Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Welcome!

I awoke this morning and knew this was the day to start a new journey and adventure.  After many prompts by friends and colleagues, I offer you my ideas, musings, and dreams as a Catholic in the Diaspora.

Why Catholic in the diaspora? I have worked in the Roman rite, wandered through various interpretations of the Reformed tradition, struggles with being faithful to the call, and currently stand in the midst of my reality: I am Roman by design. It is the paradigm through which I experience the world, the language I know and use, the system by which I embrace the Incarnation.  Yet, I no longer find the institution a place of richness and prayer.  I will continue to share my struggle in subsequent entries.  Suffice it to say, I am outsider in my own home.f

So, where does that leave me?  I find myself standing outside the Roman institution by disposition. Make no mistake.  I am weary of the liturgy wars that have consumed my energies since I was in grade 6, tired of justifying the gifts with which I was born to a bureaucracy that is profoundly narrow in focus, and yearning for a community of faith that brings a vibrancy to the world that is as nourishing as it is profoundly transformational.

Does this describe you in whole or part?  Accept this as a potential place to converse about the reality you face.  All are welcome. There are, never-the-less a basic parameter that will be enforced.  As instructed by Paul, "love is never rude."  Rudeness is damaging and debilitating to the Spirit.  hurtful, rude comments will be deleted.  Follow the "1-10" rule.  If your emotional response exceeds a 4 or 5 on the 1-10 scale, it is possible that your are responding to your own issue that has been projected on the content.  Before responding, please take your response into prayer before posting.  There are multiple truths in every situation.  Openness to ideas and situations is our call.  None of us can contain God or control the ongoing work of the Spirit.

Why "Lord, teach us to pray?" On this Ash Wednesday, this song from the early days of the "liturgy wars" strikes me as particularly compelling.  We do stand on separate shores. I feel we have lost our way.

Entering in lent, we face the troubling reality of our baptismal call.  This annual assessment  of our raw, human experience is daunting.  After years of listening to the standard Ash Wednesday tropes about 40 days and 40 nights, desert experiences,  facing our temptations, giving up or taking on a something or another, Baptism is where I land.  What really tempted Jesus?  Was the desert really a frightening place for him?

My reflection today is that it was a period of personal growth.  Imagine, a total extrovert taking time to be alone.  It poses quite a challenge.  It is a challenge to be in touch with our dark side; the challenge to take stock of our fears and weaknesses.  This is our call as the baptised. We must embrace those places of hurt, pain, darkness, fear, sadness, envy, brokenness and bring those willingly to the fullness of the Easter mystery.

I believe this is what Jesus did and modeled for us.  It is the same experience as was brought to us in person of John the Baptist.  Oh, I know, this means that Jesus actually had a dark side.  I jarring idea, I suppose.  But as fully God and human, how else could it be?  Where else could the Tempter find fertile ground?

This lent, I join Jesus in the excitement of the desert experience.  With Jesus, I ask to be taught to pray. With Jesus, I ask for the strength to live my baptismal call to the fullness of grace.

Peace.
Owen