by Fr Ian
(Part 1 of this reflection is here)
Our essential poverty
I ended the first part of this reflection on Christian prayer with Saint Augustine’s remark that before God we are all beggars. And certainly for many of us it’s some experience of overwhelming need or suffering, beyond our control, that first drives home to us the essential poverty of our human condition (Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20) and provides the impetus that moves us to prayer.
According to the moral theologian Fritz Tillman, if an individual doesn’t pray when in need, whether it be either spiritual or material, ‘he is without the most efficacious source of interior strength, and it is thus his own fault if he cannot muster the energy to overcome the trial’ [2]
Turning to God and asking him for help, with trust in his goodness and power, honours God and brings us closer to him precisely in the Father-child relationship that he invites us into.
Seek first God’s Kingdom and God’s will
Another dimension of the prayer of petition is that, as we progress in our friendship with God, it dawns on us to stop asking him to satisfy selfish desires or to to assist the self-promoting plans we make for ourselves and those we’re close to.
We learn, so to speak, to ‘seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness’ (Mt 6:33) in our prayer, and we start to petition God only for what aligns with his will and with the outworking of his providential plan, as far as we can discern it, and only for what we believe serves our own true good and the good of others.
Fritz Tillmann explains the scale of values that this attitude imposes on us:
‘First place belongs to supernatural goods because of their value and significance: the soul’s salvation, liberation from sin, the help of God’s grace for a Christian life in imitation of His Son, the grace of final perseverance and the attainment of eternal salvation. On the same plane stands the impetratory [requesting, entreating] prayer for others: for those dear to us, for the conversion of sinners, for the Church and its propagation.
Despite all this, temporal goods, even though they occupy a secondary position, retain their significance and their justification. The Lord himself taught His followers to pray for their daily bread (Mt. 6:11); nor did He shut His heart to those who in faith brought their bodily woes to Him. But the things of this world must always be subordinate to the one thing necessary, one’s own salvation and that of others. The praying Christian is profoundly convinced that the all-wise and all-good God alone knows what is truly beneficial for his child’.[3]
As we mature in faith this scale of values begins to shape our prayers of petition and intercession more and more thoroughly.
Regarding ourselves, we stop asking God to grant our self-serving requests and we abandon our lives more and more completely to God’s will. Regarding others, we find ourselves praying from a deepening motive of love, not only for those close to us but also, crucially, for our enemies as well.
As time goes on we find that we increasingly refrain from deciding whether the things we ask for will truly help ourselves or others. Instead we leave this decision in the hands of God, commending ourselves unreservedly to him and asking him to carry out his will.[4]
A Church of prayer
The great English spiritual writer and Benedictine monk Hubert Van Zeller reminds us, finally, that Christians must intercede in prayer for the world, for the whole of humanity. He offers the thought-provoking reflection that ‘but for the debt of prayer which is constantly being paid by the hidden contemplative life of the Church, the universe would meet with the disintegration which the sinfulness of man calls down upon it.'[5]
It’s part of God’s providential plan for the world he created that the prayer of Christians should play a role in shaping the events of history, large and small, and contribute to the salvation of many individuals.
Similarly, Dom Hubert states, the Church will be deprived of apostolic and missionary success, and start to decay from within, if Christians forget to pray: ‘If we do not pray who will?’ he asks. ‘If nobody prays, what will happen to the Church and the race?'[6]
‘Men may think that civilization advances on the motor power of invention, statecraft, education, political economy, or one or another materialist philosophy, but unless there are souls in the world who pray there is no advance, no civilization’.[7]
(Part 3 to follow)
NOTES
[2] Fritz Tillmann, The Master Calls, Burns and Oates, London, 1961, p.155.
[3] Tillmann, p.162.
[4] Tillmann, p.161.
[5] Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B., Approach to Prayer, Sheed and Ward Ltd., London, 1958, pp. 125-6.
[6] Van Zeller, p. 126.
[7] Van Zeller, p.127.
What I'd like to read is your own personal experiences of prayer and your descriptions of how you have met with God, experienced God as holy, what it was like, times you met with God and what you experienced. How all this written by you has been personally real and relevant for you. THANKS!!!
