By Paul Dion, STL
This week's "Burning Question" is a challenge that you are going to have to churn out of the depths of your hearts and souls.
"Is it more effective to pray than to study the tenets of a religion when seeking a spiritual home community?"
Take a look at this and at yourself and throw your convictions out on the table.
God bless you all with health, peace and happiness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Wally, my comment is this...I was away from the church for about 15 years, but my prayer life never really ceased. When I felt God finally becoming more of a reality for me. I started searching for the truth I looked into Protestant denominations but was not satisfied at all , and soon I was faced with Catholicsm once again and I realized that Catholics have the fullness of the truth and it was eye opener for me this is where God is. I must admit that I like to study our faith more rather than be in prayer but by learning more every day this helps me appreciate our God and Church so much more and when I do pray it is much more meaningful to me now.
ReplyDelete"Is it more effective to pray than to study the tenets of a religion when seeking a spiritual home community?"
ReplyDeleteI believe personally that there has to be a balance between our faith in prayer and our knowledge of facts. As Christians, our knowledge of God and his love ultimately sources from his word, the bible.
In my opinion and from my own experience, our communication with God does not solely lie and depend on our prayers. Which is why i personally believe that by studying the word, and facts of religion/christianity, we may even better our relationship and communication with our creator. God definitely communicates to us through the words we read from the bible and through the facts we learn from it.
Hey, here is my two cents.
ReplyDeleteIn order to grow in the love of Jesus, one has to study the bible and that is done along with prayer. Like the Ethiopian eunuch that Phillip ran into after being ordered by an angel to go onto a certain road. He had heard the Word of God, but needed someone to explain the passages to him. Study and prayer. They have to go hand in hand.
- Lucia
I believe a mixture of both is important, leaning more toward the side of prayer
ReplyDeleteIf a totally un-churched, illiterate were to stand in a field and cry out for God's mercy and for direction. To a community wherein said person might find a spiritual home, success would follow because God awaits even the vaguest suggestion that His Love will be accepted. Once "home" however study becomes mandatory because, "we ought to be able to give a reason for the Faith that is in us." In another context Charles Chamberlain (the father of the actor) said, "you cannot think yourself into right living but you
ReplyDeletecan live yourself into right thinking." Love is a gift, faith is a gift. Both are feely given to all who seek them (Matt. 7:7) the quality and quantity of the joy attendant upon that love and faith depend upon how one receives and uses those gifts for the glory of God and for the encouragement
of one's brothers and sisters. God wants us to be happy, joyous and free and he has arranged the universe to allow for that outcome. I was just reading about countries claiming "God is on our side!" The writer thought that the claim was patently false. About countries I don't know, some scripture seems to allow the possibility; but about people I'm positive, God is on our side even when we are not. To claim the state God wants for us we must realize that: God's will makes us happy, God's love makes us joyous, and God's service is perfect freedom. To the extent that we seek God's will and the grace to accomplish it, we are happy. To the extent that we accept God's love and share it as best we can we are joyous. To the extent that we engage in the first two activities we are in God's service and experiencing the perfect freedom of
doing that which is optimal. Sorry I ran on so long but I needed reminding.
To me, this is easy. Prayer is personal, from the heart, from the soul. Actually practicing what is
ReplyDeletepreached. God hears you and answers you....I could study the religion of Buddha, but I need to practice
it daily to be a Buddhist.
Paul Dion's theological recap of the Burning Question:
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church “position”
Please not the parenthesis. What follows is not a doctrinal position, but the opinion of the best minds
and hearts on the Christian world on the topic. The Catholic Church has a saying, an almost axiom, “the
way of prayer is the way of faith” (Lex orandi, lex credendi). It is the experience of the Church that when people came to Jesus to ask for favors, they came because they
had already opened their hearts to Him. They had experienced some level of spiritual relationship with the Godhead.
This relationship taught them that if they approached Jesus, they would experience something beyond what they had already accepted as spiritual truth. Thus when seemingly “dark hearted pagans” approached Jesus to speak out a request for favor, either physical, emotional or spiritual, He would say to them, “your faith has saved you.”
Many of His people who fancied themselves “believers” did not acquire the enlightened knowledge
that would have driven them to testify to His divinity by requesting a favor or simply by testifying to His goodness in a display of respect and love.
Those who approached Him with their eyes opened through prayer, got what they wanted and then more. They got
to listen to Him and receive His teachings at levels that others failed to absorb.
This describes that search for religion that we all have. By the time an individual comes to the office and expresses a desire to “look into” the possibility of embracing the Roman Catholic Religion, that person has begun
a prayerful relationship with God.
Those of you who are reading this who have come to the Church as adults know what I am talking about. When you first talked to the Church Official who first heard your plea, it was Jesus to whom you were talking. It was a relationship with Jesus that caused you to approach the Church and express your faith.
No one comes to the Church without that faith and that budding relationship with God.
