I enjoy the GEICO “It’s what you do” commercials (which I manage to see in the less than one hour of television I watch each day). They remind me of a sort of syllogism I’ve used to explain why Gods loves us: God loves us because God is love. When love is what you are, love is what you do. Therefore, God loves.
Why does God love us? Because God is love and that is what love does: it loves.
God does not love us because we are good or because we deserve it; He loves because He is love.
Enjoy this “It’s what you do” commercial. It illustrates the old maxim agere sequitur esse (action follows being). In other words, what one does follows from what one is.
In several places, St. Paul used the image of an athlete to describe the Christian life. Consider this one:
Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:25-27).
Clearly there are many virtues of the athlete that are also of great necessity to the Christian.
Discipline – The athlete must carefully and regularly train his body. Without this discipline, he will not master the sport nor will his body have the necessary stamina, strength, and coordination. Athletes train every day and work to master their sport. So too must Christians be disciplined and train themselves in the ways of faith through prayer, scripture, the sacraments, moral virtue, and self-mastery. The Christian must practice every day.
Persistence – The athlete must be disciplined all the time, not just occasionally. To fail in persistent training not only jeopardizes good performance but also risks injury. So too for the Christian. We cannot expect much progress with an on-again, off-again regimen. Without the habit of persistent prayer, scripture, the sacraments, and moral virtue the Christian not only stunts his progress but also risks injury (sin).
Rules – Every sport has rules that must be accepted and followed. Athletes are not free to reinvent the game. They must play by the rules or risk exclusion and/or disqualification. So too the Christians must play by the rules set by God. If we are going to be on the winning team and secure the victory, we have to abide by the rules. To refuse this is to risk being disqualified. We are not free to reinvent Christianity as so many try to do today. There is only one playing field and one game. Follow the rules or be ejected.
Alert for Injury – A good athlete listens carefully to his or her body and watches for any sign of injury. If athletes detect an injury they see the team doctor and take measures to heal as quickly as possible. Athletes also avoid injury by learning proper form, stretching, etc. So too for the Christian. We must monitor ourselves for injury; upon discovery of even a minor injury we should consult our team physician (a priest) and get on the mend quickly. Further, we should try to avoid injury by learning proper Christian form (a moral life) and avoiding whatever leads us to sin (a kind of “stretching” so as to avoid moral injury).
Teamwork – Many sports involve a group of athletes working together toward the goal. Athletes cannot merely seek glory for themselves; they must have the good of the whole team in mind. They must learn to work with others for the common good and overcome any idiosyncrasies or selfishness that hinder the achievement of the common goal. So too Christians must strive to overcome petty and selfish egotism and work for the common good, learning to appreciate the gifts of others. The team is stronger than the individual alone. Life is about more than just me. When others are glorified so am I, if I am on the same winning team.
Why not add a few of your own thoughts on how engagement in sports is an analogy for the Christian life?
What would happen if we applied some of the principles of this video to the Christian life?
In times like these, filled with moral confusion and acts of terrorism (including the recent murder of a French priest by self-proclaimed “soldiers of ISIS”), it is natural to cry out “How long, O Lord!” Indeed, among the struggles that many face in their spiritual lives are anger with God and feelings of discouragement due to the seeming lack of relief from Him.
The knowledge that God can prevent bad thingsoften leads to the expectation that he should. And then when such expectations are not met, resentment, disappointment, or anger can follow.
Sometimes our anger at God is obvious to us. At other times, however, it can manifest itself more subtly: depression, spiritual sadness, avoidance of God and spiritual things, loss of hope, or a reduction in asking things of God in prayer. Sometimes, too, we like to minimize our anger by saying that we are merely “disappointed,” or “frustrated.”
But the reality is that at times we are angry with God, sometimes very angry. What to do about this anger?
God Himself seems to say over and over again in the Scriptures that He wants us to talk to Him about it, to tell Him that we are angry, and to pray out of this reality in our life.
God actually models this in the Scriptures. The book of Psalms is the great prayer book that God gave to Israel. In the Psalms is enshrined every sort of human experience and emotion: joy, exultation, hope, gratitude, dejection, hatred, despair, and anger—yes, even anger at God. God Himself, through the Holy Spirit, authors the very prayers of the Psalms. He tells us, in effect, that every human emotion is the stuff of prayer. He models for us how to pray out of our experiences, not only of joy and gratitude, but also of despair and anger. God says that whatever you’re going through should be the focus of your prayer.
Thus, God tells us that even if we are angry with Him, we should speak to Him about it. And He does not ask us to mince words, to minimize our emotions, or even to speak politely.
One of the most common expressions of anger toward God in the Scriptures appear in what might be called the “usquequo verses.” The Latin word usquequo is most literally translated “how long?” And thus, in the Psalms and in other verses of Scripture, will often come the question, “How long, O Lord?”
