From Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary, by Paul Nuechterlein:
"The talking part of prayer is generally the easier part, however. Our desires -- or what we think we desire -- is usually up-front for us and easy to ask for. It's the listening part that is perhaps more difficult. What is God's answer? Even more pertinent in light of mimetic theory: What is God's desire?"There's a helpful article on Mediterranean and American Prayer by John J. Pilch, at Saint Louis University's Center for Liturgy site. Pilch reminds us of the patron/client relationship in the Mediterranean world. He writes:
"In general, prayer is a form of communication with someone who is considered to be in charge of life. For most believers, God is in charge of life and everything. Americans, who take pride in their scientific abilities and achievements, have gradually reduced the areas of life of which God is in charge. Only in extreme cases do Americans (turn) to God regarding needs in the economy, health, space conquest, and so on. This is one reason why American believers sometimes find it difficult to pray."At Preaching Peace, Michael Hardin and Jeff Krantz focus on The Lord's Prayer as a meditation:
"The “petitions” of the Lord’s Prayer are not then petitions in the traditional sense. They are affirmations of a present reality which remains out of sight to those still ensnared in the miasma of mimetic crises. To the one who has died and risen with Christ, all that is needed is given each day, no matter how it may seem to those looking on from outside the wonderful celebration of God’s saving. (See Paul’s description of this in II Corinthians 6!)"Quoted at Fr. John Bucki, SJ's, Sunday Reflections, at the Center of Concern:
"We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers." (Rabbi Abraham Heschel)At Dylan's Lectionary Blog, Sarah Dylan Breuer asks,
"In the days of Jesus, and in the days of Luke, debt was the leading cause of slavery. I suspect that the same could be said of our own day. In Luke, Jesus calls upon his followers to ask God to forgive their sins as we (that's in the plural, the "we") forgive our DEBTORS, those who owe us money. Where would we American Christians be if God answered that prayer? Where would we be if God forgave our sins the way we (collectively, as a nation) forgive debtor nations?"Sr. Joan Chittister reflects on "Contemplation in the Midst of Chaos," in her message at the Chicago Sunday Evening Club:
"It is not circumstances that make or destroy a life. Anyone who has survived the death of a lover, the loss of a position, the end of a dream, the enmity of a friend knows that. It is the way we live each of the circumstances of life, the humdrum as well as the extraordinary, the daily as well as the defining moments, that determines the quality of our lives. Yet, each of us has the latitude to live life either well or poorly. Ironically enough, it is a matter of decision. And the decision is ours."Myself, I've been thinking about "correctives" this week: the "other side" of dialectics, which I often forget in my real life, though I'm great at them in my academic abstractions! How does meditation on Jesus' prayer in Luke 11 bring me back to balance and center in Christ? And in what senses am I "already there", and my striving, no matter how nobly- or spiritually-motivated, is counter-productive? What would it mean to meditate on the Lord's Prayer? To live it out in our real-life actions?
