect prayer. And yet, praying from our heart is most pleasing to God. Jesus told us that if we wanted to enter the Kingdom of God that we must become like little children (humble and obedient). When we place ourselves in doing God’s will we can be in a place of peace even if suffering is involved. The free will that God has given us assists us in making choices - good vs. evil. Even when we are far away from God’s love by our own choice, not His, He gives us grace to respond to His love. This is the story of salvation. God sends His only Son to suffer, die and rise from the dead to redeem humanity. Jesus in His humanity prayed to the Father and asked that His suffering be removed; but also prayed that not His will but that the Father’s will be done.
Amy: What a beautiful and simple explanation! And, on such a day as 9/11/11 when our entire nation mourns the loss of so many innocent lives. We must also pray for our enemies—not just those whom we perceive as our political/ideological enemies, but those we encounter every day. It is sad that on this most Holy Sunday, the mayor of NY refuses to allow clergy and first-responders to the memorial service. What does that say about our country and where we are headed??? If anything, this particular blog/website reinforces our need to connect personally to God. Thanks and God bless you, Amy!
Welcome here Amy. Missed you on the site with the irrational, biblically illiterate former Catholic. I prayed for her. She finally quit as you know - after I twice quoted the verses that showed Hagar /Ishmael did not have a COVENANT but a blessing of many descendants. She as you noted seems to have some serious emotional issues, guilt that she left Mother Church or ? I enjoy this site and the one about the irrationality of the pro-abort folks. Also on Catholic answers but they kept up an idiotic romw that the Bible account of Creation was God’s and Science was fake!
The kiss of Peace to you and yours. Francis
Thank you Sister Terese Peter and HermitTalker for your kind comments - May the peace of the Lord be with all of us today. Today’s Gospel reading is so appropriate for it challenges us to forgive. May those who died on this day be welcomed into God’s Heavenly Kingdom and embraced with His Love. May their family and friends be comforted and may the peace of God reside in our hearts, in our souls and in our Nation. Yes, very tragic that the Mayor of NY has rejected the presence of clergy!
Ok Francis…what is the address of this website “with the irrational, biblically illiterate former Catholic”?? I would like to join it. I am on Catholic Answers Forum, but I’m pretty new there. Any other good Catholic sites you can recomment?
Sister it is over with. It was about electing Mormons but turned into a monologue by the lady with some efforts to correct her my Amy and myself. The rest dropped out. It went on too long. I write to the National Catholic Reporter, as well as this newspaper. I just wrote to the New York Times in response to a Moslem’s column from Iran who tied several points together re 9/11 and since. I made the point that drones and 144 thousand troops do not solve intertwined problems. I measured the thousands of US and Coalition and Middle East soldier deaths, the trillions of dollars, dislocated millions of people, smashed water and electric power and roads and bridges and property, thousands of non-combatants killed, the outbreak of religious bigotry. All because of 3000 dead on 9/11??? and the cost goes on.
Wisdom is needed I said. honouring the spiritual. I made the final reference to the absence of the reps. of the major Faiths who lost people here and from 90 nations on 9/11 as Amy noted here re the NY Memorial Service. I called it more of the anti-religious bias that governs too much of the US national agenda today. PRAYER for the conversion of each of us to Jesus’ Mind and for Government to listen to Reason and the Natural Law, which would end a lot of the loss of civilised thinking and laws and conduct pushed on us by the MINORITY who control the Government snd most of the media, Left and Right. We need to continue to write, lobby and pray to encourage more to wake up and take back the Republic. I am back in Europe but just left there for medical reasons after I retired.
Some wonderful and insightful comments here thank you. The beauty of Sue’s cake analogy and the learned reflection of Aquinas (a man who was good with analogy too) - thanks Dave.
Sister Terese Peter - a couple of English book recommendations for you that really give a good feel of classic England - “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro and “Never Let Me Go” by the same (far better than the film adaptations) in the not too distant past. Another more modern novel set in London which I adore is “An Equal Music” by Vikram Seth.
