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February 09, 2010
> 11:38 AM
re-thoughts on prayer and liturgy > 5 Here's a post where I'm talking about liturgical prayer - praying the liturgy of the hours - after I read an article in the Vineyard's church planting magazine interviewing Episcopalian Phyllis Tickle. The gist of my thoughts are about praying because it's "what we do" as opposed to because we feel something when we pray, or to "get something," etc. The ecumenical aspects of liturgical prayer come out as well. -------------------------------------------- Liturgical Prayer > Thoughts (from 06/23/2008) Skimming through a copy of Cutting Edge (the Vineyard's church planting magazine - I'm still on the list apparently) lately and ran into an excerpt from a 2002 interview with Phyllis Tickle about prayer - specifically about praying the office. The quote I want to share is just a great, brief synopsis about praying in this way from Phyllis as she answers a question from the interviewer. I'll include both question and answer. Talk a little bit about the nature of praying with fixed-hour prayer.That's a great quote. Phyllis is a member of the Episcopal Church and has done a ton to promote the practice of praying the office. She developed a prayer book called The Divine Hours which helps people do this. I've prayed with people using her book but I don't use it myself. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. I need to "use" it more. The term "fixed-hour prayer" doesn't quite fit with me yet on praying the office. There isn't a specific time Liz and I, or just I pray. I'm sure in the future more set times will emerge in our practice but right now that's not the case. It's the rhythm of doing it that's probably more important I would think. I love that answer to the reporter's question - "Not one damn thing." Awesome. Here's what she basically means - we don't pray this way in order to get something out of it - not to feel anything or sense how amazing we're becoming. We do it because that's what you do. You have a rhythm of prayer in your life because you have His Life inside you. You keep in flowing. The water moves and it keeps moving. Technically, in the end, I suppose we do get something out of it - being in the flow of contact with God in His Word, with the Church - just not in the way people think when they ask a question like that. So, if you pick up this habit (and it takes a while), don't expect to have a very exciting experience as you pray. Now, it may feel like something every now and then, but that's not what its about. And yes, there's an Episcopalian talking to a Vineyard magazine about practices that have been a part of her Anglican heritage and of the ancient Catholic heritage for a long time. This way of praying is catching on all through the whole Church's proverbial circulatory system, down the capillary ends. Most Catholics barely know what praying the office is, it has so long been only something that the clergy or monks did, even if the Catholic Church has stated a desire that the entire membership pick up habits of prayer like this and pray them together. I doubt most Anglicans or Orthodox take advantage of the deep, liturgical prayer traditions in their arenas either. Saying that is not about dissing anyone - it is simply, for me, sad. It's spreading out, though, and that's a very good thing. We can pray in this way together, all of us. It can be a unifier of sorts. It's a deep, fruitful river we can all connect ourselves to and allow it to irrigate us as one common crop of God. Labels: liturgical prayer, prayer, re-post 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | January 26, 2010 > 10:39 AM re-thoughts on prayer and liturgy > 1 Too long since I've blogged, so I think I'll start back with some re-posts - oldies but goodies. Some of these posts not so old, but something perhaps worth putting out there again. I recently took a trip to Negaunee, Michigan (that's waaaay up there folks, in the UP) to lead United Methodist District Pastors retreat for a friend of mine, Eric Kieb, at his church there (he is Pastor of Mitchell UMC in Negaunee). It was a good time. It was definitely a gift for me to be able to do that kind of thing. I talked about liturgy, the liturgical lifestyle, liturgical prayer, etc. It flowed somewhat into the mystical life, union with God and cool stuff like that. Very good conversations. I'm going back through my blog posts to find some of this kind of material. I'm sure some of it will be identical to what I talked about up there. Hopefully, some of it will be helpful in some way to someone. I'll start with this post entitled "prayer," originally posted April 29, 2008. ----------------------------- prayer "Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing the gift that God makes of Himself."Can't say it much better than that. I read that last night and thought it was well worthy of sharing here. It makes me think a couple of things: that prayer is a medium. It's something we do because we are in the state that we're in. This may sound odd, but I'm not sure God created us to have to pray. He created us to have such a close and intimate and undivided union with Him that prayer, as we know it, is not necessary. Yes, I know Jesus prayed, but He had also stepped into our broken