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klsiegel320Point to Ponder: God wants to be my best friend.
Verse to Remember: Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. --Psalm 25:14a (LB)
Question to Consider: What can I do to remind myself to think about God and talk to him more often throughout the day?
I love this chapter. I confess, I was a little worried that this guy was going to be on the narrow-minded side, when I first started reading this. And maybe he is, in certain things. But despite my differences of opinion with him, this guy gets it.
It's not about Sundays. It's not about prayer books. It's not about something you do (or Someone you talk to) once in a while when it suits you.
It's about being aware of the presence of God everywhere, in everything.
And again - not surprisingly, the mundane and the everyday come into focus. Because ultimately that's the only place and time we have to really practice being aware of God's presence. It takes time to practice; it takes determination; it takes devotion. It takes different forms for different people: some people sit and breathe; some people sing or play instruments; some people recite verses of scripture or read meditatively. Some people do all these things, at different times.
I find it interesting that the author mentions "breath prayers," a form of Christian meditation, without mentioning the most frequently taught breath prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner." Actually, that's the full verse; it's what the blind beggar Bartimeus cried out when he heard that Jesus was passing by - and kept crying out, all the louder as the people around him tried to silence him, until at last the teacher said, "Bring him to me" and healed him.
It is frequently shortened and/or altered. I tend to use "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy" -- "Lord Jesus Christ" on the in-breath, "Son of God, have mercy" on the out-breath. That's what happens to fit my breathing pattern.
I've done this while driving through a particularly scary snowstorm. I've done this while taking off in a particularly bumpy airplane. I've done this while sitting awake when I really needed to be asleep instead. And although it's about the practice, not about the experience, I have to say that I've had some extraordinary experiences when praying this way...
I also reserve the right to challenge the author's assertion that "...Benedictine monks use the hourly chimes of a clock to remind them to pause and pray 'the hour prayer.'" Mind you, there may be Benedictine monks for whom that is true. However, I suspect the author is confusing the liturgy of the hours (Vigils, Lauds, Prime, Matins, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline; shortened at the monastery where I'm an Associate to Matins, Diurnum, Vespers, and Compline) with the hourly chiming of a clock.
He may also be thinking of the Angelus, a prayer that involves a bell rung in a particular pattern. This prayer precedes Matins, Diurnum, and Vespers at Holy Cross, and is a remembrance of the Incarnation, and a prayer of making ourselves present and available to God, as Mary did when the angel announced the Incarnation to her (hence the name of the prayer, from the opening words in Latin: " Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ..." --- "The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary...").
The Angelus bell pattern is three sets of three, followed by a long peal (at Holy Cross I happen to know it's three by three, followed by fifteen, and it has to do with exactly how you manage the physical ringing of that particular bell). Note that the version in the link isn't the exact version we use at Holy Cross, but you get the idea. For a more detailed (and somewhat dry) encyclopedic discussion of the topic, you can see the definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia. For one that's right in between, try this one.
Verse to Remember: Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. --Psalm 25:14a (LB)
Question to Consider: What can I do to remind myself to think about God and talk to him more often throughout the day?
I love this chapter. I confess, I was a little worried that this guy was going to be on the narrow-minded side, when I first started reading this. And maybe he is, in certain things. But despite my differences of opinion with him, this guy gets it.
It's not about Sundays. It's not about prayer books. It's not about something you do (or Someone you talk to) once in a while when it suits you.
It's about being aware of the presence of God everywhere, in everything.
And again - not surprisingly, the mundane and the everyday come into focus. Because ultimately that's the only place and time we have to really practice being aware of God's presence. It takes time to practice; it takes determination; it takes devotion. It takes different forms for different people: some people sit and breathe; some people sing or play instruments; some people recite verses of scripture or read meditatively. Some people do all these things, at different times.
I find it interesting that the author mentions "breath prayers," a form of Christian meditation, without mentioning the most frequently taught breath prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner." Actually, that's the full verse; it's what the blind beggar Bartimeus cried out when he heard that Jesus was passing by - and kept crying out, all the louder as the people around him tried to silence him, until at last the teacher said, "Bring him to me" and healed him.
It is frequently shortened and/or altered. I tend to use "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy" -- "Lord Jesus Christ" on the in-breath, "Son of God, have mercy" on the out-breath. That's what happens to fit my breathing pattern.
I've done this while driving through a particularly scary snowstorm. I've done this while taking off in a particularly bumpy airplane. I've done this while sitting awake when I really needed to be asleep instead. And although it's about the practice, not about the experience, I have to say that I've had some extraordinary experiences when praying this way...
I also reserve the right to challenge the author's assertion that "...Benedictine monks use the hourly chimes of a clock to remind them to pause and pray 'the hour prayer.'" Mind you, there may be Benedictine monks for whom that is true. However, I suspect the author is confusing the liturgy of the hours (Vigils, Lauds, Prime, Matins, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline; shortened at the monastery where I'm an Associate to Matins, Diurnum, Vespers, and Compline) with the hourly chiming of a clock.
He may also be thinking of the Angelus, a prayer that involves a bell rung in a particular pattern. This prayer precedes Matins, Diurnum, and Vespers at Holy Cross, and is a remembrance of the Incarnation, and a prayer of making ourselves present and available to God, as Mary did when the angel announced the Incarnation to her (hence the name of the prayer, from the opening words in Latin: " Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ..." --- "The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary...").
The Angelus bell pattern is three sets of three, followed by a long peal (at Holy Cross I happen to know it's three by three, followed by fifteen, and it has to do with exactly how you manage the physical ringing of that particular bell). Note that the version in the link isn't the exact version we use at Holy Cross, but you get the idea. For a more detailed (and somewhat dry) encyclopedic discussion of the topic, you can see the definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia. For one that's right in between, try this one.
