One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." Luke 11:1
Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus underscores the frequency and consistency with which Jesus communicates through prayer with the Father.
What follows in the 11th chapter of Luke is Jesus’ iteration of the Our Father. Pope Benedict XVI’s book analyzes the Our Father verse by verse and for anyone who is interested I would be glad to blog on this, taking up the Pope’s analysis and explanations verse by verse. I found it quite insightful, and I’m sure many people would also.
But as a form of preamble to that, I’d like to add an observation of my own. I try to pause after each verse of the Our Father to think about what I’ve just said, and how its meaning applies to what I’m currently living rather than just parroting words by rote. It can lead to some arresting moments at time.
A Protestant friend of mine once invited me to his parish to watch some videos made by a British Anglican priest by the name of Nicky Gumbel in what’s called the Alpha Course. I found many of his observations insightful and one of them pertaining to prayer was put in his typically accessible analogies.
Gumbel asked his viewers to think of prayer as a conversation (I’ve adapted his idea to explain to my sons that crossing yourself is a bit like dialling the telephone to God). He explained that we don’t have monologues and then end the chat when we engage in conversation with each other so we shouldn’t either when we pray. So, since having prayer framed in this way, I’ve reminded myself to pray for – among many things – a listening heart.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Trust
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding – Proverbs 3:5
The dictionary defines faith as “confidence or trust in a person or thing” and as “belief that is not based on proof”. Faith is a hard thing to exercise in such a complex and often contradictory world. We’re only human, and so many of us – myself included – yearn for proof even though we are asked to “not lean on our own understanding” but rather to “trust in the Lord”. I know some people who keep a prayer journal and place a mark next to those prayers that have been answered.
When I think back to some of my more urgent prayers (For example, during my bellicose divorce I had repeatedly requested my ex-spouse’s consent to sell the house we had bought because I was unable to carry the mortgage, and just as I my options were narrowing to a personal bankruptcy filing the judge intervened and dispensed with her consent so I see that as an answer to my prayers!) I have been struck by how my requests have been granted, not on my desired deadline but after my trust in God had been put to the test.
Other times the answer has been “No” or “Not yet” and, with the benefit of hindsight I have come to appreciate how this has really been in my best interests.
Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit – John 15:1
The dictionary defines faith as “confidence or trust in a person or thing” and as “belief that is not based on proof”. Faith is a hard thing to exercise in such a complex and often contradictory world. We’re only human, and so many of us – myself included – yearn for proof even though we are asked to “not lean on our own understanding” but rather to “trust in the Lord”. I know some people who keep a prayer journal and place a mark next to those prayers that have been answered.
When I think back to some of my more urgent prayers (For example, during my bellicose divorce I had repeatedly requested my ex-spouse’s consent to sell the house we had bought because I was unable to carry the mortgage, and just as I my options were narrowing to a personal bankruptcy filing the judge intervened and dispensed with her consent so I see that as an answer to my prayers!) I have been struck by how my requests have been granted, not on my desired deadline but after my trust in God had been put to the test.
Other times the answer has been “No” or “Not yet” and, with the benefit of hindsight I have come to appreciate how this has really been in my best interests.
Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit – John 15:1
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Forgiveness
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
I couldn’t help but think how difficult forgiving and reconciling can be for me, and probably for many people, after reading a heart-wrenching story in Tuesday’s sports section of the local newspaper. It was a Washington Post feature on Capitals’ enforcer Donald Brashear and his estrangement from his alcoholic father and his mother who put him in a foster home at the age of 7. I’m not a fan of fights in hockey, so I haven’t had a flattering opinion of Brashear. But reading about his very tough childhood I came to a better understanding of him. He has chosen to cope by closing the door on both his parents and given the details in the article it’s not hard to understand his reasons. But both his parents expressed what appeared to be sincere and deep remorse at what happened early in his life so I couldn’t help but think that if he could bring himself to forgive them it would possibly free him of many of his demons.