realm. Our goal - well, God's goal for us is Mystical Union with Himself, nothing less. Praying is necessary and good and we need to do it now. Even what we call the Saints "praying" in heaven to God for us, wouldn't be quite the same as what we're doing here from one dimension to another. To see them, "there" in the fullness of His Presence, having to kneel down and lift there hands or put their hands together in order to ask God to help us - well, it's odd and a very, very limited way of looking at what that Life is like. Another thing is that prayer is not just some isolated "thing" we do here and there: pray to ask for help or for things; pray to get forgiveness; pray so that we don't have a car accident; stop and pray so that your sister won't go to hell, etc., etc. Prayer is more than that. It may include things like that from time to time, sure, but it's not just that. It is the opening of ourselves to God. This is why we are told to pray without ceasing. There are many different ways to pray. This should be obvious. So somehow, always, wherever we are or whatever we're doing, we can be "at prayer" in some way, even if it's just saying to ourselves that we are open to God, we are listening. Our mind can chew on things - we can meditate even without candles and music and silence. Sure, there are particular ways to pray and we should be doing those things, praying in those ways. But we need to come to realize that prayer is sort of a way of being, a constant attitude, both inward and outward. And as we open ourselves, God is there to "come in" and do the work that only He can do. 3 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 13, 2009 > 2:22 PM dark night 1:5:1  I thought it might be helpful to share a bit of St. John of the Cross this week. I'll go through Book 1, Ch. 5 of his Dark Night of the Soul, beginning today with verse 1...Of the imperfections into which beginners fall with respect to the sin of wrath.Now, if you can get past the flowery language that belongs to an English translation of 16th century Spanish, this is very, very good stuff. I'll say, first, that many of us, in reading this, should not dismiss ourselves so quickly because he is writing about "beginners." We may not think of ourselves as beginners in the faith. Perhaps we have been in Christ for a long time, as "time" goes, and have even fervently believed and grown in love for Him. Still there may be many ways in which we are all yet "beginners." I'll go on to sort of define terms a bit: Consolations = Feelings and sensations of God working in our minds, hearts, souls, bodies - maybe an overwhelming feeling of being loved which causes us to cry, become weak in the knees, tremble - maybe God allows us to feel as if we are gathered up in His arms, and we feel this very acutely - perhaps even on to something like an ecstatic state in which we hear and see Him and His words very clearly. Many of my charismatic brothers and sisters will understand some of this. But one need not be "a charismatic" to experience God in this more tangible way in the senses. Here's the thing though, and part of what St. John is getting at: Certainly these things may happen as we pray or at other times - God may allow them to happen in order to help us at certain times for certain reasons. As with the example of the young child being weened off it's Mother's breast, we should grow to understand that these things, themselves, are not God, and are not necessary in our spiritual life. We should grow not to depend on having these sensory feelings or experiences of God in order to believe that, for instance, He is with us, helping us, teaching us, working on us, loving us. Ideally, we will grow into a maturity that knows these things at all times, without the constant aid of consolations. More to come about how some of us (yes, maybe even YOU or ME) get really upset when we don't get us some consolations - or even worse, take it out on others. Stay tuned... Labels: prayer, saints, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 04, 2009 > 1:28 PM francis  Today is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I had forgotten until I was reminded. Just this week, I had been scanning through a small book of selected writings I have of his and St. Clare's, and found a great prayer he wrote, inspired by the Our Father. I was thinking, "this would be a good thing to put on the blog," and here we are, the day of St. Francis, perfect excuse.St. Francis has always been, it feels like to me, one of my "patrons." My Confirmation name is Christopher. We're not even sure he was a real person. I like the concept of being a "Christ carrier" though. Sometimes I don't carry Him very well. He carries me much better - for that I am grateful. Honestly, I think Francis was a leeeetle bit crazy, but you know, we love him anyway. He was certainly a fool for Christ. We could all do with a being more of that kind of crazy. I am inspired by his great love for God and for people, by his seeming total abandonment to God's transformative power in his life. The mountain and valley style of monastic life he set up with his little brothers is also a source of inspiration for me. Go up in the hermitage in the woods for a while, be built up, then go down to the streets and let the Life of God in you, be poured out to