Furthermore…

At our Monday prayer meeting we always stand and sing some lively songs for a while, then we sit down and remain quiet, waiting for and allowing anyone who feels so impelled to utter a ‘prophecy’ or spiritual statement, often phrased in such a way as though spoken by God.  I myself have begun to occasionally so speak, but not very often, perhaps once in an evening, and not even every evening. 

 One recent time as I sat there vacantly observing the situation, 15 or 20 people sitting quietly in something of a loose  circle and opening themselves to spiritual awareness, it became for me almost a modern version of the scene in the Upper Room when Jesus’ disciples were visited by the Holy Spirit and blessed with tongues as of fire above them.  I didn’t see any ‘tongues,’ but it seemed like they ought to be and, in a way, were present.  We were united,  ’of one accord’.

The white, simple, almost tasteless sacred host, with its appearance as a wafer of unleavened flat bread, can be marvelously suggestive of Our Lord because a person can look upon it almost as looking through a window to Heaven, or as watching a movie screen upon which any personal conception of Him may be projected.  It seems to me that if it were in any more complex or elaborate, it would lend itself less effectively to letting those gazing upon it be able to surrender the ordinary, banal way of perceiving things and enter into a rich, personal, prayerful expression of devotion to Jesus made possible by the Holy Eucharist which He instituted for us at the Last Supper.

I got to thinking about how some of the expressions in familiar prayers bless (are appreciative of) God or His saints, and others involve progress, that is, movement toward holiness.  In the Hail Mary, for instance, the first part is a loving address to Our Lady and a reverent bow to her Son Jesus.   In the second part we say “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”  This  suggests striving after some progress in that,  with her help, that we might move or take a step toward greater holiness.  The Our father, after the first worshipful “Who art in Heaven,” is all prayer that we might progress, or see progress in God’s Kingdom.

Yesterday in our efforts as catechists to the 5th graders we concentrated on prayer.  A chapter in the textbook is devoted to the subject, giving us a base on which to build.  At the beginning of the class I attempted to introduce the boys and girls to the idea that the book, just as are other presentations to which they are exposed, is the product of thought and planning in order to achieve a goal, in the case of the textbook,  to effectively expose them to and lead them through the truths of the faith.  The chapter opened with the antiphonal praying of a psalm.  Ten the book set forth the five kinds of prayer, praise, thanksgiving, intercession, repentance and petition (the one most people think of in connection with prayer).    We read the contents aloud, and the two of us teachers added comments based on our own experience.  My teaching partner is a family man who raised six children, so he brought some very realistic examples of prayer in family life to the subject.  After going over these five ways of praying,  I asked the kids if they previously had heard of there being five kinds of prayer; they hadn’t.  The book had a reproducible page showing  chart allowing for planning the prayers for one week with respect to time to pray and what to pray,  so we handed out and talked about copies of it.

Tuesday evenings my parish has novena service for Our Lady of Perpetual Help that lasts about one half hour.  We sing two hymns to Mary, read together prayers in a booklet /1/, and have Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

I am always touched by the prayer sequence for families in the booklet.   I don’t have the booklet with me, but the following, which I found online /2/,  although shorter, has many of the same words.

We ask you to bless all parents. May they love and cherish the children * whom God has entrusted to them. May they always give them the example * of a truly Christian life. Help them to bring up their children * in the love and fear of God. Bless all children * that they may love, honor and obey * their fathers and mothers. To your loving care * we especially entrust the youth of today.

/1/ booklet

/2/  http://home.pacbell.net/polgas/novena.html

Last night our prayer group had a Christmas party, about 25 people present.  After saying some prayers and singing some carols, to move the party forward in the Christmas spirit our leader asked the people present to tell what thoughts had come to mind  as we sung the carols.  She then announced that she had 2 questions for each of us to answer – What do you want to receive from Jesus this Christmas, and What do you plan to be giving to Jesus?  We were priviledged to hear some excellent, thoughtful answers, reflective of the various personal concerns and situations of the participants.