While the adverb usquequo can simply be part of a straightforward question such as “How long until lunch?” it is usually used in rhetorical fashion, such as when one asks “How long?” in a plaintive and exasperated tone, as in “How much longer?” It’s as if to say, “O Lord, why do you let this awful situation go on? Where are you?” Thus, the word bespeaks not only disappointment, but also a certain feeling of injustice that God would care so little about us that He would allow such terrible things to go on for so long.
God knows that we sometimes feel this way. And even if our intellect can supply some possible reasons that God would allow bad things to go on, or that He is not entirely to blame for the mess that we’re in, still it is clear that our feelings often are not satisfied with any rational explanation. And we simply cry out, “How long, O Lord?
God knows this about us. He knows that we are feeling like this and wants us to talk to Him directly about it, to articulate it, and to pray out of this experience.
Here are some representative passages from Scripture:
Psalm 13:1-2How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 6: 3-6My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me, save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning.
Psalm 10:1-2Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
Psalm 35:17How long, Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.
Psalm 44:24Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
Psalm 89:46How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all humanity! Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
Psalm 79:5-7How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
Psalm 74:10-11How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Psalm 94:2-3Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve. How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant?
Lam 5:20Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
Habakkuk 1:1-4How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Job 7:18-19Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.
Thus we see modeled for us that God wants us to say what we are feeling, to give voice to our anger. Why is this? First of all, He already knows that we are angry. He doesn’t want our prayer to be suppressed, pretentious, or phony. If anger is the “elephant in the living room,” let’s admit it rather than trying to pretend it’s not there. Second, expressing our emotions aloud often helps to vent them or at least to reduce their power over us. Suppressed feelings often become depression if they are not given respect and a voice.
The biblical texts also model a kind of Jewish insight and practice known as “taking up a rib” (pronounced “reeb”) wherein one argues, complains, contends, strives, or pleads a case with God. Even early on in Scripture we see Abraham and Moses in (sometimes tense) negotiations with God (e.g., Genesis 18:16ff, Exodus 3, Numbers 14:10ff). And thus the psalms and similar texts model a kind of “rib” wherein one asks God to deliver on His promises and expresses exasperation at His apparent delay in doing so. God the Holy Spirit models and encourages this sort of prayer by including it in the inspired text.
Mysteriously, God does not often answer the “Why?” that is implicit in our groans. But He is most willing to hear them. And sometimes it is our very groans that yield the desired relief. Scripture says, I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry, my appeal. He turned his ear to me, and thus, I will call on him as long as I live (Ps 116:1-2). Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy (Psalm 126:5). St. Augustine said, More things are wrought in prayer by sighs and tears, than by many words (Ltr to Proba, 2).
Our groans and soulful protests do reach God’s ears.
At other times when we protest suffering or evil, God gives a Job-like answer (cfJob 38 ff), in which He reminds us of our inability to see the whole picture. His answer is a kind of “non-answer,” in which He reminds us that our minds are very small.
Nevertheless, the point is that God instructs us to ask, to protest, “How long?” This instruction is a sign of His understanding—even respect—for our anger and exasperation.
It is interesting to note that God oftentimes takes up the complaint “How long?” Himself! It ought not to surprise us that God is at times “exasperated” with us. In a kind of anthropomorphic turning of the tables, He sometimes laments, “How long?” Here are some of those texts:
Psalm 82:1God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the gods: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?”
Jer 4:21-22How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.
Jer 23:26-28I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, “I had a dream! I had a dream!” How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name …
Matt 17:17Jesus replied, “Unbelieving and perverse generation, how long must I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?”
So it would seem that God is willing to admit into prayer both our anger and His. Where there is love there is also bound to be some anger, for when we love, things matter. God would rather have us speak openly and honestly of our anger toward Him. He also often reveals His anger toward us. Vituperative anger, name calling, and cursing are in no way commended, only honest airing of the fact of our anger and the basis for it.
There is an old saying, “No tension, no change.” The simple fact is that God allows some tension in our lives and in our relationship with Him. One reason for this is that tension helps to keep our attention and evokes change. In instructing us to cry out, “How long, O Lord?” He invites us to take up the energy and tension of our anger and make it the “stuff” of our prayer. In so doing, our prayer is more honest, and it soars on the wings of passion. It keeps us engaged and energized; it fuels a kind of insistence and perseverance in our prayer.
Within proper bounds, and with humility presumed, anger in prayer has a proper place. God Himself both prescribes it and models it for us in the Book of Psalms as well as in other texts. Be angry, but sin not (Eph 4:26).
The video below is a wonderful musical setting of Henri Desmarets’ (1661-1741) Usquequo Domine. It is rather long, so you might want to play it in the background.
The translation of Psalm 13 sung here is as follows:
How long O Lord will thou forget me, must thy look still be turned away from me? Each day brings a fresh load of care, fresh misery to my heart; must I be ever the sport of my enemies? Look upon me, O Lord my God, and listen to me; give light to these eyes, before they close in death; do not let my enemies claim the mastery, my persecutors triumph over my fall! I cast myself on thy mercy; soon may this heart boast of redress granted, sing in praise of the Lord, my benefactor.
