A Little Ditty About Prayer

 

 

There are many things Christians do as marks of their faith and religion. Prayer is one of them. But we are not the only one. Other religions meditate, sacrifice, and acknowledge  be or a state of being that is greater than themselves. But the Abrahamic religions, those which have descended from the seed of Abraham (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) are the ones who believe we can pray to our God. We believe we have more or less a speed dial that eclipses speed – a direct link to our creator we can use when we are scared, joyful, in need of help, or just want to know what to do with our lives.  We three have very distinct religious practices but our religions include this particular facet among many other things - this maybe being of the most overlooked commonalities.

But as Christians we pray different. As Catholics we definitely pray different. We have our Liturgical prayers that take place during the mass which as a convert took some getting used to. Other Liturgies are used at certain rites, or sacraments such as Baptism, the Rite of Election, First Communion, Confirmation, and funeral ceremonies. Others forms of prayer are more personal but also hold a more communal and corporate use such as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Monks, praying the 150 psalms daily through the use of a small rope with 150 knots in it gave a desire to the laity to pray daily and to memorize some scripture. Soon there emerged a quote from Luke’s Gospel from the Annunciation scene, “Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with you…”, and combined this with an intercessory request to “pray for us…”. We have others which we recite on our own in front of the Blessed Sacrament or others we pray before meals and still others we create for ourselves.

But all of this goes back to Jesus for us. How He prayed. When He prayed. Who He prayed to. Jesus prayed daily. Not just once a day, but throughout the day, usually starting in the morning. Mark Ch. 1 gives us this daily prayer at morning, midday, and after sunset. He did not just pray with the others but often, and in this example, went out and prayed by Himself. Mark does not tell what the prayer is, only that he did it. This remains the case up until Gethsemane where he must have been at a threshold to remember the words of the Lord when he was close to death. Jesus when praying, even when in most of need and certainly serious, calls God “Abba” being the Hebrew word for “Father.” We should do this as well because as adopted children of God, He too is our Heavenly Father and it is our privilege to call Him by that title. As I started this little writing, there are many things that separate our religions and in prayer, which we have in common, this is the distinctive element. So it is both a heresy to our separated brethren, and a privilege for us at the same time. Why do we do it though? Because we follow in the example of Jesus – hence the perfect title of the “Our Father.” Let us follow Jesus’ example: let us pray many times per day, let us pray when troubled and happy,  let us call Him “Father”.

Know why you are Christian – know what distinguishes you from the rest – and exploit and develop those differences.

Primative Persecution: Tarcisius

I want to share a story of persecution from the primitive Church.

When the emperor Valerian ordered the execution of bishops, priests, and deacons, Christians attended Mass in basements and in the catacombs outside the city walls. Deacons would take Communion to Christians for whom getting to Mass was too dangerous. On one such occasion, no deacon was available. The priest did not know what he would do until his alter boy, a young Roman boy of 11 names Tarcisius stepped forward after Mass and said that he would carry Communion to some Christians waiting inside the city walls. The priest admired Tarcisius for his grit, gave him the Sacred Hosts wrapped in silk along with a quick blessing, and sent him toward the city.

All was going well until Tarcisius ran into some pagan boys his own age who asked him to come and join their game. Tarcisius thanked them, explained he had an errand to run, but said he would join them later.

“Oh! Christian boy.”  One of the pagan boys sneered. “Is is that you think you are too good to play with us?” And they circled around Tarcisius.

“Not at all,” said Tarcisius. “I have something to deliver and must be on my way.”

“Well – show us what it is! What is the big secret, Christian boy?”

“It is no business of yours,” said Tarcisius, looking each of the boys squarely in the eye. “Now step aside and make way.”

Rather than step aside, the pagan boys closed their circle around Tarcisius, and as they did they picked up heavy sticks and rocks from the ground. One of them shouted, “I bet he’s carrying the Christian Mysteries!”

“Are you, Christian boy?” demanded another. “Show us!”

Tarcisius, clutching his precious cargo to his chest made a dash for what looked like an opening in the circle, but he was not quick enough. The mob of boys closed in around him and they began to club him with stones and heavy sticks. Tarcisius did not cry out, but quietly prayed, ever clutching the Blessed Sacrament to his chest.

The pagan boys beat him to death.

With bloodies hands, they seized the bruised and broke n body of Tarcisius and tried to twist the silk cloth carrying the Eucharist out of his dead arms. Although he had no life left in him, Tarcisius would not let go of our Lord. The boys tried for hours to pry his arms open but they failed and failed again. They left Tarcisius body by the side of the road for the vultures to eat.

After a time, some Christians went looking for Tarcisius, and when they found his broken and bloodied corpse still clinging to the Blessed Sacrament, they guessed what had happened. Carefully lifting the small boy's body, they gently bore it back to the priest, who by now had grown deeply concerned about his young altar boy. Christians set the boy’s body at the foot of the priest, who knelt down and quietly brushed Tarcisius’ hair, matted with blood, away from his face and with his thumb made the sign of the cross on his forehead. At that moment, Tarcisius’ body unfolded its arms and released the Blessed Sacrament to the priest, and all who witnessed this knew that here was a Holy Christian boy who had held Jesus in his arms and who now was being held forever in the arms of Jesus.  

The young boy Tarcisius’ was canonized and his feast day is 15 August.

The story was taken from Catholic Answers magazine from the March-April 2011 issue, p. 11.  