I remember when I was in high school in the 50s there was a local radio program called Melody Corner evenings that served as a kind of flirting site.  Lots of teens listened and sent in requests for songs to be played that might send messages to the apples of their eyes.  Before the DJ played a song he (they were only he’s then) would read the names of who the songs were for and from, along the line of “for Betty from Stan, for Stan from Lois, for Lois from Mitch” etc.,  not so crowded with an interlocked chain of the same names as that, of course.  The beauty or appeal of the concept was that the messages of admiration avoided the embarrassment or anxiety associated with face to face proclamation.

Are we embarrassed or anxious about coming up with prayer words telling Jesus or the Father or the Holy Spirit of our admiration?  There are always lots of well-worded and beautiful psalms, hymns and songs well suited to conveying  something embodying what we might awkward- and stumblingly express on our own.  As we hear one, we can always quietly muse, like yesterday’s radio listeners, for God from me.

Yesterday evening I went, as usual, to our charismatic prayer group.  We always open with a Rosary, saying the Luminous Mysteries (even though it is Monday, when the Joyful Mysteries are in order).  As we prayed the Rosary I was startled to note that a gentleman who always attends with his wife, we’ll call him” Mr. Sunday,” but seldom speaks up or says a word, took a turn at leading one of the decades in a strong clear voice.

At the opening of the meeting the lady who is our leader gave a little talk about how our group is expecting to have a miracle every week.  Sometime in the past, before I joined the group, she said a devoted person had told her this.  I can’t remember the circumstances she recounted that led to this prophesy, but at the time it made a kind of sense based on faith.

Hey, I thought, to me it is a miracle that “Mr. Sunday” was so moved by the spirit as to lead the Rosary for us in such a fine fashion, right there at the same table with me.  Up to now I haven’t witnessed any miracles that I can think of,  besides this one which so impressed me, unremarked by the rest of the group, which I’m considering the real thing, maybe the only one I’ll ever witness!

Tonight  at 6 will be the first gathering of our little group observing the St. Jude Novena.  The lady who organizes it here has a great devotion to the saint based on some grand favors that she received from him in her past life. She provides little booklets that contain prayers and directions on how to proceed with the devotion.

From judenovenea.org I present the background that St. Jude “is often referred to as the ‘Forgotten Saint’ due to being confused with Judas Iscariot, another apostle who later went on to betray Jesus. As a result, devotion to St. Jude was generally avoided and only those in the most desperate circumstances would call upon his assistance. This resulted in him being referred to as the ‘Patron saint of desperate cases’. St. Jude also stressed in his New Testament letter of the need to persevere in harsh and difficult circumstances.

Devotion to St. Jude began in earnest in the 1800s and has now spread to all parts of the world with Christian infulence. The Novena to St. Jude as it has come to be said in modern days is a powerful prayer which when said devoutly and with great faith will result in graces being granted but in some cases individuals may find great peace and strength to overcome adversity and misfortune.”

A prayer guide for the St. Junde Novena is found at http://www.prayerbook.com/Novenas/judenove.htm .  A sample:

“DAY ONE

O blessed apostle St. Jude, who labored zealously among the Gentiles in many lands, and performed numerous miracles in needy and despairing cases, we invoke you to take special interest in us and our needs. We feel that you understand us in a particular way. Hear our prayers and our petitions and plead for us in all our necessities especially. (mention your request) May we be patient in learning God’s holy will and courageous in carrying it out. Amen.

St. Jude, pray for us.

My Jesus, mercy.

Prayer –

The St. Jude Novena Prayer

St. Jude, glorious apostle, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor has caused you to be forgotten by many. But the Church honors and invokes you universally as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things despaired of. Pray for me who am so distressed. Make use, I implore you, of that particular privilege accorded you to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly, (mention your request) and that I may bless God with you and all the elect throughout eternity. St. Jude, apostle, martyr, and relative of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Mary, and of Joseph, intercede for us!”

You don’t have to be hopeless to pray to St. Jude!