In developing gratitude, we do well to remember how intertwined our lives are. None of us lives in isolation—none of us can. We may think we’re pretty self-sufficient, but we drive on roads that others built and paid for, and we do so in cars developed and built by others. We use electricity powered by coal that others mined, converted to power in power plants we neither built nor run, and delivered to us over wires that others set in place and maintain. Thousands of people stand behind that little light switch we so causally flip.
Think, too, of all the collective knowledge from which we benefit. It stretches back over the generations, one discovery building on another, one insight shared bringing about another, one discipline serving as a foundation for yet another.
It is overwhelming to consider the astonishing number of other human beings whose collective ingenuity and hard work contribute to our present blessings. And we, too, contribute to the blessings of countless others.
For all this we can praise God, from whom all blessings first come. But the vast majority of the blessings He gives us come through others. Bless God, the first giver, but also be grateful to those who are the means of His blessings.
As a small exercise in gratitude, consider the simple blessing of standing in a supermarket and holding a can of peas. How many thousands are behind that can and your ability to stand in that market and buy it for just a dollar or so.
As you look at the can itself, consider the following:
Miners went into the earth to bring out the aluminum and tin you hold in your hand. Not only is it difficult work, it also depends on countless others going back in time who “discovered” the raw materials of the earth and learned how to separate and use them. Numerous technologies, much machinery, many inventors, and millennia of experience support the miners who drew the raw materials forth for that can. Thank you!
Those materials were then transported by rail. Consider those who labored to build the rails and those who still maintain them. Think about the inventors of the locomotive, those who built the railroad cars, and the those who extracted and refined the diesel fuel for the locomotive, and all those helped to get the ore to the metal producing plants. Thank you!
Consider the inventors of the process, those who built and maintain the plants that refine and produce the aluminum and tin that then go to the canneries by truck or rail. Thank you!
At the cannery, people and machines labored to produce the can you hold. Technologies and processes stretching back generations contribute to the swift production of the cans, including the one you hold. Thank you!
The canning plant is supplied with electricity that required thousands of men to erect poles and towers, run wires, and maintain them. Those wires trace back to a power plant with all of its technologies. Think of all who labored to build and maintain that plant. Coal miners went deep in the earth to mine the coal that sits in rail cars outside the power plant that supplies the power to the cannery that produced the can you hold. Thank you!
Yes, thousands contributed intellectual effort, physical labor, and money to make possible and to bring to you the can you now hold. Thank you!
Now consider the peas in that can:
The peas in the can are surely a gift of God’s nature, but are also the result of God’s gift of human genius. The bountiful crops of the modern era, a small portion of which you now hold in your hand, showcase human ingenuity in horticulture and agriculture. Careful genetic selection has made peas larger, tastier, and more disease- and insect-resistant. Agricultural developments have also led to crop yields that were unimaginable just decades ago. Fertilizers, insecticides, irrigation, crop rotation, farm equipment, and all the subspecialties and industries that developed and support them, have assisted in bringing to harvest the peas in that can you hold in your hand. Thank you!
What about the thousands who did research and development in the fields of horticulture and agriculture? We must also thank the farmers and agricultural workers, most of whom rise early every day and work in all sorts of inclement weather. They assume risks for failed crops and bad weather. They often find that their is a very fine line between success and failure, and their livelihood depends on staying on the right side of that line. Sadly, many farm hands and harvesters earn poor wages for their hard work. Yes, farmers and farm hands work hard. Thank you!
The peas also needed transportation, to the canneries and other processing areas. Once again, thank the builders of the roads and those who design, build, and maintain the trucks. Thank the truck drivers who often spend long, lonely hours on the road. Yes, thousands upon thousands, going back generations, have had a hand in the product you hold in your hand. Thank you!
Finally, consider the supply chain that brought this product to your local store:
Every store has a staff who order, stock, and monitor supplies so that necessary products are not out of stock. Scanners network with computers and point-of-sale terminals to monitor and order products. Be thankful for the developers of such technology. Thank you!
The store you are in was built by the construction industry and paid for by the owners of the food stores, who assume risk and overhead costs to run the stores. All sorts of technologies are involved from refrigeration to lighting, from shelving systems to product selection and quality control. Even the parking lot needs maintenance. Dozens of employees at the local store have had hand in that can of peas. Thank you!
Beyond the store are the local truckers, the warehouse employees, and every aspect of the warehouse from its buildings to its maintenance and operation. Hundreds more people have thus had a hand in this miraculous little can of peas. Thank you!
Beyond the warehouse is a complete distribution system for every product imaginable. Some products are transported over land by truck and/or train. Others are brought on cargo planes from every part of the world. All of these products need containers, shipping boxes, and all sorts of handling. Consider all the infrastructure necessary to maintain and supply those industries. Yes, thousands of people have had a hand in that can of peas. Thank You!
