But why pray eight specific, set-aside times a day? And why pray some of the same prayers at every office, like the Our Father (a.k.a., the Lord's Prayer)? I can only answer from my own experience, as small as it may be:
1) Praying shapes our beliefs. During the hours (of prayer), we prayed the psalms; therefore, we prayed warfare prayers, intercessory prayers for loved ones and even enemies; we prayed for God's will to be done on earth exactly as it is being done in Heaven; we cried out for mercy, for ourselves, our loved ones and our enemies; we prayed supplications, trusting God to provide in abundance all that we need in all situations. Sounds a lot like the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it? But we rarely left the psalms. Yet, while praying them, my mind is being renewed and reshaped into comformity with Christ and His teachings found in the Gospels.
2) The influence of a daily rhythm. By the middle of the second day, I noticed myself chanting under my breath, praying unceasingly while doing other things. The influence of each hour began to linger until it was time for the next. The invisible breath of prayer was being inhaled and exhaled involuntarily from being saturated with God. The days didn't fly by, nor did they drag by. They were calm and alive and in color. The rhythm of prayer was slowing us down, deepening our intake of life. The rhythm of prayer, being spent in the presence of the Eternal, was setting the pace for us now, not the clock.
I hope we will go back again every year. At first, I wasn't thrilled about it. But the rhythm of prayer began to shape my perception, my participation in the Spirit of Prayer, and most of all, me. May the rhythm of the Spirit of Prayer, the Holy Spirit Himself, always set my pace and the tempo of my heart. To the glory of God. Amen.
2 comments:
I see you are doing the blog, still - very good. Great thoughts here, too. Prayer is certainly way different from the tool for getting stuff God that I thought it was when I was younger. It transforms my mind into the mind of Christ, so I think his thoughts and conforms my will to his so I want what he wants. That is so different from what I expected and it is also why it is not possible to really pray in the weak ways we usually do, once or twice a day, mostly at meals or only when rising or going to bed - or worse yet - only when in trouble. Don't get me wrong, praying only at those times is better than no prayer at all. . .
Absolutely! There is a Latin phrase that I've heard a lot over the years: Lex orandi, lex credendi - the rule of prayer is the rule of believing. Reduced to its simplest translation it means, "Praying shapes believing". This is why I love praying prayers that have been handed down through the years, prayers that have been approved of by the Church Catholic as doctrinally sound, healthy, and effective. As you stated, healthy prayer transforms my mind into the mind of Christ and conforms me to His will and image. In addition, I have found that written, handed-down prayers help me to pray what I should, not just what I want or think. That's not to say that I don't use spontaneous prayer - I most certainly do and I love it. I just find that when constructing prayers, left to myself, that's usually all I pray about - myself. Thanks for your comments and your encouragement.
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