ReplyDeleteYes. It would be interesting to hear from anyone and everyone in response to the questions posed by Raymond.
DeleteI agree absolutely, Ray. On reading your article, Ian , I thought exactly the same. Jasmin
DeleteCould Fr Ian's different types and aspects and comments of and on prayer be reduced to "Thy Will be done" as it seems that, one way or another, it will be anyway.
ReplyDeleteI would say that what I've written comes at least partly from my own experience of prayer and also my experience, as a pastor, of talking to other people about their experience, although I see that the way I've written easily comes across as generalising and therefore a bit impersonal. As the previous commenter says, the best place for discussing our own individual experiences is in the comments after the posts.
ReplyDeleteSo, for example, when I wrote that prayer can be a mysterious and obscure activity I'm drawing on my own experience - prayer is often a struggle, something we resist. The way our minds work, it's easy to spend a few hours watching the telly, but not not to spend a few hours praying.
I wrote that hopefully we learn gradually that prayer is about listening to God as well as speaking to him - something else I learned personally as I got older. I was also drawing on my own experience when I said in effect that as we grow in faith and our relationship with God deepens, what we ask for in prayer changes. We learn not to pray to win the lottery or something like that but to pray for deeper conversion and growth in spiritual gifts, freedom from worldly attachments and greater sensitivity to God's will. When I had cancer a few years ago I found that didn't tend to pray for a cure, I felt led to pray to prepare myself for possibly dying and meeting God face to face - and facing his judgement! I wonder if some people - some Christians - think that was a bit odd.
My sense that many church members don't give much time or effort to prayer and growing in prayer also comes from my experience as a priest over the years. Some people become awkward and evasive if you ask them about their prayer, their personal relationship with God, their own spiritual life and interior life. There's general relief if you get onto the subject of raising money for a new boiler for the church hall - back into the comfort zone!
I've found that there's a tendency for church members today to feel more comfortable living out Christian faith in activism and 'good works' than in being quiet, being still and praying. At the extreme some people think that prayer is time wasted that should be spend busily trying to make the world a better place, or something like that.
I'll try to say more along these lines in future posts but some of it might come over as a bit bookish because I've drawn, not just on my own experience, but on the writings of the great 'spiritual masters' in my own Catholic tradition. I think that's also important because although we all have our own unique relationship with God, the pattern of Christian prayer and spiritual growth should be in many ways similar for all of us, and that's where the guidance of the great experts comes in.
Thank you so much for that Ian. Have you any idea how much more convincing that was, than any quotes by other people or synods? I disagree with so much of the Catholic theory you type, but what you have just said from yourself - I am with you absolutely. Please carry on like this. Jasmin
ReplyDeleteI've just had a trite but interesting example of what prayer can do to our bodily systems. A fanatical computer programmer friend started to tell me about his latest success. It was important for his confidence that I could show an intelligent interest, despite my eyelids screwing up and closing! I'd just been reading this site, so I said to myself "help me God!" And I immediately found that I could keep my eyes open and relaxed, ask intelligent questions and generally show an interest. Just calling on my inner reserves, of course, but without the symbolism of a higher power, I couldn't have done it. This is why I would hate to see this symbolism disappear.
ReplyDeleteWell, we could just pray to God that He will help us not to be swept away with the strong currents and tide of "the world": the political correctness, the herd instinct to do what our political leaders tell us, pray for help to make use of the free-will that we have, to find "the narrow path" and stay on it, as it is the path of truth. And wait on God for the help ...
ReplyDeleteRegarding prayer, and its attendant difficulties, let's do what we can do: thank God for our food, drink, clothing and shelter. It all was made by and comes from God. That is not too difficult.
ReplyDeleteThis blog: I can't find anything I am looking for.
ReplyDeleteWith social media discussion sites, I always find a problem, as each individual comment can be "replied" to separately, so people's comments don't necessarily go chronologically and you end up with all sorts of tangent discussions. So I could write in reply to Ray's comment of a week ago, when further down the page the whole discussion has moved on and everyone is answering different threads and Ray never sees my reply.
ReplyDeleteAnd we really need notifications. Sorry, but I'm rather struggling with the new format.