On Harold Camping (the rapture guy)

I started this blog today to write about Harold Camping, and the engrossing approach I see many Christians (even those I have come to respect) take to his matters. First and foremost I do not want to rant, and I do not see myself as a modern day Paul, Peter, or John. But I do want to interject some criticism of the people so willing to slam this man and the effect it has on the rest of Christendom, our image as the body of Christ, and offer the better approach to said subject.

Timeline: Camping made predictions that the Rapture or other specific end times events would occur in 1988, 1994, most recently 21 May 2011, and just the other day 21 Oct 2011. He made statements that "God was done saving Christians." Those are the facts. Now leave them there.

There have been several reactions within the Christian community: e.g.: posting commentary related to Jesus' words in Matthew 24:36, "Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father only;" to people downright lighting the man on fire. Those who aren't Christians signed up via Facebook for "post rapture looting," and others downright lit the man on fire; others scoffed at the prophecy Camping made and the Bible altogether.

So let's get it straight: where in the Bible does it mention a "rapture." Nowhere. That would be like the Bible using the term "dinosaurs," it simply wasn't in the vernacular, but the concept of what Christendom has come to define as the "rapture" is evident in several parts of the New Testament:

Matthew 24:40, "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left."
I Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord."
In Revelation, the word "Church" is used several times until Chapter 4, then several terrible events occur on Earth." (eek!)

No doubt, a similar concept - the resurrection of the dead - is frequently explored in the Bible and very prominently in the New Testament: (see Matthew 16:27, 24:30-31, 25:31-32, 26:64, Mark 12:18-27, 13:26-27, Luke 17:26-35, John 5:21, 5:28-29, 1 Corinthians 4:5, 6:14, 15:12-32, Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 3:4, 2 Peter 3:8-10,  Revelation 1:7), and probably a host of others that I am forgetting to include. Pretty interesting when you think of all the movies in the last 10-20 years where the "living dead" or "zombie" is portrayed, and is assumed to be largely fictional. Call me Harold Camping, but I believe the media and the entertainment industry will have made such a common reference and usage of the "resurrected" that when the Bible's end time prophecies are revealed masses of people will either be indifferent, or completely consumed with fear! Their dependence on others telling them how to feel will not even elicit a response in orientation to the Lord; not for most of them anyhow. This isn't the first time it's happened on a wide scale. If you recall, shortly after Jesus' death on the cross, "and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead" (Matthew 27:52). Point is: The Bible is not to be taken lightly.

But back to Camping. Other Christians have created their own web domains used to respond to Camping. Take for instance www.rapturefail.org who self describes:

"RaptureFail was set up to allow people around the world to catalogue the failure of Harold Camping’s Rapture prophecy for the 21st of May 2011.

We’re now doing it all over again for the new date set by Camping, 21st of October 2011. This time round we’re inviting you to download a flyer, add your name to it and take a photo of yourself holding it, add it to our Flickr page and then see yourself in the gallery!

As Christians who take the Bible seriously we believe that “prophecies” like these demean the church’s witness in the world. The purpose of this site is to demonstrate very clearly (and to mock gently) that this is a false prophecy and that Harold Camping is a false prophet."

Oh man... "Catologue the failure?" And they think Camping is "demeaning the Church's whitness in the world?" I agree with the simple fact the Christians need to be educated, to discern correctly, and to keep each other accountable. Does anyone else see the problem with this? Several Christians are still making statements like, "survived the rapture twice in one year." (first of all you don't "survive" the rapture, because the event brings you into real live). Digressing... I'll lay it out plain and simple: those who are not believers have their eyes fixed on Christians waiting for them to make a mistake. Camping made a mistake, and teaching your weaker-in-the-faith friends, or teaching nonbelieving friends that, for lack of better words, 'this is not what every Christian comes to understand,' is useful. But let it go! The world knows he did not pass the test, so let it go! By mentioning his failure over and over do you not see that you are not opening up the Gospel to the world? Instead, you are showing an example that it is fine to attack others, call them failures, present a message of rejection, and condemn them. What about forgiveness? Should you forgive Harold Camping? Yes. Why? "Forgive others as God has forgiven you." and "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins." It's a matter of the heart. If you recognize by now that you have the wrong approach to Camping, even in the slightest amount, you should seek forgiveness in your heart for Harold and pray for him. Why forgiveness? We forgive only when we feel we have been wronged. Even if you don't personally feel wronged, you still feel you association is misrepresented.

Do you see the division that is possible when you choose to publicly scorn someone like Harold Camping? Please don't do it any longer, and gently counsel those of your friends that do. It reminds me of the reactions to Osama Bin Laden's death. The masses were fired up. But many forgot that this man was not saved. On "180 The Film," the host asks people, "you have Hitler in your sights, clear shot, perfect day, do you take the shot?" I bet without even thinking of the consequences, many would say "yes."

Have I made the point clear? Christians are at an age in history where even in the "free world" we are under fire. We are seen a bigots, judgemental, fear mongering, haters. Some of it I will stand by, strong. But what I will refuse to do is walk in a spirit that is no different from that of the world. I will not add doctrine, scripture, and "good quotes" to my public life, while in my heart practice malcontent, division, and come to live a life or say things that open the doors for unbelievers to have yet another reason to not want to investigate the claims of Christ, the efficacy of prayer, the guidance in prophecy, and the credibility of the Bible. 

Remember this: what you invite in your heart stays there; what is in your heart comes out of your mouth; what comes out of your mouth reveals your character; and your character shapes your legacy.

Make yours a legacy worth reading about -- even if it requires you to humble yourself.