I was on the radio this morning, as I often am when there's a new book coming out - I end up doing a lot of Catholic radio, especially the morning drive shows. So today I was on in Iowa - 8:15 am for me, 7:15 for them.
The host of the radio show was asking me about my next book, Praying the Psalms: The Divine Gateway to Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer, coming out in November. And he said something interesting - he said that he thought contemplative prayer was the most important kind of prayer (or something like that). And I found myself gently correcting him, saying that while contemplative prayer is a beautiful form of prayer, it is an advanced prayer, and as the mystics will tell us, it's not for everyone. Some people never get to this advanced form of prayer, and that's ok. And what I didn't say, is that in my next book, coming out in the spring, Praying Like the Early Church - one of the first things I point out is that in reality, the most important prayer is the prayer that most of us will never pray ourselves, we will only ever say Amen to is - that is, the Eucharistic prayer.
So, yes, contemplative prayer is great, if you are called to that. But the truth is - and I think I can speak for the Church fathers here - if it was a choice between just going to Mass or being a contemplative and skipping Mass, God would rather have us just go to Mass. There is nothing wrong with being a "basic" Christian who regularly attends worship, but who does not become a contemplative. And being a contemplative is great, but it's not for everyone, and it certainly cannot replace the Eucharist. It all begins with receiving Christ in the Eucharist. After that, all that the earliest Christians were expected to do was to pray the Our Father three times a day. As I explain in my book, the very idea of personal devotion, or private prayer, takes a while to develop, but the prayers that are most important from the very beginning are the ones that Jesus taught/instituted - the Our Father and the Eucharist.
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
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:
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!
The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.
This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.
Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...
And don't forget, if you would like to read my latest novel:
The Sword and the Clover - just let me know by email.
I'm happy to send you the PDF version, even if you haven't been a monetary supporter of the community - all I ask is that you don't share it with anyone else.
My email address:
Keep in touch!
JIm
If you haven't already signed up - this comes to your inbox no more than once a month, and will keep you updated when new books come out, or when we're leading pilgrimages, etc:
https://jimpapandrea.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a7c3793af6d238b47f3463784&id=2abdd7219d
