I forget, how does this work again?

Wow, that was embarrassing.  It has been so long since I’ve posted in my blog that I couldn’t remember my password to log in!  I needed an e-mail reminder.  Yikes.

My apologies in that regard, but this apparently was my summer for falling into bad habits.  I stopped posting on my blog, stopped saying the Rosary every day, stopped reading the Bible every day.  If I may sum it up ever so eloquently: not good.

I leave for grad school in two weeks where I’ll be starting my MA in Theology program, so needless to say this is hardly the ideal state in which to go off to a very pious campus.  I decided I wanted to get my prayer life in order first, because that was most important.  Mercifully enough I found a Church not too far away that has Adoration 6 days a week for three hours and have been going pretty regularly.

What a difference Adoration makes!  Many saints have written of the innumerable graces one receives just from sitting in Jesus’ presence and I can attest to that.  I’m like the worst pray-er ever (my mind flits to and fro constantly, practically as soon as I sit down I start thinking about leaving) and yet Adoration has changed me.  It’s helped me find my center again.  It’s renewed my love for Jesus.  And how could it not?

Because, truly, when God debases Himself to the point of taking the form of defenseless bread out of love for you, out of desire to be with you and have communion with you – how can that not change you?

This awful post attests to just how rusty my writing skills have become, so thank you, dear reader, in advance for your patience and kindness.  To read a much better post on the subject, check out “The God Who Becomes Dust“.  Enjoy!

What Are We Doing When We Pray?

So my good friend Shane and I have been talking about how prayer works and what it does.  We all know that when we pray we’re not changing God’s mind – as though he’s some big meanie that we’re trying to convince.  That’s silly.  So what are we doing in prayer?  And now to Shane’s wonderful insights:

“Peter Kreeft said something in Summa of the Summa (that title always puts a smile on my face) – that it was St. Thomas’ understanding that it has always been part of God’s will to dispense some graces only through the intercession of Christ’s Body.  That really opened up some things for me.

I’ve been looking at a doctoral dissertation written back in the 60′s – Thomas Aquinas’ teaching on the human prayer of Jesus.  At the center of the dissertation is this idea that Jesus’  human prayer, on behalf of Himself and His whole Church (think especially of His “high priestly prayer” in John 16-17), and the Father’s answering of it, was always willed as part of the incarnation.  It was always the Father’s plan to pour out grace in response to the Son’s intercession.

Now because we have been fused to Jesus through the Sacraments, our prayer as members of His Body would participate in His intercession.  It too would have always been willed in the Divine Plan.  So when Jesus prayed at the tomb of Lazarus, and Lazarus was raised, it was part of the Divine Will.  When Denise Fath prays for someone’s chemo to be successful, and it is, it was part of the Divine Will.  And your engaging in that prayer of intercession would in fact be your conforming of yourself to the Divine Will.  That is one of those ways in which prayer ‘changes us’ – by conforming ourselves to the Divine Will we dispose ourselves to increase in grace; our souls are more deeply assimilated to Jesus’ and become conduits of the Holy Spirit.”

So that’s only a tidbit but it was so good I just had to share it!  Be sure to check out Shane’s webpage and his book!

The Struggles of Spiritual Growth

There was a great post by Richard Maffeo about maturing in a relationship with Jesus.  He writes about the work he has put into developing that relationship: reading the Bible in the morning and at night, an hour of prayer every day, frequently acknowledging his sins and repenting.

It’s certainly a routine all Christians would admire.  Yet piety, like most virtues, is  easily admired but hard to acquire.  Sure everyone would like to have a great prayer life, but think of all the work and effort it will take!  Think of all the discipline that will be required to sit and pray when you don’t feel like, or when you don’t seem to be “getting anything out of it” or worse, when your favorite TV show is on!

God is always waiting, ready to transform our lives and our relationships with Him, but He needs a willing partner.  He’ll help us, but He  won’t just  do it for us.  We have to decide it’s important enough to put in the effort and do the work.

And perhaps after 9 or 10 hours in the office the last thing you want to think about is more “work”.  Or getting up 30 minutes early to pray when you’re already sleep deprived.  Or, perish the thought,  cutting short your precious time with your newspaper, computer, or television even though you earned that relaxation time.  But that’s how virtues are developed, when we overcome our natural inclinations and put God first.

Whatever aspect of your spiritual life you want to improve, It’s just a matter of giving it priority and being willing to make those small, daily sacrifices.  And if I may borrow Home Depot’s slogan: you can do it, He can help!

Trusting In God

Everybody has those moments where it seems really hard to trust God.  Where you feel completely alone and abandoned, where it feels almost impossible that anything good could come from what you’re going through.  Where “God has a plan” just rings hollow.

You surely know people who believe that amazing things came from their hardest experiences.  That the toughest times ended up being the most formative, and that they wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Maybe you’ve even had an experience like that.  But the knowledge that in the future it will all make sense and work out for the best generally isn’t much help when you’re suffering in the present.  It doesn’t make it easier to trust God.

Personally, I think nothing works like prayer.  Communication is the hardest part of any relationship, but the most vital.  Just like you wouldn’t expect to grow closer a spouse by ignoring him or her, you can’t expect to trust God if you shut Him out.  Talk to Him, yell at Him, cry with Him, but turn to Him!  He may not respond directly, but He always does indirectly.  And if we’re not paying attention to Him, we probably won’t notice His generally-subtle responses.  God wants us to trust Him, and He will help us to do so if we’ll just start with the little faith we have.

But the bottom line is that trust, like love, isn’t about feelings.  It’s a choice.  An act of will.  It’s a decision made to hold onto faith, even when everything around you seems to be falling apart.  And, as it happens, that’s the kind of faith that God finds most pleasing, and rewards accordingly.

See also: Does Suffering & Pain Have Meaning, Purpose?