Toby: Are the books you suggested novels or non-fiction? If they are novels, I will have great difficulty getting through them. I am pretty much a cerebral reader and 9 times out of 10 if it is not factual, (that is, not a novel) I will lose interest quickly. I was given a book entitled, “Fatherless”, apparently an outstanding Catholic novel that everyone has read except me. I have yet to get past the first 10 pages. *sigh* What can I say? Everyone else has read his “Motherless” and are waiting with bated breath for his/her new one titled, “Childless.” I had to teach literature for a couple of years on a high school level and I struggled through the fiction part. I chose books that were a little more challenging such as: To Kill a Mockingbird, Screwtape Letters, The Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, and some others that I don’t remember now. You see, I am strictly a math and science teacher, although I’ve taught all the subject over the years. But, I generally feel like a fish out of water if I find myself in a kindergarten classroom, (I’m a disaster!), or a humanities classroom!
Hi Sister - they’re fiction. If you want some cerebral non-fiction, I’d suggest England - An Elegy by Roger Scruton (he’s a philosopher at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University). It’s a fascinating read, although it will make you nostalgic for something you don’t even know!
Sister, you are missing out on a lot if you can’t enjoy humanities. It surprises me, as you are devoting your life to a work of fiction that has influenced western literature for centuries.
Mary: I guess I’m missing something because I don’t understand what you mean by: “...you are devoting your life to a work of fiction that has influenced western literature for centuries.” Which work of fiction? I guess I’m “Clueless” here! :)
Western literature is packed with biblical references, which cannot be appreciated unless people read the Bible.
Mary: You have a good point!! Thanks for reminding me! (It’s that ol’ “old-timer’s” disease kicking in again!)
My thoughts ? That the difficulties do not lie where the article finds them. ISTM that a far more serious problem is in the complete disjunction between what Jesus teaches about prayer, and what actually happens, or does not happen. Maybe what Jesus said was intended only for the disciples - that solution would raise problems of its own, but the chasm between the words of Jesus (assuming that the words in some sense convey His teaching, even if they are not His) and what happens, or does not happen, might then be closed.
Manticore: You totally lost me at “disjunction”. Can you explain in more simpler terms your point? Thanks…
Sister I concur. M is not at all clear.
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The O F in not a praye we pray privately or communally at Mass or Divine Office but is a programme for the spiritual journey; We recognise His Fatherhood, we are His kids, we want Him to be honored as All Holy and want His Kingdom to come by our actions here, doing His will which is what Jesus and Mary did here and she asked for that at Cana. We see Him as source of our daily needs and admit that His compassionate foriveness is withheld from us if we spite, old grudges. That sets us up if we follow it for being saved from the Evil of sin and its wages, Eternal Death. Do not know what M intended but it may be that our prayer can too often be asking Santa for a new iPod
Of course C.S. Lewis was Irish, not English. Two of my favourite books on prayer are “Upon This Mountain: Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition” by Mary McCormack, OCD and “The Impact of God, Soundings from St John of The Cross” by Iain Matthew, OCD. And of course anything by St Teresa of Avila herself.
C S Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898 when all of Ireland was under British Rule and Belfastisthe capital of the Six Counties still in their grip. As a Protestant he would consider himself “British” - being born in Ireland would allow that since they still occupy his native city.
I said C.S. Lewis wasn’t English. He wasn’t. He never claimed to be English. He would certainly have understood himself to be a British subject and fought in the Great War, but he always regarded himself as Irish.
No quarrel, the citizenship is accurate and so is his claim! His imagination and writin about the soul are very Irish in ancestry.
Ah now, I didn’t mention citizenship, I said “subject”. Under Irish law, C.S. Lewis was an Irish citizen, whether he travelled on an Irish passport or not. But I suspect this discussion may not be of much interest to those interested in prayer. One of my favourite Lewis images is the blades of scissors - it’s about grace and freedom - our doing, or God’s. Lewis said it’s like asking which blade cuts the paper. The big regret, of course, is that he didn’t make the leap into the Catholic Church - I suspect it was his Ulster Protestant heritage that made that a leap too far.
I follow you. I was raised there in part under George V1 and on holidays later under his daughter. I used get a kick out of the Northeners signing hotel registers in the Republic as BRITISH for their citizenship which showed they were Prods as we called them. You may know that Martin McGuinness the Second Minister of NI is running as President of the Republic -if he wins he will be the third in a rom from N Ireland to get that job!
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