Speak Lord, For your servant is listening (1 Samuel 3:10)

Talking to the Lord is only half of the prayer experience (I am going to take a guess that most people pray by asking God to do things for them), listening to the Lord is the other half.  Four times the Lord had to speak to Samuel before he answered, and Samuel only was able to answer after receiving help from the High Priest Eli.

The key point here is that like so many other things in the Bible, what was true 3000 years ago is true today: Samuel had to learn how to pray, he had to be taught, and we also need to learn how to pray.  It must be noted that Samuel’s specific experience is rare in history.  It is not rare for The Lord to speak to people today, however the primary way is through his written word in Sacred Scripture.

So how do we today learn to listen to the Lord while reading Sacred Scripture? We start by simply reading the Bible, along with praying both before and after reading. A simple prayer to use is the same one Samuel used. As to a suggestion on which book of the Bible to start with, may I suggest praying with the Psalms. The Psalms teach us both what to pray and how to pray. The next step is to purchase a Study Bible (see my book reviews). Perhaps the best way to learn is to join a Bible study class.

 

iBbrevery : An app for Catholics

• Available for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Android Phones and Blackberry.
• Application available in English, Italian, French, Latin, Spanish
• Cost: Free

This app includes many functions:
- The Liturgy of the Hours (it is a portable Brevery)
- The Daily Missal for the celebration of Mass (both Roman and Ambrosian)
- Mass readings for the day (it is a full full lectionary)
- Prayer book: including Rosary and Way of the Cross.
- The complete texts of the rituals for the celebration of all the sacraments:
- Anointing of the Sick
- Marriage (including readings),
- Funeral,
- Communion to the sick/homebound,
- Many other rituals of blessing useful for meditation, prayer and ecclesial ministry

From the author of Ibervery, Fr. Paolo Padrini, Pastor of the Parish of St. Giorgio, Stazzano, Italy:
“IBreviary is simply this: to link technology with the faith and the human need to talk with God, to feel closer to Him through the prayer in any time of the day.”

My comments:  I have been using this app on my iPod touch, for about three years. In the beginning it was buggy and had more than a few problems.  The problems have been fixed with numerous, and is stable now. It has been growing and gaining functionality over the last year.  What was once a simple app focusing on the Liturgy of the Hours, is now a quite sophisticated, portable liturgical prayer library. It requires a connection to the Internet in order to download each days readings, both for Mass and the Hours.  It is also possible with a press of one button, to download a week at a time, and up to 10 days future information can be downloaded. When this app was first released it cost 99 cents, after a year or so Fr. Paulo just started giving it away for free.

I use this app every day. I use it to pray Vespers (evening prayer) from the Liturgy of the Hours. It takes me about 10 to 12 minutes to pray Vespers. If you want to learn to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with a paper based book, you need to learn how to navigate the book through a four week cycle and flip pages (there are five page marker ribbons that come with the book). This app makes it so easy to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, there is nothing to learn. I also like the daily Mass readings. Add a Bible app (from a different publisher) and your portable electronic device is a complete prayer library. (Note: I have a review of a Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition Bible on this blog.)

All of us need help with our prayer. This app can help, wither you use it for 2 or 20 minutes minutes a day, or just a few times a year, this is a fantastic application. It will grow on you, and you will find yourself using it more and more. I also need to repeat the price, free.

For more information including how to download it to your portable device, please see the following web site: http://www.ibreviary.com/new/index_en.html

 

On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols & Motets

•     Anonymous 4: Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Johanna Rose, Ruth Cunningham
•     Price:     $17
•     Audio CD (September 1, 1993)
•     Number of Discs: 1
•     Label: Harmonia Mundi France.
•     ASIN: B0000007DY

The songs are from the 5th to the 15th centuries. They are sung in both Latin and in Old English “Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse” (yes, that is the correct spelling in Old English). While the cost of the CD is relatively expensive at $17, there are 23 songs for 68 minutes, so I would consider this a good value for the money. While the recording may be close to 20 years old, it was done digitally so it is flawless. The songs are of two main styles: plainchant and polyphonic. In plainchant the voices all sing the same notes, in polyphonic, they sing different notes.

The music is four women’s voices, nothing else. They seam to be singing in a vary large, acoustically perfect medieval cathedral. I do not know how four human voices could sound better.  It is important to note that these are not just Christmas songs, this recording is a 1000 years of history. It is a small sample of how people have praised Jesus with their voices over a period from 1500 to 500 years ago. There is a powerful spirituality present in these songs. These songs are not just for listening to, but also for praying/meditating.

For more information, including the song texts, translations and to listen to samples, please see the group’s web site: http://www.anonymous4.com/discography.php?4

 

The Word of The Lord – making it yours

Sacred Scripture is meant for both all mankind and for each one of us. Sacred Scripture needs to become your personal story so that you can then spread it to the whole world, perhaps just to your next door neighbor, or maybe a relative or a friend.

