As I mentioned in my last post, prayer is one of the points on which I feel the greatest distance between myself and my non-Catholic friends. This has, interestingly enough, nothing to do with intercession to the saints or the BVM. That was a difference I expected but didn't find (not because it doesn't exist but because it never comes up). What I didn't expect was to find such a great difference in the ways we pray to God. I pretty much hate--and not just a little--making up a prayer out loud.
The Latin phrase, lex orandi lex credendi means simply "what we pray is what we believe." What we believe does effect what we pray. But less obviously and, I think, more profoundly, what we pray has an effect on what we believe. Prayer is essentially getting to know God, how we get to know God will change what we believe, and, if our prayer is spirit and truth, in a supernatural way.
I wanted to write a comparison and contrast--comparing the way Christians I know pray with the way Catholics pray. But because prayer is deeply personal, I think I can really speak only of how I pray. It is up to my readers to speak for their own forms of prayer, to educate me.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
a threefold cord is not easily broken.
If you know me at all, you know I'm passionate about church unity. I am constantly surrounded by Protestants of varying pursasions, Baptists and Pentecostals, Non-Denominationalists and Presbyterians. Then there's me, an easily excited, sinful but enthusiastic Catholic. What they really think of me I'm not sure. Most of the time I hope they think I'm saved; I have no desire to feel like more of an outsider than I already am. At the same I wish they understood my faith enough to realize the scandal that it is, because then they might have a chance of understanding the splendor.
My closest friends, I feel, accept me for who I am--accept me and reject my faith. Or perhaps they try to understand my faith, but I think they are stumped or a little shocked. We try to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, but for me, at least, this is painful. It's painful to have these people on my mind when I'm in church, because I love them and I wish they could join me in prayer, and experience the fullness of faith that I am blessed with. It's painful whenever they pray aloud, because if I try to pray the way they do, the way they will accept, then it's a bit of a lie, a misrepresentation of my faith. I pray in a completely different way than they do, and I'm not comfortable either listening to them pray, nor praying in front of them. It reminds me that our faiths are very different in so many ways.
Against this backdrop, my more argumentative friends sometimes try to maintain that having lots of different denominations actually strengthens the church, rather than weakening and crippling it. I think this is, of course, completely unbiblical, but I think it's also incorrect in its premise. It's true that diversity is a strengthening force in the church, but it should be a complimentary diversity, two different viewpoints, but the same sight. What we have now is contradictory diversity--one person saying that a color is white and the other saying it is black. One or the other has to be wrong. How is that strength?
One of the reasons I think people pay little attention to the disunity of the Church is that someone, somewhere is obviously at fault for dividing it, and everyone is most anxious that someone else be convicted of this fact.
My closest friends, I feel, accept me for who I am--accept me and reject my faith. Or perhaps they try to understand my faith, but I think they are stumped or a little shocked. We try to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, but for me, at least, this is painful. It's painful to have these people on my mind when I'm in church, because I love them and I wish they could join me in prayer, and experience the fullness of faith that I am blessed with. It's painful whenever they pray aloud, because if I try to pray the way they do, the way they will accept, then it's a bit of a lie, a misrepresentation of my faith. I pray in a completely different way than they do, and I'm not comfortable either listening to them pray, nor praying in front of them. It reminds me that our faiths are very different in so many ways.
Against this backdrop, my more argumentative friends sometimes try to maintain that having lots of different denominations actually strengthens the church, rather than weakening and crippling it. I think this is, of course, completely unbiblical, but I think it's also incorrect in its premise. It's true that diversity is a strengthening force in the church, but it should be a complimentary diversity, two different viewpoints, but the same sight. What we have now is contradictory diversity--one person saying that a color is white and the other saying it is black. One or the other has to be wrong. How is that strength?
One of the reasons I think people pay little attention to the disunity of the Church is that someone, somewhere is obviously at fault for dividing it, and everyone is most anxious that someone else be convicted of this fact.
Weeklies
WEBSITE
Despite religiously going through my dresser and getting rid of all the tacky, gross, ugly shirts, I still have more t-shirts than I can possibly use. So why on earth would I frequent, even buy from, a t-shirt store? Well, I like having t-shirts that are more than memorabilia--the kind of t-shirt that makes you feel cool, like everyone is jealous of you and wants that t-shirt.
It is, therefore, with great sacrifice that I reveal my favorite t-shirt store.
THREADLESS.
The girly sizes are basically juniors. E.G: Tiny. Yes, I did find this out the hard way. *sucks in*
SONG
One of my favorite passages in scripture, at least while present, is Song of Solomon 8:6-7. It goes like this:
Set me as a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love.
So the song of the week is "Love Song" by Israeli singer Ofra Haza. You Tube. It is also on itunes.
Despite religiously going through my dresser and getting rid of all the tacky, gross, ugly shirts, I still have more t-shirts than I can possibly use. So why on earth would I frequent, even buy from, a t-shirt store? Well, I like having t-shirts that are more than memorabilia--the kind of t-shirt that makes you feel cool, like everyone is jealous of you and wants that t-shirt.
It is, therefore, with great sacrifice that I reveal my favorite t-shirt store.
THREADLESS.
The girly sizes are basically juniors. E.G: Tiny. Yes, I did find this out the hard way. *sucks in*
SONG
One of my favorite passages in scripture, at least while present, is Song of Solomon 8:6-7. It goes like this:
Set me as a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love.
So the song of the week is "Love Song" by Israeli singer Ofra Haza. You Tube. It is also on itunes.
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