I have only scratched the surface here of the astonishing number of people who stand behind a small blessing: a can of peas in a supermarket. It is beyond amazing how interconnected our lives are. Thank the Lord; thank the laborers. Do your part and never forget your dependency on God and on your need for others. Ten thousand thanks could never be enough.
One of the great night prayer hymns, “All Praise to Thee My God This Night,” appears in numerous hymnals of the English tradition. Sadly, it is not in our current breviary, but I hope that the new one might feature it. It was written by Thomas Ken in 1709 and is most often sung to the beautiful tune of Tallis’ Ordinal, which you can hear in the video below.
Ideally, night prayer should include acts of thanksgiving and praise to God along with repentance for any sins committed. Night prayer is also a time to ponder death and ask God’s graces to be prepared for death and judgment.
This hymn does all of that and more. It is beautiful English poetry, edifying and wonderfully descriptive in just a few verses. It is worth printing out and keeping by your bedside.
Allow me to list its verses and then follow with a short commentary on its themes.
All praise to thee, my God, this night,
for all the blessings of the light:
keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
beneath thine own almighty wings.
Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son, the ill that I this day have done; that with the world, myself, and thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
Teach me to live that I may dread The grave as little as my bed; Teach me to die so that I may Rise glorious at the Judgment Day
O may my soul on thee repose, and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close; sleep that shall me more vigorous make to serve my God when I awake.
When in the night I sleepless lie, My soul with heavenly thoughts supply; Let no ill dreams disturb my rest, No powers of darkness me molest.
And when shall I, in endless day, Forever chase dark sleep away; And hymns divine with angels sing, All praise to thee eternal king?
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host:
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Commentary:
As I often do, I have named the themes that are set forth in the hymn using alliteration.
Praise – All praise to thee, my God, this night, for all the blessings of the light. For indeed, every good and perfect gift comes from above, comes from you, Lord, the Father lights (James 1:17). The verse bids me to praise you, God, for “all” the blessings. Some of your blessings come in strange packages, but as your Scripture says, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). Therefore, at night we ought to acknowledge that “all is gift.” Some gifts are obvious; others only show themselves as gifts later. Even our sufferings produce glory if we are in your Christ. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Cor 4:17). Thus I begin, O Lord, my night prayer, praising God for all your blessings of the day, the obvious and the not-so-obvious.
Preservation– keep me, O keep me, King of kings, beneath thine own almighty wings. That you “keep” us, Lord, surely means that you guard and protect us. And surely we need your protection. Without you we are sitting ducks; we are low-hanging fruit for the evil one. And while this is true in our waking hours, it is even more so in our sleep, for while sleeping we have even less authority over our thoughts. Night is the time of dreams, not all of them good or pleasant. Night is a time when some of our defenses are down and we cannot make sense of every thought or dream. Protect us, Lord! Do not allow Satan, our flesh, or the vain remembrances of worldly things to overwhelm our sleeping minds! Speak your truth to us even as we sleep. Guard our hearts from fear and sinful inclinations!
Pardon – Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son, the ill that I this day have done. Yes, even in the bright of day I have sinned. I need your mercy, Lord. Without it I do not stand a chance. My sin is a kind of sickness. So forgive me, but also heal me. Forgive me, Father, considering the death your Son endured for my salvation. Look beyond my fault and see my need. May my sins be nailed to the cross; may my soul be washed in the Blood of the Lamb!
Purified – that with the world, myself, and thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace may be. Of course there is no peace without the forgiveness of sin and the reconciliation with the Father. I need your peace, Lord, not the false peace of the world, which demands silence and compromise with sin in order to avoid conflict. I want to be at peace with the world, by your grace, so that I am no longer enamored by its false promises. I also seek peace within myself, so that with my sins forgiven I no longer am troubled by my conscience, which rightly condemns my unrepented sins. And most fully, I seek peace with you and know that it is my sins alone that separate me from your peace. Yes, Lord, I need your mercy; this alone brings true peace.
Pondering death – Teach me to live that I may dread, the grave as little as my bed.I know, Lord, that for me each night is a dress rehearsal for death. For indeed in a moment I shall lose consciousness and be dead, in a way, to this world. I shall lie in a bed not unlike the coffin in which I will one day rest. As I lie down may I ponder the sober reality that one day I shall lie down and never arise again in this world. Too easily, Lord, when I lie down at night I am assailed by thoughts of resentment, lust, vainglory, or the fear of men and worldly things. Help me, Lord, to ponder death. And may I ponder not only in fear but in longing. For it is death that will bring me out of this exile, this valley of tears, to you! May my fear of death be only of a sudden one for which I am unprepared. Spare me, O Lord, from dying while in serious sin. Preserve me in your grace and love!