others. That's good stuff. Alright - here's the prayer... O our most holy Father: 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | September 13, 2009 > 4:24 PM little things Sitting in the study, waiting a few more minutes before we leave for Mass. Most of the morning was spent staining our deck out back. It's certainly not turning out as well as we had hoped. I have learned not to believe what it says on those cans about how many square feet a gallon will cover - not even close. I have learned to buy way too much and mix them all together to it's all the same color tone - yes, a bit more patchy than my particular nature likes things like that. So, I'm in a state of frustration that won't seem to go away. I'd say something like, "I'm sure it'll look great once it's all done," but I'm not sure, therefore, here you go. I know this blog post is really about nothing at all, but it's what's rolling around here right now. What do you do when you feel this way and it's time to go to Mass? Well, you go. There's something. I've been trying to pray this prayer every day. Every since I ran into on a cool holy card with an icon of Jesus on the back, it has stuck with me as something I need to pray. St. Ephram's Prayer O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, meddling, ambition and vain talk. But give me a spirit of prudence, humility, patience and love. Yes Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and faults and not to judge my brother. For You are Blessed Forever and ever. Amen. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | February 14, 2009 > 6:57 PM prayer as formula I wonder what many of my readers thought as they first saw the title of this post in their feed readers. Hmm. You may have thought I was going to decry praying formulaically. Well, not so much. Presently, I'm talking with a couple of people in our parish about how to implement praying the Liturgy of the Hours for members, for everyone. Very exciting conversation that I'm grateful to be involved in. So, I have "homework" about all this, a book I was loaned to look through to see what good stuff we could find in it to use. It's called Company of Voices: Daily Prayer and the People of God, by George Guiver, C.R. I want to share a lengthy quote (for a blog post) from the chapter called Formula. Very good stuff. Prayer and language are so dominated by form and formula, that the difference between liturgy and extempore prayer can only be one of degree, not of kind. To heighten the element of formula is to put in concentrated form one of the basic factors of the way we communicate. A German writer, Emmanuel von Severus, sums up much of the Church's wisdom on liturgical prayer when, reflecting on experience in the hard wartime years in Germany, he says:Like I said, very good stuff. We need to take opportunities to pray in many different ways. We should "pray without ceasing." In order to do that, we need to realize that prayer is many different things, many ways to communicate with God - internal, external, spontaneous, silent, liturgically formulaic, etc. I love the idea of praying something like the Daily Office as our skeletal structure of prayer. Of course we will put proverbial meat on those bones with many other forms of prayer, but we can always have that basic structure to keep us standing, using it as something we have been given, as a gift, which is not dependent on our ability to cook anything up, stir anything up, how we feel, or anything like that. Labels: liturgical prayer, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | February 03, 2009 > 9:05 PM more prayer  I'm not usually a linker to articles, but I saw this linked over at the Spencer's place and couldn't help but join the party and link to this myself. I also don't usually keep tabs on the Archbishop of Canterbury, but old Rowan has said a couple of things we could all do with hearing - hear it - listen to it - seriously. Here is a quote section from the middle of the article that I wanted to pull out. "And yet that noticeboard used to worry me and it still does. It seems to me it speaks of an idea of the church which supposes that the church is about human beings doing things. When you looked at that church you would have thought, what a lot of things they do there. But I'm still wondering if anyone ever asked, does God do things here? It seemed to be just a slight risk that there was hardly any room in the week for God to find his way in among all these activities."That last part hits some core ground. The bolding is mine. The whole concept he's bringing to light - the Church being more concentrated on prayer than anything else - is just huge. I can't even begin to say how much I agree with this on a very, very deep level. We are drawn together in prayer. We are focusing on the One who draws us into Himself in prayer. That's a good thing. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 02, 2008 > 9:59 AM liturgical prayer > recall  Two years ago, almost exactly, I hosted a small liturgical prayer seminar in our home. My friend Pete Matthews was my co-conspirator. We asked our friend Dave Nixon to come from Cincinnati to help lead the discussion. It turned out a very helpful time both for those of us who were already familiar with this kind of prayer, as well as for some who weren't.A week or so ago, Peter posted 3 Reasons to Pray the Daily Office, which reminded me of the seminar and the fact that I recorded it as it happened and posted the files on my blog. So, I'm reposting them again here in case anyone's interested in listening in on some conversation about liturgical prayer. It gets very interesting in places. Again, they're not short, and the sound quality is not professional, but it's worth a listen I think. Let me do this too: I'll post my original sort of disclaimer I put as I offered these files before... There were about 15 people present from various church backgrounds, all sharing their own stories and experiences as they relate to liturgical prayer, community life, etc. I'm sure a couple of things were said in reference to some denomination or tradition or another. Please don't take offense - we weren't making grandiose "statements" as a unit about anything. Just wanted to make that brief disclaimer. I hope the content of the seminar is helpful to someone. Peace.> Liturgical Prayer Seminar - Part One (approx. 20mb > Liturgical Prayer Seminar - Part Two (approx. 18mb) Somehow, I feel as if part of my vocation in life is to help people understand things like this, this kind of prayer, this sort of life-rhythm, among other things. It seems I've been doing this for the last few years. I pray that God gives me the Grace to continue doing so. Labels: catholic, ecumenism, liturgical prayer, liturgy, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 18, 2008 > 10:34 AM my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Ant. 1 We saw him despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with infirmity.I prayed Terce this morning (the mid-morning prayer in the Office) instead of the Morning Prayer. I'm glad I did. I feel now as if it was providential. This is what stood out to me - well, nearly the whole thing, there's only one section of a Psalm in the little hours, but these parts particularly stood out to me as I have felt like this lately. I have often found myself in the Psalms. I'm sure we all can here and there, and that's why they're there for us. So this time, I find myself inside the cries of Jesus, both prophesied and actually, as well as of the writer of the Psalm. And even though these words sound painful, and they are, to read them in conjunction with my own inner goings-on is comforting. Labels: liturgical prayer, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | June 27, 2008 > 4:24 PM liturgical prayer options I started thinking about different ways that many of us pray liturgically. There are several options for Christians who wish to pick up this habit of prayer. I thought I'd lay out a few here to give people an idea what's available. All these links are to Amazon but there are plenty of places you can get hold of these books. Before that, I'd like to share a quote from Thomas Merton I found today while skimming through a book of his letters, The Hidden Ground of Love. The quote is from a letter written to a woman named Etta Gullick, who studied theology and later taught on prayer for a while at one of the colleges at Oxford. Apparently she had asked him to write something about "progress in prayer" - this was his answer - very interesting and worth chewing on. Progress in Prayer: all right, if you like, I will think about writing something on it, but it is a ticklish subject because the chief obstacle to progress is too much self-awareness and to talk about "how to make progress" is a good way to make people too aware of themselves. In the long run I think progress in prayer comes from the Cross and humiliation and whatever makes us really experience our total poverty and nothingness, and also gets our mind off ourselves. But I will think a little about it. I have a real repugnance for writing things that tell everyone specifically how to do something or other spiritual now.So, as long as you don't abuse these resources and try to keep track of your progress in a little notebook or something, here you go...  Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary  Celebrating Common Prayer  Celtic Daily Prayer  Christian Prayer (1 volume liturgy of the hours)  Shorter Christian Prayer (from the above - M., E., and N prayer)  The Book of Common Prayer  The Divine Hours  The Glenstal Book of Prayer  The Liturgy of the Hours (full 4-volume set)  The Missio Dei Breviary  Venite: A Book of Daily Prayer Now, I haven't used all of these. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. Liz has the 1-volume Christian Prayer, and we have several of the Shorter Christian Prayer around for if we ever have a prayer party. I have a copy of Celtic Daily Prayer and the Glenstal Book of Prayer. I haven't used either regularly. I like the Glenstal book - it's a brief one. It's from an Irish Benedictine Monastery, has lots of helpful prayers as well as versions in the Irish language. I've modified the Evening Prayer from that book into a little booklet for our family to use together. Anyway, there are some options. Hopefully that's helpful. technorati tags > liturgical prayer, fixed hour prayer, liturgy of the hours, prayer Labels: liturgical prayer, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | June 23, 2008 > 12:03 PM liturgical prayer > thoughts Skimming through a copy of Cutting Edge (the Vineyard's church planting magazine - I'm still on the list apparently) lately and ran into an excerpt from a 2002 interview with Phyllis Tickle about prayer - specifically about praying the office. The quote I want to share is just a great, brief synopsis about praying in this way from Phyllis as she answers a question from the interviewer. I'll include both question and answer. Talk a little bit about the nature of praying with fixed-hour prayer.That's a great quote. Phyllis is a member of the Episcopal Church and has done a ton to promote the practice of praying the office. She developed a prayer book called The Divine Hours which helps people do this. I've prayed with people using her book but I don't use it myself. