Based on your feedback, morning insights are now: "The Cafe"
As I'm working on my book on prayer, I think what I'm seeing is that the Church fathers treat the word "Amen" as a confirmation of a prayer that someone else prays - in other words, when the priest/presider prays a prayer that the lay people do not pray or verbalize themselves (most especially the Eucharistic prayers), then the lay people say "Amen" as a way to acknowledge their participation in the prayer. But if you pray a prayer, saying the words yourself, you don't really need to say "Amen" at the end, since you already said the prayer. So for example, in Mass we say Amen a bunch of times when the priest prays, and of course we have "the great Amen" to assent to the Eucharistic prayers, but when it comes time to pray the Our Father, we do NOT say Amen, because WE prayed the prayer ourselves.
Now, to be fair, we DO say Amen after the Creed, but that was added at the end of the early Church period. And full disclosure, no Church father that I know of actually explains any of this. It's just an observation.
Thoughts...?
I'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:
This was for March 24th, recorded for the Ascension App
Thanks for your patience - here is our next installment of The Journey - it's session # 96, but I'm also calling it PART 1 of a "miniseries" on John chapter 6.
Whoever watches it first, please let me know if it looks good or if there are any problems with it - I get through the first two sections of the text on the feeding of the 5,000.
Enjoy!
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