Prepared for judgment – Teach me to die so that I may rise glorious at the Judgment Day.Yes, Lord, keep me in your paths; order my steps in your word. Teach me to die daily to my pride and to all sin. Tonight I die to pride because I admit that I am weak and cannot carry on without rest; I am not so strong after all. If I must arise in the night, I stumble about in the darkness and fog of sleepiness. May I learn the lesson of the night and die to myself and to my pride. And through this humility may I thus be able to rise glorious on Judgment Day, trusting in your mercy and grace, for my own strength is inadequate.
Peaceful – O may my soul on thee repose, and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close.Yes, Lord, holy dreams and peaceful slumber grant to me! But it shall only come to me if I sleep upon the support of your love and promises. Keep me stable on the firm foundation of your love. Hold me close with cords of kindness, with ties of love and be to me like a Father who lifts a little child to the cheek on a journey (Hosea 11:4).
Purpose – sleep that shall me more vigorous make to serve my God when I awake. I do not ask these gifts for me alone. I know that I must be strong and rested in order to be able to serve well. I humbly admit this and seek your blessing for my rest, that I may serve you and your people more vigorously, generously, and zealously. Help me, Lord. Without you I fail. Give me peaceful rest that I not fall in battle or under the weight of office.
Protection– When in the night I sleepless lie, My soul with heavenly thoughts supply; Let no ill dreams disturb my rest, No powers of darkness me molest. Too easily, Lord, the evil one assails me while I sleep with thoughts of discouragement, fear, or sin. Please, Lord, surround me with your protection; fill my thoughts with heavenly things. My dreams are often distorted and confusing. Grant me the grace to ignore such disordered (and usually meaningless) rantings. Order my thoughts; give me the remedy of remembering holy things in the confused hours of early morning or in fitful sleep. Enable me to remember that such thoughts are of no import other than to remind me of my need for you and the goodness, beauty, and truth of your godly order and light. Soon enough morning will come and the haze of the dark hours will scatter. From the confusing hours of darkness, from the grip of disordered thoughts, rescue me, O Lord.
Pining – And when shall I, in endless day, Forever chase dark sleep away; And hymns divine with angels sing, All praise to thee eternal king?Yes, Lord, when shall you give me wings to fly away and be at rest with you? I have a natural fear of dying, but my soul longs for you in the night, and daylight will still find me sighing for you. Some bight morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away to a home on your bight, celestial shore. May I die loving you and my neighbor. Meanwhile, Lord, keep me faithful until death and help me to remember that all my desires are really about you. I cannot wait to see you. With every day may I run faster to you, who are the desire of my heart and of the everlasting hills. Soon, Lord, soon may I sing forever to you in Heaven even as I now feebly sing this hymn of the night. May these nights usher in endless day.
I was recently asked (through my Our Sunday Visitor column) about one of Jesus’ lesser known sayings. I would go into a little more detail in today’s post. Here is the passage:
Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another (Mark 9:49-50).
Some argue that these were separate sayings that were just stitched together, but I think otherwise. The logic of the saying seems cogent and unified to me. I will begin with a few observations about salt in those times.
Salt was valuable. Some people were even paid with salt (which is where we get the word “salary”).
Salt was connected with healing and purity. Saltwater was applied to infections and wounds (it helps heal afflictions of the skin). Newborn babies were washed with saltwater.
Salt was connected with preservation. In the years before refrigeration, salt was one of the most common ways of preserving meat and fish.
Salt was connected with flavor. Salt adds spice to life; it brings out the flavor in food.
Salt was an image for wisdom. Gregory the Great said, “Now by salt is denoted the word of wisdom. Let him therefore who strives to speak wisely, fear greatly” (Pastoral Rule 4.12).
Salt was connected with worship and covenant. Scripture says, Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings (Lev 2:13). So the use of salt was ordered first for the meal offerings, and afterwards for “all” offerings, including the “burnt offering.”
Scripture speaks elsewhere of a “covenant of salt.” For example, Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt? (2 Chron 13:5) The covenant of salt refers to the imperishable and irrevocable quality of the engagement made between the two parties to the covenant.
The use of salt to signify and ratify what was sacred was widespread. There is a Latin saying attributed to Pliny the Elder (and Virgil, too), Nulla sacra conficiuntur sine mola salsa (Sacred things are not made without salted meal).
All of these things are caught up in Jesus’ use of salt as an image. Sadly, salt (a necessary ingredient for life) is today treated almost as a poison. But such thinking was not operative in ancient minds.
To apply the image of salt to the Christian life, we should see that the Christian is to purify, sanctify, and preserve this wounded and decaying world by being salt to it. The Christian is called to bring flavor to life in a world that is so often filled with despair and meaninglessness.
And now we turn to Jesus’ words from Mark:
1. Everyone will be salted with fire.Two images of salt and fire come together here, but the result is the same: purification. We have already seen how salt purifies. Fire does the same thing through the refining process. Precious metals come from the ground admixed with iron and many other metals. Subjecting them to fire purifies the gold or silver, separating it from the iron and other metals.
Both salt and fire purify by burning, each in its own way. Hence the Lord marvelously brings those two images together, telling us that we will all be “salted with fire.”
