Praying for Our Enemies

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." Mt 5:43-45

A friend of mine pointed out to me yesterday that often at Mass here in Colorado Springs (and I'm sure in many cities) we pray regularly for the men and women in our armed forces. This makes sense since there are so many military bases around the Springs, and about 40% of the population is former military members. He asked me, "how come we never pray for our enemies? I've never heard anyone pray for Osama bin Laden, or Kim Il-Sung, or FIdel Castro."

He caught me off guard. In the Masses in which I lead the prayers of the faithful, I try to include a wide variety of groups of people, and often look through the paper before Mass for ideas. I've prayed publicly for criminals, illegal immigrants to this country, and politicians, but somehow I had not thought to include terrorists, enemy combatants, members of the mafia, drug pushers, the fallen executives of Enron, or heads of state of the "axis of evil." It hadn't really crossed my mind.

Now that it has, I will try to include these folks in our public prayer. I'll probably preface such prayers with "Jesus taught us to pray for those who persecute us..." Why? Because I'm a coward. I suspect some people would take exception to prayers for terrorists and suicide bombers. Yes, the things they do are despicable (I was horrified at the recent report that two women with Down's syndrome were fitted with explosives that were detonated by remote control as they walked through outdoor markets).

Yet, do we believe in the power of prayer, or not? Do we believe that God's grace is effective and capable of transforming lives - even the lives of our enemies? What would happen if Christians who want a swift return of our troops from Iraq and Christians who want to keep our troops there until Iraq has a stable government all began praying for a change of heart for the terrorists? Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Is there any chance at all that He may know something that we do not? If we aren't willing to trust Him, is He really our Lord? I suppose this is nothing new. He said to his own followers, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command?" Lk 6:46

Perhaps, however, it's time for us to change, and to take Him at His word.

Images of Holy Week

Christianity Today ran an article today about contemporary images of the events of Holy Week. Here's their short description of the images:

"During the Middle Ages, a tradition of prayer and reflection on images of the Passion formed into the Stations of the Cross, a sort of Via Dolorosa of the visual arts. This slideshow of contemporary art, although it doesn't stick to the traditional fourteen stations, can be used as a meditation on Jesus Christ's path to the Cross. Each artist's statement below the art explains how it connects to Christ's sacrifice."

Prayer, Discipline and the Demands of LIfe

I have been re-reading "The Way of the Disciple" by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, and a couple of passages have struck me, particularly given a phone conversation I had today with a physician named Dan, whom I think of as an intentional disciple. Merikakis writes that the prerequisite attitude for becoming in earnest a disciple of Christ is "the willingness to abandon the old, what is behind us, and begin to desire to be created again by the power of God's Holy Spirit." (pp. 16-17)
He also writes of the importance – and danger - of discipline in our life of prayer.

"The Glory of God is always found in movements of love, in communication of life, never in static routine, cramped piety, thoughtless repetition of official acts, conventional observance, external religious acts that could easily become the letter that kills, the continuing tyranny of the old, sinful self. The Spirit, by contrast, is wind, fire, light, water, Glory: the unexpected, the transforming, the self-communicating, the self-outpouring Power that shapes by embracing and not letting go. The way of the disciple is necessarily a way of discipline, because discipleship is the living school in which we learn how to be like Christ by intimate association with him. The discipline of Christian life, whether in its secular or monastic form, is supposed to provide a structure that systematically excludes all the pseudo-adventures and pseudo-fulfillments offered by a frivolous world. Christian discipline is there to open the way for the real adventure of the soul's quest for God and God's quest for the soul, and it would be tragic if instead this discipline became its own end." (p. 27)

I asked my friend Dan, "What gets in the way of your relationship with God?" He answered "It's partly busy-ness and partly bad habit. I don't pray as much as I used to five or six years ago." He said he can be busy at work, but his pleasures also keep him busy. There are so many opportunities, and so many things he wants to do. It's as though he's being drowned in too many options.

On a recent medical mission to Africa, he lost ten pounds. Not because the food was bad - it wasn't. It's just that is was the same every day, with no snacks. He observed that the choices we have and the things we can do get in the way of quiet and prayer. While he always feels the need to set aside time each day to intercede for people he loves, and to give God a chance to influence him, he doesn't spend time in silence the way he does on retreat with the Trappists once or twice a year. In spite of good intentions to devote one day off a month in silence, he doesn't do it. (At least not yet – I have hope for him!)

I can echo much of what Dan said, and I spend the better part of my days alone and in silence, sitting in front of my Mac. I have a morning ritual of Mass and prayers, with liturgy of the hours again in the evening and before bed. But at times even these are challenging, as I struggle to keep my mind focused on God, rather than what I'm going to make for breakfast, or when I'm going to have a chance to go to the gym, or how much I've got to work on one project or another. I also struggle with the attempt to keep God in mind throughout my day, even as I read about Him! I seldom consciously offer my work as an act of praise, and I often forget to cultivate gratitude.

