Prayer Has Nothing to Do With the Animal Part of Us

I found this quotation from Archbishop Fulton Sheen on The Catholic Spitfire Grill.

We said prayer is the lifting of the heart and minid to God. Notice we said noting so much about emotions. Why not? Because prayer really does not have very much to do with sensations or emotions or feeling. It's not a feeling in the stomach. Just as it is not a pain in the stomach. It is not a capricious feeling, something that makes us purr on the inside. It has nothing to do with the animal part of us. It is not in the glands. It is in the intellect. It is in the will. It is in the heart. As embracing a love of Truth which belongs to the intellect and also a resolve and a determination to grow in love which is one of the acts of will. We do not therefore pray because we feel like it. Sometimes our prayers are much better when we do not feel like praying. St. Francis de Sales said "An ounce of desolation is of greater worth a pound of consolation." Very often in prayer we do not have a sense of the presence of God. I say 'sense' referring it to the biological or emotional part of our lives Really we are very much like children that are carried in mother's arms. If we are carried in Our Lord's arms, we rarely see His Face. We know it is there. Prayer then is an intercourse between the created spirit and the uncreated spirit which is God. It is a communication, a conversation, an adoration, a penance, a happiness, a work, a rest, an asking, a submission. ~Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The Song that Made Me Weepy In Class

Last night, during our discussion of Week 4's reflection question, I mentioned a song that always makes me verklempt.

Below are the lyrics to the song and a link to where you can hear it performed by the original artist (I prefer the version of my friend who introduced me to the song, but she's not on the Internet...)

You'll need Real Audio Player to listen.

How Much Do You Think You Are Worth?

Is a rich man worth more than a poor man?
A stranger worth less than a friend?
Is a baby worth more than an old man?
Your beginning worth more than your end?

Is a president worth more than his assassin?
Does your value decrease with your crime?
Like when Christ took the place of Barabbas
Would you say he was wasting his time?

Well, how much do you think you are worth, boy?
Will anyone stand up and say?
Would you say that a man is worth nothing
Until someone is willing to pay?

I suppose that you think you matter
Well, how much do you matter to whom?
It’s much easier at night when with friends and bright lights
Than much later alone in your room

Do you think they’ll miss one in a billion
When you finish this old human race?
Does it really make much of a difference
When your friends have forgotten your face?

If you heard that your life had been valued
That a price had been paid on the nail
Would you ask what was traded,
How much and who paid it
Who was He and what was His name?

If you heard that His name was called Jesus
Would you say that the price was too dear?
Held to the cross not by nails but by love
It was you broke His heart, not the spear!
Would you say you are worth what it cost Him?
You say ‘no’, but the price stays the same.
If it don’t make you cry, laugh it off, pass Him by,
But just remember the day when you throw it away
That He paid what He thought you were worth.

How much do you think He is worth, boy?
Will anyone stand up and say?
Tell me, what are you willing to give Him
In return for the price that He paid?

Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1974 Make Way Music

Hear it.

Worldviews and Amateur Theologians

Everyone has a worldview, that is, a philosophy. There's no escaping this. Even if you are resolved to not think philosophically, that is a philosophy.

Some people see the world only in terms of money--everyone is involved in a class struggle: rich vs. poor; haves vs. have-nots; the common man vs. The Man. Others see the world in terms of evolutionary struggle (Darwinism), sex (Freud), or physical matter (materialists). The Church denies the fatalism of these views and affirms Man's freedom. What's more, the Church affirms the Common Man's ability to know and make sense of the world around him. She affirms our ability to develop an accurate and sane worldview.

This is good news for you and me.

Last Monday I related something that happened the other day at the bookstore. A lady from our class asked me if she'd be able to understand the book we're using in class, Theology and Sanity. I said, "yes", but she remained a little skeptical.

"Well, you're a real theologian."
"No," I replied, "I'm a fake theologian."

Did I mean by this that I was a fraud? No. I simply meant that I'm not a professional theologian--someone who studies Theology for a living. I am an amateur--one who studies Theology out of loving.

Karl Barth, a famous Protestant theologian, once said, "The Word became flesh and, through theologians, it became words again." Sadly, many of us can attest to the truth of that statement. Or, at least we can agree that a lot of our religious training has felt more like curling up with a dictionary than going for a walk with a friend. But, just because so many professional theologians have complicated things, there's no reason to dismiss Theology as a useless subject, a field of inquiry for elitists and snobs. On the contrary, our Church has an illustrious history of amateur theologians.

From St. Peter (a Galilean fisherman) to St. John Vianney (a notoriously bad student) to G.K. Chesterton to Mother Theresa, the Church is full of people who loved God without PhDs and who sought to know Him to the best of their abilities. We can all do this. We can all strive to know God better and to see reality from his perspective.

Frank Sheed asserts that a Catholic worldview is the only sane worldview. Why? Because it sees the world the way it really is. The Catholic Church has confidence that all of us can do this.

As amateur theologians in this Monday School class, this is ultimately what we're after--to know God and understand the world He gave us.