Indeed, it must be so. We must all be purified. Scripture says of Heaven, nothing impure will ever enter it (Rev 21:27). St. Paul speaks of purgatorial fire as effecting whatever purification has not taken place here on earth:
If anyone builds on this foundation [of Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—yet as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor 3:15-15).
The Book of Malachi also reminds us of our need to be purified, to be “salted with fire.”
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver (Mal 3:2-3).
Yes, we must all be salted with fire. We must be purified, both here, and if necessary (as it likely will be), in Purgatory.
2. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? In other words, we have to let the salt of God’s grace have its effect or else we, who are to be salt for others, become flat, tasteless, and good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot (cf Matt 5:13).
What does it mean for salt to become tasteless? Today, we are not used to salt going flat, but salt in the ancient world was frequently less pure. It came from the sea and was admixed with other things. As it broke down, the salt could go flat or become bitter. In that case it was useless except as pavement.
The image is a powerful portrait of a Christian who has become debased, flat. The fall is steep: from a worthy, esteemed, necessary, and helpful place (like good salt) to ignoble pavement, trampled and unappreciated beneath the feet of people who should have been blessed with its flavor. Jesus says elsewhere, if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot (Matt 5:13).
Alas, consider the sad condition of this world, made so because so many Catholics stepped back from being salt and light. Increasingly, the world is therefore hell bound and sin-soaked as never before.
The current contempt of the world for Christians—Catholics in particular—has indeed reduced us to less than pavement dust. We can lament the lack of appreciation for our faith, but a lot of it is due to our lack of saltiness. Salt gone flat is good for nothing, nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Right or wrong, fair or unfair, this world thinks of us as flat and bitter to the taste.
We have a lot of work to do to recapture our role of adding spice and flavor to life. The good, the true, and the beautiful must be reintegrated into the lives of Catholics, who have too easily cast them aside.
Bishop Robert Barron speaks of 70s Catholicism as the era of “beige Catholicism,” when all the zest, color, edginess, and zeal of the Catholic faith was painted over and Catholics sought to blend in—even disappear. Today we are seeing the results of salt-gone-flat Catholicism. Little by little, we must recover our salt, our zest, our pep, and even our stinging quality. Flat Catholics are good for nothing.
If the salt will not be salt, there is no substitute for it. Jesus asks rhetorically, if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? There is no substitute for Christians. If we will not be light, then the world will be in darkness. If we will not be salt, then the world will not be purified, preserved, or have anything good or tasty about it at all. The decay of Western culture has happened on our watch, when we collectively decided to stop being salt and light.
3. Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.In other words, allow the salt, the purification, to have its effect. Only if we do this will we have peace with one another.
Our divisions and lack of peace are caused by our sins. Thus, to accept the purification of being salted with fire is our only true hope for peace. When the Lord burns away my envy, I no longer resent your gifts; I rejoice in them and come to appreciate that I need you to complete me. In this way there is peace. When the Lord burns away my jealously and greed and helps me to be grateful for what I have, I no longer desire to take what is rightly yours nor do I resent you for having it. In this way there is peace. When the Lord burns away my bitter memories of past hurts and gives me the grace to forgive, an enormous amount of poison goes out of my soul and I am equipped to love and to be kind, generous, and patient. In this way there is peace.
Yes, allowing ourselves to be salted with fire is a source of peace for us. And while we may resist the pain of fire and salt, just as with any stinging medicine we must learn that although it is painful it is good for us. Yes, it brings peace; it ushers in shalom.
Last week’s Gospel featured the Lord insisting that prayer was “the one thing necessary.” This week, we see the disciples’ request that the Lord teach them on prayer. In answer, the Lord gives three basic teachings or prescriptions for prayer.
Let’s look at these three prescriptions.
I. Pattern of Prayer– The Gospel opens as follows: Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
We must be careful to understand that in giving us the “Our Father,” the Lord Jesus is not simply providing us with words to say. More than this, He is giving us a pattern for prayer; He is “teaching us to pray.” He does this in response to the disciples, who did not ask to be given words to say, but to be taught how to pray.
Thus, while the words of the Our Father are precious, it is also important to look at the underlying structure implicit in the prayer so as to learn “how to pray.” By these words, Jesus is illustrating what ought to be going on in us interiorly, in our mind and heart, as we pray.
There are five basic disciplines taught in the Our Father, and they form a kind of pattern or structure for prayer. I use here the Mattean version of the prayer only because it is more familiar to most people, but all the basic elements are the same regardless of the version.
1. RELATE – Our Father who art in heaven – Here begins true spirituality: Relate to the Father! Relate to him with familial intimacy, affection, reverence, and love. We are not merely praying to the “the deity” or “the Godhead.” We are praying to our Father, who loves us, who provides for us, and who sent his only Son to die for us and save us. When Jesus lives His life in us and His Spirit dwells in us, we begin to experience God as our Abba, our Father.