I don't have much temptation from the pseudo-adventures and pseudo-fulfillments Merikakis writes about, if by these he means things like television, video games, movies and the like – being a poor friar helps there, as well as having a lot of work to do. But I DO have the temptation of becoming caught up in the work of the Institute. It's good work, and important, I believe. But the danger is that I can forget that if it's going to succeed, it's because of the grace, power and will of God, not because I spent twelve hours in front of the computer yesterday.

I don't think I'm that different from most of you (who, by the way, are sitting before a computer as you read this…) But how do you attempt to abandon your old self and "put on Christ" while taking the kids to school, for example? What disciplines help you to remain open to the surprise of the Spirit (and you have to admit that seems a little counter-intuitive; discipline opening us up to the unexpected!) Whether you are lay or ordained, what disciplines help you to remain detached from your work or pleasures? Is our full life denying us the "fullness of life" Jesus invites us to enter?

Formation Opportunity

Since one of the topics we've discussed on this blog is the difficulty some Catholics have in talking to others about their relationship with God, I thought I'd introduce a new formation program that can help in this area. It's called "Formation for Spiritual Companionship," and I'll give a little more information about it in a moment. But first, a little about the organization that produced it.

The Dominican parish of Blessed Sacrament in Seattle, WA, is not only the birthplace of the Catherine of Siena Institute, but also the Institute for Christian Ministry. The latter was founded by Fr. Leo Thomas, O.P., to help lay people be spiritual companions to one another and to provide and sustain training for spiritual healing. You can click on the title of this post to go to their website.

When I was director of the St. Thomas More Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Oregon, several parishioners asked me if they could go through the Ministry of Healing Prayer formation program that ICM produces. At first I was a little nervous about something called "healing prayer," but I trusted the wisdom and faith of the folks who were proposing this, so I supported their initiative. I was very impressed with the thorough two-year program ICM provided that formed members of the Newman Center to pray with and for those who desired spiritual, physical and emotional healing. Their formation was solidly grounded in Catholic teaching, prayer and common sense. I often recommended the ministry to those whom I had anointed in the sacrament of the sick as an ongoing support, and when I had knee reconstruction after a basketball injury, I asked to take part in a prayer service for me. It was a wonderful experience of the love of the Christian community for me.

Now ICM has just produced a new formation program entitled Formation for Spiritual Companions. According to a flyer describing the program, the formation "has elements of spiritual direction, but is a relationship of peers...Over a span of time, the relationship can bless companions in a number of ways as it gives them:
1) Someone to talk to about spiritual things, which gives a sense of being heard.
2) a person to be accountable to for some or several areas of their Christian life.
3) a partner to pray with.
4) a person who provides encouragement and support.

In addition to showing participants how to be companions, this program offers spiritual formation through worship times and some of its presentations. The latter teach elelments of Christian spirituality and give a deeper understanding of the One we worship and trust."

It looks like this formation process has a similar format as the Formation for Healing Prayer, in that video presentations provided by ICM are incorporated in the lessons. While I don't have access to the whole program, if it is produced as well as the Formation for Healing Prayer, it is well worthwhile.

Prayer Glutton

Here I am wearing the only shirt that would fit over the large bandage on my right shoulder. I come from a line of bad shoulders. My sister and I have type III and type II acromia, respectively. We've both torn our left and right rotator cuffs. My older brother has been told he needs to have both his shoulders REPLACED. I didn't even know that was possible! Tuesday I had my third shoulder surgery in five months. I have asked many people for prayers for a quick recovery, and I received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick before the first two surgeries. The first surgery I had was a simple arthroscopic removal of the excess bone on my left acromion, the bone at the end of the shoulder. The following week when I saw the surgeon I had full range of motion, which really surprised him. Of course, I had been coached by my sister, who told me what exercises she had been given after her surgery, so I had "cheated" and begun doing them.

Unfortunately, I tore my left rotator cuff a few weeks after surgery, and had to have that repaired, which happened on Halloween. Again, I had full range of motion very quickly - two and a half weeks ahead of schedule. The surgeon commented to me, "You must not stiffen up much after surgery." I replied, "I'm highly motivated." Now, this is true. I'm very conscious of doing the exercises my physical therapist gives me, I'm relatively young and in good shape for my age. But as I walked to the car, I realized I also was the beneficiary of the prayers for healing from many, many people. Why didn't I attribute my rapid recovery to the efficacy of their prayers? It was a humbling realization: I was more likely to attribute my recovery to MY effort, rather than the power of the loving prayers of those whose around me.

Now, the third morning after my third surgery, I'm able to say that in the 55 hours or so since my third surgery, I've experienced only an hour or so of significant pain, and virtually no discomfort other than that hour. My last surgery had a much more painful recovery. I know the tear on my right shoulder was in a different tendon, and was a smaller tear than the last. But this time I'm much more appreciative of the prayers people are offering on my behalf. At the risk of being a prayer glutton, I ask for your prayers, too.