There are a few ways to personalize Sacred Scripture when reading it:

1. memorize specific verses
2. make notes about verses in a journal
3. highlight the verses that speak to you

This list is in order of increasing simplicity.  For most people memorizing more that a few verses will be difficult if not impossible.  Keeping a journal of favorite verses is great but requires some work while reading.  The last method is strikingly simple, but problematic. Bible paper is thin and most all highlighters bleed through the paper.  I am blessed to have finally found a highlight pen that does not bleed through the thin paper: the Zebra Eco by Zebright. It has a florescent pigment ink that works great.  It comes in multiple colors and the model I purchased (yellow) has both a wide chisel-tip and a fine point tip. The only issue with this highlighter is availability.  I was only able to fine it online. It is also a little expensive, I purchased a 12-pack for $20. I highly recommend this product.

A highlighter for use on thin Bible paper: Zebra Eco by Zebright

 

The power of Advent

“We often miss Advent’s power because these December weeks are full of secular Christmas parties and preparations for Christmas.  Each year, the busyness of this season serves to distract us from having an Advent season that truly prepares us for the celebration of Christmas, with all its meaning.”

My spiritual director has sent me to this web sight (Creighton University), to help me prepare daily in Advent, for Christmas. Creighton is a Jesuit University in Nebraska: http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Advent/

 

I call upon the Lord

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies (Psalm 18:3).

I call upon the Lord throughout the day, and when the stars shine brightly in the night, I am still calling upon the Lord. The Lord and the Lord alone is worthy of my thoughts, my worship and my praise. The Lord saves me from all my enemies, my fears, my sins, and even from death. I call upon the Lord now in this moment, and for all eternity.

 

In the watches of the night

“…my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
when I think of you upon my bed,
and meditate upon you in the watches of the night.” (Psalm 63:5-6)

David had many opportunities to to think about the Lord in the watches of the night. In his early life he was a Sheppard, and was probably responsible many times for the sheep during the night watches. In his later life, before he became King, he was a solder, and again probably took his turns watching over the camp while everyone else slept.

I have read all 150 of the Psalms, and I can see in the words, the amount of time he spent thinking and praying to the Lord. These two verses in particular, show how David’s heart was focused on praying and praising the Lord. It is because he spent so much time on prayer, and especially when he was alone at night, that his prayer life became so deep, so rich, and so totally enveloped in the Lord.

Contrast this to our own age. We have so many things, activities, to distract us from prayer. All day long we are over loaded with information. At night the we can even go to sleep with our personal, portable music players, providing music for us to fall asleep by. We need to find the time, the space, the opportunity, to turn off whatever noise the world is producing, and focus on prayer. Stop everything and pray, especially at night. Whether the house is quiet, or not, we need to spend time in the night, praying, and not just once in a while, but every night.

We need to develop a deep, close, personal relationship with our Lord, so that on a daily, regular basis, we spend some time in the watches of the night, praising with joyful lips, the One who we hope to spend all eternity with.

 

Prayer and Insomnia

… and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
when I think of you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night; (Psalm 63:5-6)

I have suffered from insomnia since I was a young child of about 10 years old, from periods of a few weeks in length to a few years, and a nightly duration of 30 minutes to 2 hours. It is a condition I just endure, along with the effects of a lack of sleep.  For the past few years my insomnia has been infrequent, but still present and I have come to develop a theory about it:

“Prayer is not a cure for insomnia, prayer gives insomnia a purpose.”

Prayer is the last thing I do at night before falling asleep, prayer is only only thing I do when I awake in the middle of the night, and prayer is the first thing I do when I awake in the morning. My practice of prayer in the night and my insomnia theory are not only influenced by Psalm 63, but also by St. Paul: “Pray constantly.” (1st Thessalonians 5:17)

 

Praying for the dead

“and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin
which had been committed might be wholly blotted out.”
(2 Maccabees 12:42)

To understand this verse, read 2 Maccabees 38 to 45. Note: this takes place about 200 years before the time of Jesus. The dead solders had sinned before the battle by wearing a pagan good luck charm under their armor, something that was forbidden by Jewish law.

So the surviving members of the army, lead by Judas Maccabees, prayed that the sins of the fallen men would be forgiven. Next money was collected from all the men in the army, and sent to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, for a sin offering. This shows that sin offerings were not just done while a person was alive, but after death also.  This chapter also show that multiple prayers for the dead were made, shortly after the time of death as well as “in the future” when the Priests of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem would make the sin offering for the dead.

 

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

And going on a little farther he fell on his face and prayed,
“My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me,
nevertheless, not as I will but as thou will.” Matthew (26:39)

Many passages of the Gospel show Jesus at prayer, in many different locations, this is the only passage that has Jesus praying prostrate. Many passages have other people coming to Jesus and falling prostrate before Him.  The prayer of Jesus at Gethsemane is perhaps one of the most important that Jesus prays (it is the start of The Passion), and the posture of Jesus praying face down to the ground teaches us something special. It shows what so many people of the Old Testament did when praying for/about something very important, they prayed prostrate, with their face to the ground.