Sermons on Prayer

 

LUKE 11:1-13

1He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 2And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread; 4and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation." 5And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7and he will answer from within, `Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything'? 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

Over the weekend, as per usual, I heard three different homilies on the same readings. This past weekend, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the priests in the parishes where I sing, all took a stab at this passage from the Gospel According to St. Luke.

The first priest is a Dominican Friar, and a frequent guest at the one parish. He talked at length about this, and memorable his words were not. But, at the time, it was good.

The second priest, the rector at one of the Churches used as a Cathedral over the years, talked about a young couple asking for prayer for their son, who was since diagnosed with mild autism. The husband of the couple repeated to Monsignor the words he says at every Mass. “We pray for what we think we need. Please, grant us what you know we need.” That is the root of what all prayer is, after all. The words were familiar and stuck with me.

The third priest, a young Jesuit who embodies traditional Ignatian thought and fervor, began with observations of the Our Father. Essentially, it is a series of command sentences and isn’t it presumptuous of mere mortals to make such demands of the Deity. It was most amusing before he went into how we are to be humble in prayer and steeped in virtue, something that is desperately lacking many times. We also got a bit of a history lesson on the Our Father and how the early Christians recited it with passion three times a day. This was before the more formal developments of prayer, and Liturgy, so, it was what Christians at the time knew.

And so, St. Luke’s version of the Our Father was somewhat explained. It is the instruction from Our Lord and Savior to His sheep on what to request: our daily bread, forgive us, lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. We can pray for these things all we want. The thing is, we still have to keep our end of the bargain.

That part of the deal has been muddied over the last five hundred years.

Adore, Worship, and Venerate…Not all words are created equal

 Recently, I got into a debate with a sincere protestant friend who has the idea that Catholics worship the Blessed Mother. The specific complaint was that Catholics kneel and then pray to Mary. To this person, being on one’s knees means we worship the individual to whom we are praying.

Well….

In the course of the conversation of trying to explain that, no, Catholics, in fact, do not worship Mary, but venerate her, it occurred to me that we Catholics don’t say we worship so much since the retranslation of the Mass and the Nicene Creed in 2011.

Now, when referring to how God in the Trinity is recognized, we say the word ADORE.

The reason being is fairly simple. In the original Latin text, the word at that point of the Creed is adoratur, and obviously a direct correlation. The word “adore” has French, a language based in Latin, roots.

adore (v.)

late 14c., aouren, "to worship, pay divine honors to, bow down before," from Old French aorer "to adore, worship, praise" (10c., later adorer), from Latin adorare "speak to formally, beseech, entreat, ask in prayer," in Late Latin "to worship," literally "to call to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + ōrare "speak formally, pray" (see orator). Meaning "to honor very highly" is attested from 1590s; weakened sense of "to be very fond of" emerged by 1880s.

 

The word “worship,” on the other hand, is rooted in English from the Middle Ages.

worship (n.)

Old English worðscip, wurðscip (Anglian), weorðscipe (West Saxon) "condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown," from weorð "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship). Sense of "reverence paid to a supernatural or divine being" is first recorded c. 1300. The original sense is preserved in the title worshipful "honorable" (c. 1300).

 

Interestingly enough, this definition actually more closely matches the word “venerate,” also of Latin origin.

veneration (n.)

early 15c., from Old French veneracion, from Latin venerationem (nominative veneratio) "reverence, profoundest respect," noun of action from past participle stem of venerari "to worship, revere," from venus (genitive veneris) "beauty, love, desire" (from PIE root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for").

 

So, each of the three words have shades of different meaning with adore being the strongest in religious terms.

But, the truth is, we Catholics DO NOT adore the Blessed Mother. To do that, knees and heads bow. We do not genuflect before Mary – the act of bending one’s right knee to the floor while facing the Tabernacle, and making the Sign of the Cross. We genuflect to the Second Person of the Trinity, and when attending exposition of the Blessed Sacrament – Eucharistic ADORATION – the genuflection is to go on both knees and bow reverently to the floor. As much as Mary, the Blessed Mother, is honored and loved, she does not receive that action as part of prayer.

And so, strictly due to language deterioration, this wedge of a belief barrier is somewhat unmovable. The number of protestants who simply can’t get past that place that the Blessed Mother has in the Faith – a place that even the original people protesting and revolting did not deny – is really somewhat a matter of word choice.

 

 

Pain of the Prodigals

In the course of using Catholic Twitter, there is a definite group of prodigals, people who have fallen away, who fall under the same category of suffering failure of the institutional Church thus causing a loss of Faith.

What is most distressing about this is that a number of these people reached out for help and were rebuffed. In some cases, it was a failure to get justice after abuse. Others had doubts and were told to get over it, or snap out of it. Yet others were ignored. To add insult to injury, the adherents of the movement itself were just as abusive.

None of that follows Christ’s words to, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Truthfully, what is lacking in the response from the clergy and other Catholics involved is compassion. The prodigals’ needs were not met at all by those they trusted to lead them in spiritual life or when they needed support to remain in the Faith.

What is really eye opening, though, is the number of these people who attend Traditional Latin Mass where the priests did not address their needs.

We have heard for years how superior the TLM is to the Novus Ordo, and yet, this is how the priests and others in the movement treat those who are most in need of bolstering. They do not help, nor do they even move toward the fatted calf when the prodigals approach.

If the reality was that there really is nowhere else to turn for those who remain, such behavior would induce more defection. As it is, the scandal is embarrassing enough for a lot of us.

The Darling Couple

In all the decades I have been a Catholic, I’ve known many a couple in love. Usually, they are the older ones who have weathered storms together, not kept score, and take delight in being in each other’s presence.

It is normal to see this in Catholic parishes. However, one couple stands out. Their names are John and Susie and I see them at a parish where I am a cantor.

Recently, I sang an Ave Maria at a funeral at which they were in attendance. After the Mass, John and Susie who look to be in their late sixties or early seventies came up to the altar where I was packing my things to leave to compliment my efforts. They were hand in hand, and smiling from ear to ear, two having been one for what was obviously a very long time.

It was, to put it plainly, sweet. So sweet. Every Sunday they are at that parish, it is the same. John and Susie are an example of what outward Catholic marriage is about I would imagine. Being single, I’ve yet to experience that, but their happiness shines through from the soul.

I hope if I do find a worthy husband, we can exhibit the same peace and joy that John and Susie bring to Church every Sunday.

How to Suffer Well by Brian Holdsworth