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. I need to "use" it more. The term "fixed-hour prayer" doesn't quite fit with me yet on praying the office. There isn't a specific time Liz and I, or just I pray. I'm sure in the future more set times will emerge in our practice but right now that's not the case. It's the rhythm of doing it that's probably more important I would think. I love that answer to the reporter's question - "Not one damn thing." Awesome. Here's what she basically means - we don't pray this way in order to get something out of it - not to feel anything or sense how amazing we're becoming. We do it because that's what you do. You have a rhythm of prayer in your life because you have His Life inside you. You keep in flowing. The water moves and it keeps moving. Technically, in the end, I suppose we do get something out of it - being in the flow of contact with God in His Word, with the Church - just not in the way people think when they ask a question like that. So, if you pick up this habit (and it takes a while), don't expect to have a very exciting experience as you pray. Now, it may feel like something every now and then, but that's not what its about. And yes, there's an Episcopalian talking to a Vineyard magazine about practices that have been a part of her Anglican heritage and of the ancient Catholic heritage for a long time. This way of praying is catching on all through the whole Church's proverbial circulatory system, down the capillary ends. Most Catholics barely know what praying the office is, it has so long been only something that the clergy or monks did, even if the Catholic Church has stated a desire that the entire membership pick up habits of prayer like this and pray them together. I doubt most Anglicans or Orthodox take advantage of the deep, liturgical prayer traditions in their arenas either. Saying that is not about dissing anyone - it is simply, for me, sad. It's spreading out, though, and that's a very good thing. We can pray in this way together, all of us. It can be a unifier of sorts. It's a deep, fruitful river we can all connect ourselves to and allow it to irrigate us as one common crop of God. technorati tags > liturgical prayer, fixed hour prayer, liturgy of the hours, phyllis tickle Labels: ecumenism, liturgical prayer, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | June 13, 2008 > 12:59 PM though the fig tree blossom not My friend Bryan reflects on how the Psalms speak all our human emotions as we pray them in daily prayer today. It made me think of what stood out to me this morning in our Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Off and on, I struggle with very similar emotional and mental "down" times as well. This little portion of the Canticle this morning was appropriate: For though the fig tree blossom notThis kind of thing happens fairly often to me as I pray the daily office. Real things that I'm going through just jump out at me and come alive. That piece from Habakkuk above is an example. It's not about feeling God and being happy. Even the last part there about God being my strength, is a statement, as I see it, of faith - faith even in the midst of the proverbial terraces producing no nourishment. And that business about continuing to rejoice in the Lord isn't about an emotional joyful feeling bubbling up. It may well at times but this is about a choice to keep on walking even though you're not quite seeing the end very clearly - even though all your bones and muscles ache - even if you have to walk slower sometimes, you keep walking. technorati tags > liturgy of the hours, liturgical prayer Labels: liturgical prayer, prayer 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 29, 2008 > 10:40 AM prayer "Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing the gift that God makes of Himself."Can't say it much better than that. I read that last night and thought it was well worthy of sharing here. It makes me think a couple of things: that prayer is a medium. It's something we do because we are in the state that we're in. This may sound odd, but I'm not sure God created us to have to pray. He created us to have such a close and intimate and undivided union with Him that prayer, as we know it, is not necessary. Yes, I know Jesus prayed, but He had also stepped into our broken realm. Our goal - well, God's goal for us is Mystical Union with Himself, nothing less. Praying is necessary and good and we need to do it now. Even what we call the Saints "praying" in heaven to God for us, wouldn't be quite the same as what we're doing here from one dimension to another. To