September 4, 2021
It’s been a long time since last writing. Too long. Annoying little things like tingling hands and seeing what I'm typing have slowed me down. Oh, and content – yes, coming up with a fresh angle on content has not been easy, making the temptation to avoid writing hard to resist. Mea culpa. I also felt I needed to spend a little more quality time with my son. I’ve taken to put his exercise routine at a different hour of the day so I can participate; he is more likely to do them that way. Previously I had them scheduled early in the morning when I was engaged in spiritual exercises, which I must do first; otherwise to me the day seems fated to go in a poor direction. Again, mea culpa.
I’ve had a few prompts come to me over my absence from writing. Some of them come at a time when I can’t stop what I’m doing to put down the basic thought. And then it’s gone, almost as fast as it came. This last week, a couple of ideas came up and they haven’t been lost in the shuffle. That’s a good thing. I also took some opportunity to review some of my past reflections. A few were forgettable. There were a couple, though that resounded and were just as important now as they were then. And then that small, still voice whispered to me, reminding me what this was all about and not to pass it off lightly. I’m probably taking more time expressing these last two paragraphs than the reflection material. I’m like that. Mea maxima culpa. So let me set this aside and put on the table a couple of thoughts strong enough not to leave my head.
Quizzes. They’ve been around forever – or all my life and longer. They’re all over the Internet now, running the spectrum from trivial time-wasters to test preparation, and all the ramifications that come with it. The multiple-choice quiz is very popular. Depending on the number of choices and knowledge of the subject, a person can have as great as a 50-50 chance of pulling the correct answer out of the corners of the mind (or out of thin air, whichever is closer). Sometimes a question has more than one correct answer in the list of choices. Other times, to throw us off a list of choices is given that has no correct answer. What you might see then is something like this:
I was reminded recently that life is a series of choices. God’s gift of free will, for the most part, gives you and I the choice of how we acknowledge the presence of God among us, and how we shall follow His precepts and obey his commandments. Sometimes there’s a real clear choice. Other times, two or more choices carry equal weight and deserve to be chosen together (as indicated by C and D above). Lately, though, I sense an almost overwhelming movement of rejection of choice, or the choice of ‘none of the above.’
This rejection of choosing correctly manifests itself in the New Testament. Jesus relates the parable of the three servants charged with managing a sum of money. Two invest their portion and double their investment; the third buries his share in the ground, presumably for safe-keeping, a fatal mistake. In the book of Revelation the church at Laodicea (3:14-16ff) this is seen as being neither warm nor cold, but bland and indifferent. The Lord’s reaction is to spit them out of his mouth.
That could be us. For a long time it seems we have been moving away from Christ. In our present time, there is movement; but the trend still appears to be moving in the wrong direction. Cancel culture would just love to live in a false utopia where there is no religion, no faith in God, literally ‘none of the above’ that would benefit us and lift us out of the pit of eternal despair we are so close to. That’s why prayer is so important; why spiritual exercise is just as important (and sometimes as demanding) as physical exercise. If we have any hope of turning the tide, we must put God first and turn to Him.
My other ‘cause for pause’ came on the heels of prayer.
As children we’re taught to ask politely for anything from special treats to help with homework. We have special words that reflect that politeness and respect: “Please” and “Thanks”. Scripture is all over the thanksgiving part, and we do need to work on that. Yet as I go through the treasury of prayers at my disposal, I haven’t found any recently – not one – that petitions God using the word “please” in the context we use to ask our parents or friends or spouses to grant favors or offer help. I know that there has to be some use of that word in prayer somewhere – novena prayers come to mind – but I don’t see the word “please” in the major prayers of the Church or in the liturgy.
Is our corporate prayer sincere? If we’re making faces with the big, longing and loving (?!) eyes and saying “please” and “thanks” when we want an ice cream cone, should we not approach Our Lord and Our Lady with the same childlike demeanor? Could it be that God would turn the state of things around in less than a heartbeat if we’d just say “please” when we pray? I’m beginning to think it would make a huge difference, when we consider our choices and our choice words.
Until we meet again, may God be with you - and may God have mercy on us all...
+the Phoenix