A few years ago I read a book by Angelo Dundee, boxing coach to Mohamed Ali, Joe Fraser and Sugar Ray Leonard (among others) titled My View From The Corner. In it, Dundee talks about the famous Congo bout “Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali and Fraser, describing Fraser as a bitter, angry man even before his defeat in Africa. What I found inspiring was how years later Fraser had embraced Christianity and staged one of the most remarkable come backs in boxing history, while in his forties no less, and Dundee’s accounting of how peaceful Fraser appeared in comparison with the man he was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, every time I see Joe Fraser’s placid, happy face on TV commercials promoting his cooking grill, I can’t help but wonder what was the forgiveness he gave or received that put his demons to rest.
I couldn’t help but think how difficult forgiving and reconciling can be for me, and probably for many people, after reading a heart-wrenching story in Tuesday’s sports section of the local newspaper. It was a Washington Post feature on Capitals’ enforcer Donald Brashear and his estrangement from his alcoholic father and his mother who put him in a foster home at the age of 7. I’m not a fan of fights in hockey, so I haven’t had a flattering opinion of Brashear. But reading about his very tough childhood I came to a better understanding of him. He has chosen to cope by closing the door on both his parents and given the details in the article it’s not hard to understand his reasons. But both his parents expressed what appeared to be sincere and deep remorse at what happened early in his life so I couldn’t help but think that if he could bring himself to forgive them it would possibly free him of many of his demons.
A few years ago I read a book by Angelo Dundee, boxing coach to Mohamed Ali, Joe Fraser and Sugar Ray Leonard (among others) titled My View From The Corner. In it, Dundee talks about the famous Congo bout “Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali and Fraser, describing Fraser as a bitter, angry man even before his defeat in Africa. What I found inspiring was how years later Fraser had embraced Christianity and staged one of the most remarkable come backs in boxing history, while in his forties no less, and Dundee’s accounting of how peaceful Fraser appeared in comparison with the man he was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, every time I see Joe Fraser’s placid, happy face on TV commercials promoting his cooking grill, I can’t help but wonder what was the forgiveness he gave or received that put his demons to rest.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
May 1 is celebrated in much of the world, but not in North America, as an international day to commemorate workers’ rights.
Many historians attribute the choice by many countries to mark this date as a public holiday to the Haymarket riot, which took place in Chicago in early May 1886, when police officers were killed by a bomb as they dispersed a demonstration by immigrant workers protesting working conditions. Four anarchists were subsequently sentenced to death and hung.
The first day of May in the Catholic calendar marks the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope John Paul II had this to say about Jesus Christ’s foster father: “What emanates from the figure of St. Joseph is faith. Joseph of Nazareth is a just man because he totally lives by faith. He is holy because his faith is truly heroic. Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words, he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness.”
When I think about what people have started calling the Great Recession and rising unemployment rates here and elsewhere, I can’t help but think that Canada’s social safety net and attitude of compassion for those less fortunate are not only rooted in the painful lessons of the Great Depression of the 1930s but more deeply anchored in Christian values.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who spent 1850 to 1854 in a Siberian prison, once wrote that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners. By extension of that argument, a moral measure of a society would be how the poor and vulnerable are treated.
I don’t mind paying more taxes here at home than I did in some of the other countries I’ve lived in because I know they go to these social safety net programs, drafted by a community that was and continues to be anchored in Christian values.
Many historians attribute the choice by many countries to mark this date as a public holiday to the Haymarket riot, which took place in Chicago in early May 1886, when police officers were killed by a bomb as they dispersed a demonstration by immigrant workers protesting working conditions. Four anarchists were subsequently sentenced to death and hung.
The first day of May in the Catholic calendar marks the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope John Paul II had this to say about Jesus Christ’s foster father: “What emanates from the figure of St. Joseph is faith. Joseph of Nazareth is a just man because he totally lives by faith. He is holy because his faith is truly heroic. Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words, he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness.”
When I think about what people have started calling the Great Recession and rising unemployment rates here and elsewhere, I can’t help but think that Canada’s social safety net and attitude of compassion for those less fortunate are not only rooted in the painful lessons of the Great Depression of the 1930s but more deeply anchored in Christian values.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who spent 1850 to 1854 in a Siberian prison, once wrote that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners. By extension of that argument, a moral measure of a society would be how the poor and vulnerable are treated.
I don’t mind paying more taxes here at home than I did in some of the other countries I’ve lived in because I know they go to these social safety net programs, drafted by a community that was and continues to be anchored in Christian values.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Grace
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
John 6:28-29
Sounds simple and easy enough, especially for Christians, doesn’t it?
