"God, come to my assistance
Lord, make haste to help me"
In the prayer tradition of the Catholic Church, prayers like this are called "ejaculatory prayers". When teaching my small children ejaculatory prayers we renamed them "dart" prayers; since these prayers were meant to act as small weapons in your battle against sin and the devil. "Jesus, I trust in you" is another great one.
I think ejaculatory prayers are a wonderful way to integrate prayer into your ordinary life. Do you have a "dart" prayer that you pray that you would like to share with others?
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In the Terce prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, there is a small passage in Sacred Scripture that is employed that I love:
I don't know about you, but that pretty much sums up my desire for my spiritual life. I struggle with accepting suffering and am constantly fighting spiritual apathy with regards to prayer. You may know how it goes. You sit down to pray, and five minutes later you are thinking about meatloaf and humming "I will do anything for love" or "objects in the rear-view mirror, may appear closer than they are". When you come to from this slumber, you are watching television or scanning the internet for another distraction.
FAIL
St. Augustine describes desire as our inmost prayer. At least I've got desire going for me.
"Be patient in suffering, be constant in prayer" -from Romans 12:12
I don't know about you, but that pretty much sums up my desire for my spiritual life. I struggle with accepting suffering and am constantly fighting spiritual apathy with regards to prayer. You may know how it goes. You sit down to pray, and five minutes later you are thinking about meatloaf and humming "I will do anything for love" or "objects in the rear-view mirror, may appear closer than they are". When you come to from this slumber, you are watching television or scanning the internet for another distraction.
FAIL
St. Augustine describes desire as our inmost prayer. At least I've got desire going for me.
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If you are wondering why the Mass is so important to Catholicism, try out two of my posts here and here. The bottom line is that the Mass comes to us from Christ, is directed by Christ, to God for God, and we are invited to participate in something wholly above us. The liturgy is, as Pope Benedict XVI describes, God's descent upon us. On that note, I will be talking about participation and the oh-so-scary-word "co-mediatrix" in the coming weeks...
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What do I think about this?
I think sincere people, who love Christ, get together and do this. I think I did it for 20 years. I think it is fun. I think God, in his inestimable mercy, allows people to experience His love there.
I think (most of the time) it is man's attempt of going up to God--which can be explained by its genesis, and when he ascends that mountain, he only meets himself. I think it is a by-product of our culture's fascination with itself, particularly evangelical Protestantism's fascination with the culture and affirming every last little bit of it.
As you may know, I'm a former guitarist for a mega-church. However, I've played guitar in every possible scenario and on two sides of the pond. I get it that not all "productions" are "showy" or entertainment driven. Cool dog. I would respond to this, though, by asking the person or musician to think deeply upon those experiences and compare them to other musical experiences. I've learned that the same "God-high" you get at a Matt Redman concert (I love Matt Redman--but how can you get back to the heart of worship without the Eucharist?) can be achieved at a John Mayer concert. Also, ask yourself:
"Is this God's way of experiencing Him or my way"?
There is nothing wrong, per se, with reaching out to God using instruments that we find around us. I do it all the time. However, what we must be careful of is assuming that our way is God's way--and the inverse assumption that God has not provided a way. In the liturgy--God's way, God descends upon us. What you get out of Mass is both precisely what you put into it and precisely beyond what you can put into it. That is the beauty of the Mass. In the picture above, the more passive you are, the more you get out of the "production", yet it is precisely what you put into it--through artfulness and craft--is what you get out of it. If you don't believe me, ask the most out-of-tune person to sing, the worst musician to play, and see "what you get". Not to mention all the spiritual dis-inclined folks who leave such services with their hands in the pocket wondering if they are atheists or something.
Conversely, find a priest who cannot sing or play an instrument and ask them to officiate Mass. No one leaves empty.
The end is the difference.
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In some unabashed family promotion, here is a video from the band Fireflight. Why am I showing you this? Because the band is 2/5 my family (brother and sister in law) and 2/5 friends (lead singer and lead guitarist are friends from high-school). They just got a new drummer, but I was friends with the old one. Anyways, before they were Fireflight, a version of the band existed called Cheer-Up-Charlie. I played with that band for a few months as a replacement for my friend Jon Schneck from Reliant K--who played for AudioAdrenaline in-between.
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Jesus Christ, Just Judge of all men, have mercy on Christopher Hitchens. (April 13, 1949 – December 15, 2011)
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How do I feel about the Catholic Church?
For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.- Psalm 69:9
Thanks Jen for hosting!