As developed in other New Testament texts, the deeper Christian word Abba underlies the prayer. Abba is the family word for the more generic and formal word “father.” When my own father was alive, I did not call him “Father”; I called him “Dad.” This is really what the word Abba is getting at. It indicates family ties, intimacy, close bonds. Why the word Abba is not used here in the Our Father is uncertain. St. Paul develops the theme here: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15) and here: And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6)
Ask God for the gift to experience Him as Abba. At the heart of our worship and prayer is a deep and personal experience of God’s love and fatherly care for us. The first discipline or practice of the Spiritual life is to relate to God as to a father who loves us, and to experience Him as Abba.
2. REJOICE–hallowed by thy name– The praise and love of God is the essential discipline and element of our spiritual lives. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift and to Him our praise is due. Praise and thanksgiving make us people of hope and joy. It is for this that we were made. God created us, so that we … might live for his praise and glory (Eph 1:12).
Our prayer life should feature much joyful praise. Take a psalm of praise and pray it joyfully. Take the Gloria of the Mass and pray it with gusto! Rejoice in God, praise His name. Give glory to Him who rides above the clouds.
There may be times when, due to some sadness or difficulty, we do not feel like praising God. Praise the Lord anyway! Scripture says, I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34:1). Praise is to be a regular discipline of prayer, rooted even more in the will than in feelings. God is worthy our praise.
Ultimately, praise is a refreshing way to pray, because we were made to praise God, and when we do what we were made to do, we experience a kind of satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment. The second element and discipline of the spiritual life is a life of vigorous praise: Rejoice!
3. RECEIVE–thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – At the heart of this petition is an openness to God’s will, to His instruction, to His plan for us and for this world. When Jesus lives in us, we hunger for God’s Word and strive to know His will and have it operative in our life.
A basic component and discipline of prayer and the spiritual life is receiving the Word and instruction of God, so that His will might be manifest to us and we can obey. We ought to pray the Scriptures (lectio divina). We ought to study the faith through the Catechism or other means. These are ways that we become open to God’s will, that His Kingdom might be manifest in our lives.
The third element and discipline of prayer and the spiritual life is an openness to God’s teachings through the Church and Scriptures: Receive!
4. REQUEST –Give us today our daily bread – Intercessory prayer is at the heart of the Christian life. Allow “bread” to be a symbol of all our needs. Our greatest need, of course, is to be fed by God, and thus bread also points to the faithful reception of the Eucharist.
Intercessory prayer is the prayer of asking for God’s help in every need. Take every opportunity to pray for others. When watching the news or reading the newspaper, pray the news. Much of the news contains people for whom we should pray: victims of crime, disaster, or war; the jobless; the homeless; and the afflicted. Many are locked in sin, bad behavior, corruption, confusion, and bad priorities. Many are away from the sacraments and no longer seek their Eucharistic bread, who is Christ. Pray, pray, pray.
There are also good things we hear of, and we should be grateful and ask that solutions be lasting. This intercessory prayer flows from our love for and solidarity with others. We see the world with the compassion of Christ and pray. The fourth element and discipline of prayer and the spiritual life is to intercede for ourselves and others.
5. REPENT –and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. – Sin is understood on two levels here: (1) sin (lowercase) refers to our personal sins, also referred to as our trespasses, and (2) Sin (upper case) refers to the whole climate of sin, the structures of sin that reinforce and underlie our own sins (referred to here as “evil”).
An essential element of our spiritual life is that we come to recognize the sins and the deep drives of sins in our own life so that we can beg deliverance from them as well as mercy.
It is also true that we live in a sin-soaked world, where the powers and principalities of evil have great influence. We cannot fail to recognize this and pray that its power will be curbed.
Then, too, we must also pray for the grace to show mercy to others, for it often happens that sin escalates through resentments and the desire for retribution rooted in unforgiving attitudes. We must pray to be delivered from these so as to be able to break the cycle of violence and revenge that keeps sin multiplying.
But in the end we must pray for the Lord’s grace and mercy to end evil in our own lives and in the whole world. The fifth element and discipline of prayer and the spiritual life is to repent of evil.
So this, then, is a structure for our prayer and spiritual life, contained in the Our Father. Jesus teaches us to pray and gives us a basic structure for prayer. Some may use this as an actual structure for daily prayer; if they are going to spend twenty-five minutes praying, they spend about five minutes on each aspect. Others may use this structure as an overall reference for their spiritual life in general, trying to reflect these aspects and disciplines well in their overall prayer life.
Thus the first teaching of the Lord is to give us a pattern for prayer. We now go on to the next prescription.
II. The Persistence of Prayer – Jesus goes on to say, Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,” and he says in reply from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.” I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Jesus tells a similar parable in Luke 18, of an unjust judge and a persistent widow. At the end of the parable, the judge gives her justice because of her demanding persistence.
The upshot of both of these parables is that if even a grouchy neighbor and an unjust judge will respond to persistence, how much more will God the Father (who is neither unjust nor grouchy) respond to those who call out to Him day and night?