Speaking for myself, there are days when the obstacles I have to surmount, and the formidable opposition I have to face, make me wonder whether my prayers will ever be answered.
I imagine I’m not the only one to have these very human moments of doubt and questioning.
My travails in trying to maintain a semblance of a relationship with my sons after their mother took them to Argentina on a short-term trip that turned permanent four years ago has often and painfully put my faith to the test.
In supporting me, my mother has frequently told me that God does not give us more than we can handle. Many times I have reacted to that statement by thinking that God must think I’m stronger than I am because there have been times when I just could not believe the unfairness of this situation.
I also wondered where it makes this statement in the Bible and I’ve come to 1 Corinthian 10:13 which states:
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Sometimes, the challenges life throws at us are simply too much to bare.
What I have been learning in these past four years is that doing God’s work at times when it would be easy to despair is to turn to Jesus Christ for help in overcoming what appears to be the virtually insurmountable.
In this sense, God probably gives us much more than we can handle throughout our lifetimes in the hope we call on Him to give us His grace to get through it.
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
John 6:28-29
Sounds simple and easy enough, especially for Christians, doesn’t it?
Speaking for myself, there are days when the obstacles I have to surmount, and the formidable opposition I have to face, make me wonder whether my prayers will ever be answered.
I imagine I’m not the only one to have these very human moments of doubt and questioning.
My travails in trying to maintain a semblance of a relationship with my sons after their mother took them to Argentina on a short-term trip that turned permanent four years ago has often and painfully put my faith to the test.
In supporting me, my mother has frequently told me that God does not give us more than we can handle. Many times I have reacted to that statement by thinking that God must think I’m stronger than I am because there have been times when I just could not believe the unfairness of this situation.
I also wondered where it makes this statement in the Bible and I’ve come to 1 Corinthian 10:13 which states:
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Sometimes, the challenges life throws at us are simply too much to bare.
What I have been learning in these past four years is that doing God’s work at times when it would be easy to despair is to turn to Jesus Christ for help in overcoming what appears to be the virtually insurmountable.
In this sense, God probably gives us much more than we can handle throughout our lifetimes in the hope we call on Him to give us His grace to get through it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Perseverance
“As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ” James 5:11
I was thinking about Lent and its culmination in Easter this past weekend and what all that means to us in our day-to-day lives.
We are taught that Lent is a time for reflection and taking stock. By observing the forty days of Lent, Christians imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for the forty days when he was tempted by the Devil.
“Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:3
So, if I understand correctly, then Lent – and life – is about walking the straight path God intends for us, persevering through thick and thin.
Before I injured my foot and then my knee, I used to run marathons. It’s possible that with enough will power anyone could run a marathon although it might take several hours. But the longer it takes, the more the body feeds on its own muscles for a source of energy to persevere so a lot of runners do what is called interval training. That’s when about midway on a 10 or 12 mile run you sprint for a quarter mile, slow jog for the next quarter mile, and so on for two or three miles. It builds speed into your endurance.
The goal remains at the same distance but by putting yourself through these paces you get there faster.
It also seems to be an apt analogy for situating Lent in the broader context of our lives.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1
I was thinking about Lent and its culmination in Easter this past weekend and what all that means to us in our day-to-day lives.
We are taught that Lent is a time for reflection and taking stock. By observing the forty days of Lent, Christians imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for the forty days when he was tempted by the Devil.
“Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:3
So, if I understand correctly, then Lent – and life – is about walking the straight path God intends for us, persevering through thick and thin.
Before I injured my foot and then my knee, I used to run marathons. It’s possible that with enough will power anyone could run a marathon although it might take several hours. But the longer it takes, the more the body feeds on its own muscles for a source of energy to persevere so a lot of runners do what is called interval training. That’s when about midway on a 10 or 12 mile run you sprint for a quarter mile, slow jog for the next quarter mile, and so on for two or three miles. It builds speed into your endurance.
The goal remains at the same distance but by putting yourself through these paces you get there faster.
It also seems to be an apt analogy for situating Lent in the broader context of our lives.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Archbishop is now a blogger!
If you like following blogs from around the Ottawa diocese, The Journey of a Bishop is one you won't want to miss!
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