Exploring the depth of our prayers
I have found it odd that our Catholic prayers often don’t include the word “please” or something similar.
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Here we are asking God or Jesus or Mary for something huge, and it seem perhaps a bit impolite. Perhaps English is different than Latin and other languages in this sense?
Give us this day our daily bread.
In the Fatima Prayer, we ask Jesus to “bring all souls to heaven.” How is that different than saying we’d like God to fix all our nasty human tendencies and have us all … get along?
Don’t get me wrong. I would absolutely love to live in a world without sin, without suffering, without anxiety.
But then, I realize that that’s not the point of the world God has created.
I’m comfortable calling God by name, and Jesus. But how often do I actually talk to the Holy Spirit?
I find myself talking about the Holy Spirit in the third person** more than directly.
But because the Holy Spirit IS the triune God as much as the Father and the Son, I need to speak more directly to Him. Or Her, as some might suggest – the English language struggles.
For thousands of years people have asked the question: Why did Jesus need to get baptized?
You may have heard an array of answers:
I found out yesterday that a colleague is dying, with only weeks to live. That sort of news really gets you thinking about this gift of life that God has given us, and what lies beyond.
It brings up emotions that are hard to describe.
I dedicated this morning’s Rosary to him. In gratitude, in hope, in support. Because I won’t be able to see him again, I’m relying on my supernatural support system to help him get what he needs.
God gave Adam and Eve a powerful task: to name the animals. By doing so, they were to to have power – “dominion” – over them.
In past times, names weren’t so separate from the people or objects they described. That’s why it was so important that “you shall name him Emmanuel” – God is with us.
I’ve always found this phrase to be a bit puzzling:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Here’s the issue: we’re asking Mary to pray for us at the hour of our death. First, why is it that we have one hour of our death? We don’t die together, all at the same time, right?
The Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) hints at life being pretty miserable here on earth.
But if you look at the way we behave, it’s as if everything of value is here on earth. We do everything we can to avoid death – even to the extent of spending everything we have to live longer.
Not better, just longer.
It all begins with the resurrection.
It’s not that Jesus wouldn’t have been God without rising from the dead. Or that salvation wouldn’t have been possible.
No, it’s because we wouldn’t be paying attention to any of this without the resurrection.
OK, so why does Pontius Pilate get a mention in both our Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed?
It’s not like he’s the hero of the story. Or that his name was particularly important.
He played a crucial role in Jesus’ necessary suffering, but so did others.