see them, "there" in the fullness of His Presence, having to kneel down and lift there hands or put their hands together in order to ask God to help us - well, it's odd and a very, very limited way of looking at what that Life is like. Another thing is that prayer is not just some isolated "thing" we do here and there: pray to ask for help or for things; pray to get forgiveness; pray so that we don't have a car accident; stop and pray so that your sister won't go to hell, etc., etc. Prayer is more than that. It may include things like that from time to time, sure, but it's not just that. It is the opening of ourselves to God. This is why we are told to pray without ceasing. There are many different ways to pray. This should be obvious. So somehow, always, wherever we are or whatever we're doing, we can be "at prayer" in some way, even if it's just saying to ourselves that we are open to God, we are listening. Our mind can chew on things - we can meditate even without candles and music and silence. Sure, there are particular ways to pray and we should be doing those things, praying in those ways. But we need to come to realize that prayer is sort of a way of being, a constant attitude, both inward and outward. And as we open ourselves, God is there to "come in" and do the work that only He can do. technorati tags > prayer, mother teresa Labels: prayer, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | March 04, 2008 > 10:29 AM mccabe on prayer Our praying itself is as much a gift as is the answer to it. And prayer is not just God's gift in the way that our power of speech or our health is God's gift; prayer is God's grace, and that means it is due to God's own life within us, God's own spirit within us.I believe Fr. McCabe has hit a few nails on their heads here. I think it's very important that he has reminded us that our prayer is a gift. We wouldn't even be wanting to pray in any way if God's Grace in us had not first given us Himself in that way. People don't just get up the gumption to pray out of their raw, untransformed guts. Prayer, communication with God, this sacred interchange, is a great gift, one we have because we have been taken up into the mystical Life of Christ Himself, because we have been inhabited by His Holy Spirit. So, even when the words we speak in prayer are not perfect because we are not perfect, they are still being spoken out of our union with Him, because we are in Him, and that is an amazing thing. Being honest in prayer - what a concept. Many of us probably spend a good amount of time not doing this, feeling guilty about how we really feel and would like to pray, and praying about something we think we should pray about. OK, I'm not sure there's anything horrible about praying for things we know are needed or right, but with what motive? To make sure God knows we really are unselfish and then His Eye will twinkle with gladness when He looks at us? I hope not. If so, please stop it and start praying for the FJ Cruiser you really want and let Him deal with you where you actually are instead of having to get down through layers of bull crap to get to the child beneath. Just be the child. He loves children. Children who are children have a good chance of growing up right. Children who think they are, or who act like, adults already, put their parents in a serious bind. The things you could teach a child, they cannot learn. It's time, then, to be who and where we are I reckon. We might actually grow up one day. technorati tags > prayer, herbert mccabe Labels: prayer, spiritual formation, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 21, 2007 > 3:29 PM a tool for meditation  Some time back, within the last year or two, I started thinking about making my own rosary. Being the artistic type, you know, it's never quite the same to buy something like that. You think, "I can make one of those way cooler than that." Anyway, I drew some things on paper a few times, thought about it and never did it.I'm the Franciscan type so I lean toward the San Damiano crucifix. I like it because it tells a story while still being a crucifix. It's center is Christ crucified, but surrounding Him is the story of the Cross and our salvation. It's an expanded meditation tool. So, the choice of what kind of crucifix to use to anchor this home-made rosary was no problem. There you have it. St. Francis, pray for us, and may God speak to our hearts as he did to yours, to do the work of "repairing His Church." The rosary is a tool for meditation. It is not, really, not something one used to worship Mary. Can we stop thinking like that please? OK, good. Certainly we are asking her to intercede for us, or someone, or some particular thing, when we are praying the rosary. Underneath it we are meditating on the Center of all things, Jesus. The goal is to be drawn closer into His Heart. So, I think of it that way, as a meditation tool - something to keep with you when you might have time to turn your mind to God during the day. I have grown to like the idea of a small rosary, what are called "one-decade rosaries." The traditional rosary most people have has 5 decades (sets of 10 beads) with the one bead in between each decade, you've seen them I assume. That's fine if you have time to pray all 10 decades, but just walking around during the day, or at