Today both Lauds and Daytime Prayer give us psalms that we just naturally want to pray on our own behalf. Because we are poor and needy. Pathetic, really. Oh sure, when life is good we trust God and thank him that we have received the graces to be devout, orthodox, committed Catholics. But then, some garden variety crisis occurs in our lives, or the novena does not produce amazing results. Suddenly, the proud and ruthless voices are right there: See? God doesn't answer prayer...for that matter, do you really think there IS a God? Satan tries to chip away at our faith every chance he gets. And sadly, we are actually shaken at times by the jeering crowd of demons.
So it makes perfect sense to pray these words with ourselves in mind. We are poor and needy.
Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer *
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful: *
save the servant who trusts in you...
...The proud have risen against me; †
ruthless men seek my life: *
to you they pay no heed. (from psalm 86)
However, if we have taken up the privilege/burden of praying the psalter liturgically, we have to moderate that tendency. As Pope Benedict reminded us last week, it's not just about you. Or at least, its about you only insofar as you are one tiny member of the body of Christ. Because that is really what the "I" here refers to when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours.
That can be counter intuitive. Most of us, loving the Church, have a mental archetype of her that it anything but "poor and needy". When we think "the Church", our imaginations might supply a grand parade of saints and heroes marching through history. We think of it as a grand edifice filled with beauty, like St. Peter's basilica or Chartres cathedral. We think of our Pope who fearlessly articulates the truth in and out of season. And since we know, by faith, that the gates of hell won't prevail, well, it's a very natural thing to think "grand and glorious" rather than "poor and needy".
But try. Because the other side of the coin is this. The Church consists largely of all us "poor and needy" individuals. It is under constant assault from the forces of evil on all sides, and although those forces won't win the war, they in fact do win any number of battles. That is why the lands of the ancient fathers of the church are now mostly under Muslim rule. That's why the lovely cathedrals of Europe are largely empty except for tourists and a tiny remnant of locals. The United States is headed down that same path, but at a slower rate. Persecution and martyrdom are very real in many places: China, India, the middle east. And, it goes without saying, millions of our fellow Catholics are poor and needy in the physical sense as well, even as many of them endure said persecution.
So try to keep that in mind when you pray the hours. As Pope Benedict reminded us last week, it is "praying in the "we" of the Church, that directs its gaze not in on itself, but to God, and feeling part of the living Church of all places and of all time. "
Welcome to new blog follower Christina, who happens to be my sister,(yay!) and who knows far more about liturgy than I when it comes to the Extraordinary Form side of things.
This is also the weekly Wednesday Q&A post. Any question from new or experienced Divine Office devotees is welcome here.
So it makes perfect sense to pray these words with ourselves in mind. We are poor and needy.
Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer *
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful: *
save the servant who trusts in you...
...The proud have risen against me; †
ruthless men seek my life: *
to you they pay no heed. (from psalm 86)
However, if we have taken up the privilege/burden of praying the psalter liturgically, we have to moderate that tendency. As Pope Benedict reminded us last week, it's not just about you. Or at least, its about you only insofar as you are one tiny member of the body of Christ. Because that is really what the "I" here refers to when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours.
That can be counter intuitive. Most of us, loving the Church, have a mental archetype of her that it anything but "poor and needy". When we think "the Church", our imaginations might supply a grand parade of saints and heroes marching through history. We think of it as a grand edifice filled with beauty, like St. Peter's basilica or Chartres cathedral. We think of our Pope who fearlessly articulates the truth in and out of season. And since we know, by faith, that the gates of hell won't prevail, well, it's a very natural thing to think "grand and glorious" rather than "poor and needy".
But try. Because the other side of the coin is this. The Church consists largely of all us "poor and needy" individuals. It is under constant assault from the forces of evil on all sides, and although those forces won't win the war, they in fact do win any number of battles. That is why the lands of the ancient fathers of the church are now mostly under Muslim rule. That's why the lovely cathedrals of Europe are largely empty except for tourists and a tiny remnant of locals. The United States is headed down that same path, but at a slower rate. Persecution and martyrdom are very real in many places: China, India, the middle east. And, it goes without saying, millions of our fellow Catholics are poor and needy in the physical sense as well, even as many of them endure said persecution.
So try to keep that in mind when you pray the hours. As Pope Benedict reminded us last week, it is "praying in the "we" of the Church, that directs its gaze not in on itself, but to God, and feeling part of the living Church of all places and of all time. "
Welcome to new blog follower Christina, who happens to be my sister,(yay!) and who knows far more about liturgy than I when it comes to the Extraordinary Form side of things.
This is also the weekly Wednesday Q&A post. Any question from new or experienced Divine Office devotees is welcome here.
O God, make haste to my rescue, *
Lord, come to my aid!
Let there be shame and confusion *
on those who seek my life.
Lord, come to my aid!
Let there be shame and confusion *
on those who seek my life.
O let them turn back in confusion, *
who delight in my harm,
let them retreat, covered with shame, *
who jeer at my lot.(from psalm 70)
who delight in my harm,
let them retreat, covered with shame, *
who jeer at my lot.(from psalm 70)
