As Jesus teaches about prayer this week from the Sermon on the Mount, it’s might be good to look further at how we pray. There’s liturgical prayer– the Mass, the sacraments, and then there’s devotional prayer–the rosary, stations of the cross, other devotional prayers. How are they related?

An important church study in 2001 said that liturgical prayer after the Council of Trent “entered a static period of substantial uniformity, while popular piety entered a period of extraordinary development.”The rosary, novenas, parish missions and retreats “were seen as an important means for defending the Catholic faith and nourishing the piety of the faithful…they still continue to nourish the faith and religious experience of the faithful.” 

Ordinary Roman Catholics at the time of the Second Vatican Council were deeply attached to the Catholic devotional tradition. They still are.

Devotional prayers “were sometimes more important than the Liturgy.” (Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy, Rome, 2001,  41) The Second Vatican Council in its constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium, sought to restore the primacy of liturgical prayer by revising the liturgy of Mass and the sacraments. 

The council considered popular devotions in one short paragraph: “Devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the sacred seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, and are in some way derived from it, and lead the people to it, since in fact the liturgy is by its nature far superior to any  of them.” (SC 13) 

Efforts to enhance the place of church’s prayer, however, often failed to reckon with the attachment of ordinary people to the devotional tradition. Balancing the liturgical and devotional traditions still has to be done.

Some examples? Liturgical prayer is rooted in the scriptures and so we need to know and appreciate the bible. The lectionary of scripture readings throughout the year is a treasure of wisdom and spirituality that still awaits widespread use by believers. 

Liturgical prayer is rooted in symbols, and people today have a weak sense of the symbolic. We need to develop a sensitivity to symbols and symbolic thinkings to appreciate liturgical prayer.

More and more, we need to pray the church’s prayer: its holy days – Sundays, the seasons of Advent, Lent and Easter– the feasts of its saints, especially Mary, the Mother of God, and its prayers, especially the psalms.

Devotional prayer is meant to lead us to the liturgy.

Here are some reflections on the Our Father from one of the great early commentators on the Our Father, St. Cyprian.

“The prayer continues: Thy kingdom come. We ask that the kingdom of God may appear to us, just as we ask that his name may be sanctified in us…We are praying that our kingdom, which has been promised to us by God, may come, the kingdom that was acquired by the blood and passion of Christ; and that we who started off as his subjects in this world may hereafter reign with Christ when he reigns, as he himself promised when he said: Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take up the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

  We add: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. This is not that God should do what he wills, but so that we may be able to do what God wills. For who could resist God in such a way as to prevent him doing what he wills? But since the devil hinders us from obeying, by thought and by deed, God’s will in all things, we pray and ask that God’s will may be done in us. For this to happen, we need God’s good will – that is, his help and protection, since no-one is strong in and of himself but is kept safe by the grace and mercy of God. Moreover, the Lord, showing the weakness of the humanity which he bore, said Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, and showing his disciples an example, that they should do not their own will but God’s, he went on to say nevertheless, let it not be my will, but yours.” St. Cyprian

Jesus says in today’s gospel : “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them.Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6, 8) 

Gerhard Lohfink in his book “The Our Father” notes that ancient Near Eastern prayers began with a long address to the god who was approached. An Akkadian prayer, for example, begins: “God of heaven and earth, firstborn of Anu, Dispenser of kingship, Chief Executive of the Assembly of the gods, Father of gods and men, Granter of agriculture, Lord of the air”.

“One senses that the forms of address had to be precise; otherwise the god would not listen. It’s not a simple matter to speak to him without making a mistake. Correct language and competence in praying are required. Above all, one must know the deity’s proper name.

Nothing of the kind in the Our Father! ‘Abba’ that’s the only address. It’s familial.”

The creed and other Christian prayers keep that address first. “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” The Creator is our Father. The creed tells us what we as God’s children have received from our Father and what we are promised. 

“We would not dare claim such a name in prayer, unless God himself had given us permission to pray this. And so, we should remember that when we call God our Father, we must live as children of God, so that whatever pleasure we take in having God for our Father, he may take the same pleasure in us.” (St. Cyprian, Commentary on the Our Father}

God doesn’t need many words from us; he hears us when we call “Father.”

You wont find any prayer in scripture that isn’t found in some way in the Lord’s Prayer, St. Augustine writes to Proba, a Roman woman looking for advice about how to pray.

Jesus himself gave this prayer to us. The words of the prayer are teachers of prayer, a school of prayer. No prayer is more important than the Our Father for teaching and leading us into union with God.

“Teach us to pray,” the disciples of Jesus ask him and gave them this prayer as their norm.

It’s a norm, Augustine tells Proba, ” So when we pray we are free to use different words to any extent, but we must ask the same things: in this we have no choice.”

The saint is recommending we pray the Our Father meditatively, a prayer that easily becomes one we say by rote. Think of the words, what they mean, what they tell us. Sometimes it’s good to leave long prayers or many prayers, and simply rest in one, like the Our Father.

In our reading tomorrow from Matthew, Jesus teaches the Our Father.

Where do we pray?

Jesus taught that we should pray “in secret.” Some may say that means pray in congenial places like the setting above. But St. Cyprian suggests in his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer that prayer “in secret” may take place wherever you find yourself. God is everywhere.

“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere.” So God is ready everywhere to engage us. Praying in secret testifies to the “everywhereness” of God. We can’t limit prayer to one place or time or some favored words.