There are those who approach a little too early. They look into the process, experience it a little bit and back off. They may or may not come back to the Catholic Church. They may or may not approach a community of a different Christian religious tradition. But
be assured of this, God is after them, and one way or the other, He usually wins.
People of all religions are convinced that to know more about God and His relationship with us humans, prayer and “classroom” study go hand in hand. This is traditional. God’s Chosen People knew this very well. The worship plan always included prayer, meditation, reading of the Law and teachings by the Rabbi (“teacher”).
My personal experience with the prayer vs. theology phenomenon is interesting. When I returned from getting my advanced degree in Theology from one of the Papal certified universities, one of my colleagues who had not gone to Rome to study and did not have a degree, asked me in a semi-leering tone of voice, “Well, what did you learn in Rome?”
I did not make it up, I did not plan it, I didn’t even think. I answered in a flash, “That Faith is Theology and Theology is Faith.”
The silence in the room was deafening. Everyone, including me, took an extra long sip of our drink and most went back to discussing
the lack of success that the Red Sox were having again that year.
Friends, that was not my answer, that was the Holy Spirit telling us all that without “conversion there is no catechesis.”
This from the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States. It simply means that when I speak to you, you must remember, “It is not an intellectual exercise” purely
and simply. We are not meant to learn about God, we are meant to know HIM, love HIM and serve HIM and follow HIM as HIS disciples and spend all eternity in the happiness of HIS presence in heaven.
Thanks for your participation.
I believe personally that there has to be a balance between our faith in prayer and our knowledge of facts. As Christians, our knowledge of God and his love ultimately sources from his word, the bible.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion and from my own experience, our communication with God does not solely lie and depend on our prayers. Which is why i personally believe that by studying the word, and facts of religion/christianity, we may even better our relationship and communication with our creator. God definitely communicates to us through the words we read from the bible and through the facts we learn from it.
I strongly believe in keepping a good balance between the two. Although in our daily lives, and when obstacles seem countless, we tend to be more prayfull, be it by holding our Bibles, at the foot our home altars, or beside our beds. I personally feel, and thru my experiences, that to be able to COMMUNICATE with GOD, one needs only to let his heart speak out to HIM. That alone is a very strong practice of one's learned faith.
ReplyDeletePrayer is the most powerful things we can do, as God will answer our prayers. We may not understand all the answers but He will answer with what we need. If we communicate with God through our heart we will grow spiritually. Of course to pray, requires faith that God is in control and will provide for all our needs.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless
The gift of Faith is a powerful thing.
ReplyDeleteI prayed to God to teach me the truth and whatever He revealed I would believe. Since that time He has put many people, books, websites, articles, forums etc before me.
I ask and He teaches.
So my answer is to pray and He will provide the rest!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChristianity is first and foremost not a series of abstract tenets or formula to be grasped, but is about a direct relationship with God incarnate who is present to us and in our relationships with one another.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, BOTH prayer and study are expressions that help deepen that kind of relationship and give expression to it. I suspect that those who have drawn deeply into their spiritual community would see that kind of relationship as well and would perhaps alternate between prayer and study or see the two as intimately linked and nourishing of each other.
Put plainly, one cannot truly pray without having some notion of WHAT one is praying for, HOW one is praying, or how one OUGHT to pray. Such "technique" or form of practice and habit would require reflection and STUDY of such a process.
Likewise, studying in its literal sense is also necessary. Since our religion comes to us through a particular place and time and we ourselves inhabit our own particularity, and seek to speak with and share such wisdom with others who inhabit their own unique circumstances, we need to study in order to communicate and understand each other and the message well.
+
We have passed down a saying/process about "Faith seeking understanding." To pray, to study...these are some of the ways we seek in our very human calling to be closer to God, to be more alive. I for one, would be starved if I had to choose one over the other.
I basically agree with the responses here.... but this quote comes to mind, I think from St. Benedict, "ora et labora"....Work AND prayer.
ReplyDeleteCatholicism is always "both and" not "either or".
I guess when it comes down to it, if we don't have a foundation of prayer, our study/work, etc means nothing. If you have to err torwards one, it would probably be better to lean towards prayer...after all the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.
The faith teaches us to pray, so by following the faith, one would pray. I find comfort in the logic and consistency of the teachings of the Church as well as the act of prayer, especially praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
ReplyDeleteKind of a chicken and the egg type question. My 1st thoughts would be that prayer can exist in any genuine heart outside of reilgion. I am not sure what you mean by a spiritual home community though? Are you talking an Order like Franciscan or Jesuit, or you talking a parish, or a Church, or just a community of lay faithful. We need to know the living deposit of faith handed down from the Church Fathers if we are going to pray for an increase in faith. But do we need all the nuances of the Magesterium to pray ... probably not.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the two could be/should be combined. Study of scripture, religion, the lives of the Saints, and the history of the church can be a 'prayerful activity'. I don't see how they can stand as well independently.
ReplyDeleteBoth. There is no one sole path to be taken on one's journey of faith.
ReplyDelete