Posted on by Kurt Bodling

why pray?

“Why should I pray? Basically it is for the sake of praying. There is much else we might claim about prayer–it is for the sake of the world, it is for those in need, for the Church, for individual souls–all of which is true. But unless it is rooted in the boundless freedom of love and confidence in God, it is void and crippled. It has some effect perhaps, but lacks the current of grace and graciousness that flows from God.”

Quenon, Paul. In Praise of the Useless Life: a Monk’s Memoir. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2018, p. 5.

My note when I read this in Quenon’s book: We pray well when we are simply praying. It’s one of the things believers do. We don’t do it to get stuff (although that may be the result, or a result). We don’t do it because we are forced to, required to. We pray in order to be praying.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the example of Jesus

“Solitude and prayer-time alone were important to Jesus. Why is it, I wonder, that we seem more ready to follow Jesus into service than into solitude? Especially before important decisions were to be made, the Bible shows that Jesus took time to be alone with his Father and to reflect before deciding to move to another locale for ministry, before choosing the disciples, before embracing the cross.” (p. 96)

Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990) page 96

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Jesus our example

“Christ lived for thirty years in silence. Then, during his public life, he withdrew to the desert to listen to and speak with his Father. The world vitally needs those who go off into the desert. Because God speaks in silence.”

Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), page 42

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

inner and outer silence

“Interior silence is the end of judgments, passions, and desires. Once we have acquired interior silence, we can transport it within us into the world and pray everywhere. But just as interior asceticism cannot be obtained without concrete mortifications, it is absurd to speak about interior silence without exterior silence.

“Within silence there is a demand made on each one of us. Man controls his hours of activity if he knows how to enter into silence. The life of silence must be able to precede the active life.”

Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), page 32

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

being before doing

“In his Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte, John Paul II writes: ‘It is important however that what we propose, with the help of God, should be profoundly rooted in contemplation and prayer. Ours is a time for continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of “doing for the sake of doing”. We must resist the temptation by trying “to be” before trying “to do”.’ This is the innermost, unchangeable desire of a monk. But it happens also to be the deepest aspiration of every person who seeks the Eternal One. For man can encounter God in truth only in silence and solitude, both interior and exterior.” Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), page 28

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

prayer in silence

“Christ often recommends that we withdraw if we want to pray. It may be a remote place, in solitude, so as to be alone with the Alone. But the question of the external setting cannot avoid the problem of interiority. It is important to create the interior room where man finds God in a genuine face-to-face encounter.” Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), pages 55-56.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

stillness and silence in prayer

“I repeat what I said in reference to the Lord’s Prayer: if in the midst of such thoughts the Holy Spirit begins to preach in your heart with rich, enlightening thoughts, honor him by letting go of this written scheme [that Luther had just outlined for praying the 10 Commandments]; be still and listen to him who can do better than you can. Remember what he says and note it well and you will behold wondrous things in the law of God, as David says [in Psalm 119:18].”  (pages 201-202)

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.

This is something I should have known years ago, but here is evidence that Martin Luther advocates stillness and silence in prayer. And, maybe more significantly, of him saying that the Holy Spirit can and does preach directly to us in our hearts. When I went to seminary there were other things in the air, so this never made it to the surface. And note that it isn’t “early Luther” but the fully mature Luther of 1535 saying this!

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Holy Spirit the best teacher

“I want your heart to be stirred and guided concerning the thoughts which ought to be comprehended in the Lord’s Prayer. These thoughts may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed and inclined toward prayer, in many different ways and with more words of fewer. I do not bind myself to such words or syllables, but say my prayers in one fashion today, in another tomorrow, depending upon my mood and feeling. I stay, however, as nearly as I can, with the same general thoughts and ideas.

“It may happen occasionally that I may get lost among so many ideas in one petition that I forego the other six. If such an abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon is better than a thousand of our prayers. Many times I have learned more from one prayer than I might have learned from much reading and speculation.”  (page 198)

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.

Luther was a strong advocate of praying the Lord’s Prayer. He would have people say it several times a day. But here’s the thing: he never wanted people to spill out the words of the prayer by rote, just to count it as having been said. And we can easily fall into that when we speed through that or any other prayer.

I was surprised to read this passage a couple years ago and see where he says he might happily skip most of the Lord’s Prayer when he gets caught up in thoughts that arise out of just one of its petitions. This casts a whole different light on his directions to say the Lord’s Prayer upon rising, before meals, and at bedtime. It is really more of a comprehensive framework for prayer. Isn’t that a freeing thought?

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

let’s take a moment

“Since God is at the depth and centre of your soul, why not then pause from time to time at least from that which occupies you outwardly, even from your spoken prayer, to worship him inwardly, to praise Him, to offer Him your heart and thank Him? What can God have that gives Him greater satisfaction than that a thousand, thousand times a day all His creatures should thus pause to withdraw and worship Him in the heart.” – Brother Lawrence

from an 1981 translation by E.M. Blaiklock quoted in Celtic Daily Prayer, book two. (London: William Collins, 2015), page 1476.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

a couple collects for today

Merciful and everlasting God, who hast not spared Thine only Son, but delivered Him up for us all that he might bear our sins upon the cross, grant that our hearts may be so fixed with steadfast faith in Him that we may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen. (from The Lutheran Hymnal. St Louis: Concordia, 1941)

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so may we await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (from The Book of Common Prayer. New York: Seabury Press, 1979)

All powerful and ever-living God, your only Son went down among the dead and rose again in glory. In your goodness raise up your faithful people, buried with him in baptism, to be one with him in the eternal life of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. (from The Liturgy of the Hours, volume II. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1976)