What about the prayers we pray? When we prayer set prayers, are we praying “in secret?” We have to be careful our prayers don’t become just become memorized words, Cyprian says. “God hears our heart, not our words,” God heard Anna who prayed for a child and the publican who prayed for forgiveness. They were not praying words, they prayed from the heart.

Prayer begins, not with yourself, the way the self-absorbed Pharisee prayed in the parable Jesus taught. Prayer begins with God. You are in the presence of God, everywhere. Be like the publican who knew he was a creature of the earth, waiting to the raised up. 

“Rejoice in the Lord” the psalm says. You are God’s children calling out “Abba.” And God hears us.

When we pray, we never pray only for ourselves. Here’s St. Cyprian: “Above all, the Teacher of peace and Master of unity did not want prayer to be made singly and privately, so that whoever prayed would pray for himself alone. We do not say My Father, who art in heaven or Give me this day my daily bread; nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation but delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common, and when we pray, we pray not for one person but for the whole people, since we, the whole people, are one.”

Jesus ( said to his disciples:”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. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

James Tissot’s painting of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount captures how Jesus sometimes taught. He taught “the crowds.”. Everybody’s in a crowd, friends as well as enemies.

Hearing his teaching about loving and praying for our enemies, we may wonder how ordinary people, like those in Tissot’s painting, heard his words. How do we receive them?

Here’s a reflection on loving enemies based on the familiar symbol of the Shepherd and the sheep::

“In the form of a parable, we see a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. When one of them was separated from the flock and lost its way, that shepherd did not remain with the sheep who kept together at pasture. No, he went off to look for the stray. He crossed many valleys and thickets, he climbed great and towering mountains, he spent much time and labour in wandering through solitary places until at last he found his sheep. 

  When he found it, he did not chastise it; he did not use rough blows to drive it back, but gently placed it on his own shoulders and carried it back to the flock. He took greater joy in this one sheep, lost and found, than in all the others. 

  Look more closely at the hidden meaning of this parable. The sheep is more than a sheep, the shepherd more than a shepherd. They are examples enshrining holy truths. They teach us that we should not look on people as lost or beyond hope; we should not abandon them when they are in danger or be slow to come to their help. When they turn away from the right path and wander, we must lead them back, and rejoice at their return, welcoming them back into the company of those who lead good and holy lives.”

( Saint Asterius of Amasea)

We’re reading the 2nd Book of Kings in our lectionary this 11th week of the year. Easy to dismiss these readings about wicked kings and prophets with strange sounding names and skip over to Matthew and the words of Jesus or some devotional prayers. 

The 2nd Book of Kings is the last part of what commentators call “Deuteronomistic History.” It tells the story of the settlement of the land by the Jews under Joshua until the downfall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their eventual exile.

Overall, both 1 and 2 Kings paint a discouraging picture of Jewish kings and the political side of the time. In Monday’s reading, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel murder Naboth to grab the vineyard he owns, an example of the flagrant abuse of political power that took place then. Further readings from 1 and 2 Kings indicate it didn’t end there.

How about now ? Deuteronomistic History is Sacred History–it happens again. Take a look around.

The Prophet Elijah confronts Ahab and Jezebel in Tuesday’s reading. He’s a lonely voice for God’s judgment, other prophets are not brave enough to speak out. Yet, even as Elijah condemns, we see signs of God’s mercy when Ahab repents. We may think the political world today is insulated from God’s grace, but is that true? We have to pray for those in government and in the political world; God speaks to them too.

In Wednesday’s reading there’s another lesson from Sacred History. Elisha takes on the mantle of Elijah. Another prophet appears in the land and is given power over kings and a voice to speak to the time. Lonely prophets–or is it prophetic movements?– are always there. God sends his prophets.

Ultimately, time is in God’s hand. All time. History evolves according to God’s plan.  Where are the lonely prophets or prophetic movements today? Take a look around.

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile,* go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

Retaliation is often built into our legal systems and the way we think. “You do this, and you’ll get that.”  “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 

Jesus asks for something more than getting back at someone. God is merciful. He turns the other cheek, he walks more than a mile with us, he opens the door when beggars like us knock. 

Jesus offered an example of this when he suffered and died at the hands of others. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

I have Tissot’s picture of Jesus teaching on most of the blogs these days. Those listening to him are not a picked group; everybody’s represented there. Some are still coming to hear him. Jesus does not wait for the perfect moment or the perfect audience. He teaches, continually. The Sower scatters seeds, even on uncertain ground.

We continue this week reading from the Sermon on the Mount, a summary of the teaching of Jesus found in chapters 5-7 in Matthew’s Gospel. After promising blessings (Mt. 5:1-16),  Jesus calls for addressing anger, lust, vengeance and our tendency to lie,  We must go beyond the scribes and pharisees in keeping God’s law, Matthew says. (Mt. 5:21-27)

The Sermon on the Mount was considered the basic catechism of the Church from earliest times. It’s still teaches what to believe and hope for.

Jesus warns against giving alms to be seen and teaches prayer in chapter 6. The great prayer, the Our Father, is found in the Matthew 6: 7-15, read this Thursday. We will be quoting from St. Cyprian, one of the greatest commentators on Jesus teaching on prayer. This is a good week for reviewing how we pray.

We’re reading from the Sermon on the Mount until Friday of the 12 Week of the Year. On that day, Jesus goes down from the mountain and enters a world that’s “troubled and abandoned,” People are “like sheep without a shepherd.” Some feasts interrupt the continuous reading from the Sermon on the Mount, but this week there are no major feasts. Time to reflect on this important part of Matthew’s gospel.