work, or whatever, I think that's generally not the case for most of us. There have been one-decade rosaries around for a long time. I'm just saying I like that concept - something to have in your pocket for anytime and anywhere. So, there you go, you see my one-decade rosary. It has lately become one of those things I stick in my pocket as I get dressed for the day - change, wallet, rosary, etc. Now, you see that loop at the end? That's not a normal part of most rosaries. That's extra equipment added by the Irish during what they call their "penal times." You know me and Ireland, right? OK, this penal rosary idea came about during the great time of Catholic persecution in Ireland under English rule, after England had become a politically "protestant" nation. One of the ways they tried to control the Irish was to outlaw the practice of their faith - nice. Anyway, some clever Irish person invented a small pocket-sized rosary with a finger ring at the end so you could keep it in the palm of your hand and not be seen with it. This is something I've incorporated into my design there as you see - not a metal ring but a tied loop. I can put my index finger through there and keep hold of it as I pray. Handy. To set things off I added a Celtic knot design silver "Our Father bead" - you just learned what to pray on that bead. One at the beginning and one at the end to cap it off. I chose an overall "natural" look to the thing (again with the Franciscan thing) - note the wooden beads too. To me it's simple, monastic, not too fancy - symbolic of several meaningful things. The string is Hemp (I know, a little bit hippy, and I don't smoke pot) - natural and pretty rustic. I have found this tool a very good thing for me in the last month or so. I have the opportunity at work during the day, to step outside, if I like, and take a little 5 minute walk around a yard next the parking lot. It has large trees and grass. Walking around this rectangle yard is perfect timing for praying and meditating through this small rosary. Could be anywhere I guess - taking a walk in the evening, mowing the yard, in the car, wherever. OK that's that. I just thought it might be interesting to share about something like this that I've found helpful for focusing my head during the day. Peace to you. technorati tags > meditation, spiritual formation, christian+spirituality, praying the rosary Labels: prayer, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | February 01, 2007 > 9:31 AM st. brigid's day   St. Brigid's day today. She is the patroness of Ireland. Second only to Patrick in veneration by the Irish. There are lots of legends surrounding her, but in actuality not much is historically known about her. She was an Abbess and obviously someone who was very holy and to be emulated. And of course there's the cross - made of reeds, St. Brigid's Cross (learn to make your own here). The legend is that she made the cross for a dying man (perhaps her own father) to share the message of Jesus' death and resurrection with him, and he was converted. You can read a synopsis of her legend here.The photo on the top right is one that I took at St. Brigid's Well, in the shrine built around it near Liscannor in County Clare, Ireland. It's an experience to to into one of these little shrines. I never had before this. There are thousands of little  trinkets of all kinds left there as symbols of prayers lifted up for loved ones - pictures of people, children, hats, scarves, necklaces, toys, candles, rosaries, everywhere. I did pray for a few minutes there and I dipped my daughter McKenzie's bandana into the tea-colored water there. She gave it to me to take to Ireland with me and so I brought back a little something for her.It was funny, as I was looking for this well, I passed it right up (it's right next to a pub on the side of the road) and went driving back, back, back into a very deserted country farm area where I saw a couple of quarries, an old castle tower in the middle of somebody's cattle farm, houses along an ocean inlet, and a nasty looking pack of Ravens sitting on some rock walls squawking like a little threatening gang of big mouths. If it would have been dark when I was back there that would have spooked me out and I may not have found my way out. On the left there is a photo I really like that I took while at the literal end of the road looking back. The gate of someone's farm was behind me. I'm not quite sure what I would've done if I'd met another vehicle. Stark beauty there. I've talked about asking Saints to pray for us before. It's something many Christians from a protestant tradition misunderstand I believe. I've tried to help explain it by explaining the Communion of Saints - or in very basic terms, when someone enters the dimension of reality we call "heaven," one does not cease to be a member of Christ's Body the Church and would still be able to participate as a member of that Body - such as praying for their siblings. And praying with a little more of an eternal perspective, "the big clue" I call it. I'll take that. And so... We give you thanks, our Lord and God, technorati tags > saint brigid, st. brigid, ireland, st. brigid's well, saints, prayer, communion of saints Labels: catholic, ireland, prayer, theology 0 comments
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