The teaching that we persist in prayer is something of a mystery. God is not deaf. He is not forgetful. He is not stubborn. Yet He teaches in many places that we are to persevere, even pestering Him, in our prayer.
Why He teaches this cannot be for His sake; it must be for ours. Perhaps He seeks to help us clarify what we really want. Maybe He wants to strengthen our faith. Perhaps He wants to instill in us appreciation for the finally answered prayer. Whatever it may be, the exact reason is a mystery. But persistent prayer is taught and insisted upon by Jesus, here and elsewhere.
Some may wonder why our prayers are not always effective. Some of the usual explanations from Scripture are:
Our faith is not strong enough. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22). And the Book of James says, But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7). There is also the sad case of Nazareth, where the Lord could work few miracles so much did their lack of faith disturb him (Matt 13:58).
We ask for improper things or we ask with wrong motives. The Book of James says, When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:3).
Unrepented sin sets up a barrier between us and God so that our prayer is blocked.Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities (sins) have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).
We have not been generous with the requests and needs of others.If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered (Proverbs 21:13).
God cannot trust us with blessings, for we are not conformed to His word or trustworthy with lesser things.If you remain in me and my word remains in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you (John 15:7). So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Lk 16:11-12)
Now all these explanations are fine, but even if not a single one of them applies to us, God often delays anyway.
One day a man prayed to God and asked, “How long is a million years to you?” And He replied, “About a minute.” The man then asked, “How much is a million dollars to you?” And God replied, “About a penny.” The man then asked, “May I have a penny?” And God said, “In a minute.”
God’s “delay” and our need to persist and persevere in prayer are mysterious aspects of God’s providence, but they are taught; there is no doubt about that.
Pray, Pray, Pray! The insistence on persistence is taught to us all, not just to the sinful and the weak in faith. Realize that this is part of what is required of the Christian. Prayer is about more than “calling and hauling” or “naming and claiming.” It is also about persevering, about persisting. St. Monica prayed for thirty years, it would seem, for Augustine to accept the Faith. Some of us have prayed even longer for loved ones. In the end, God seems to require persistence for some things, and we dare not give up or become discouraged. We just have to keep praying: Pray, pray, pray!
Note that the two of the three images for persistent prayer (asking, seeking, and knocking) given by Jesus involve an ongoing action. Asking can be done only once, but it can be repeated. Seeking implies an ongoing, even lengthy, search. Knocking is a repeated rapping at the door. One does not usually knock by rapping once, but with several rapid and repeated raps. And when there is no answer, the pattern is repeated a few times. The second prescription for prayer is to persist, to persevere.
III. The Point of Prayer – Jesus then concludes, What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
The rhythm of the Lord’s analogy seems a bit odd here. If an earthly father knows how to “give good gifts” to his son, then we would expect Jesus to say that the Heavenly Father also knows how to give “good gifts” to those who ask. But Jesus does not say this. Rather, He says that the Father gives “the Holy Spirit.”
Why is this? Because it is the highest gift, and contains all others. To receive the Holy Spirit is to receive the love of God, the Glory of God, the life of God, and the Wisdom of God. It is to receive God Himself, who comes to live in us as in a temple. And with this gift comes every other gift and consolation, for by the Holy Spirit we begin to think and see more as God does. We attain to His priorities and desire what He desires. We see sins and worldly attachments begin to go away. And thus the world loses its hold on us and can no longer vex us.
Jesus says elsewhere, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matt 6:33). Yes, to receive the gift of God the Holy Spirit is to receive all other things as well, for nothing more can disturb us. One day, St. Thomas Aquinas sensed that the Lord asking him what he would like. St. Thomas replied, Nil nisi te, Domine (Nothing except you, O Lord). For those who love God and have progressed in prayer, that really is all that is wanted. God can give cars, new jobs, and financial blessings—and for some, such things are needed. But why not aim for the highest and best gift as well? Ask for the Gift of the Holy Spirit: Nil nisi te Domine!
Ultimately, the point of all prayer is deep communion with the Lord. This is our high calling: to be in communion with the Lord here and one day fully in the glory of Heaven. Don’t miss the ultimate point of prayer.
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His Word and trust His grace, I’ll cast on Him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
In the video below, things are not as they initially appear. Our eyes are easily deceived. Further, we tend to make rash judgments. Enjoy being fooled for a moment and then consider the need for deliberation and a patient spirit until all or most of the facts are in.
Here are some appropriate references from Scripture:
Call no one blessed before his death, for by his end shall a man be known (Sir 11:28).
Remember, the sins of some men are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later (1 Tim 5:24).
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now (2 Cor 5:16).
I enjoy the GEICO “It’s what you do” commercials (which I manage to see in the less than one hour of television I watch each day). They remind me of a sort of syllogism I’ve used to explain why Gods loves us: God loves us because God is love. When love is what you are, love is what you do. Therefore, God loves.
