Beggars Can Be Pray-ers

Deacon Tim embarks on a two-part journey to teach us to pray. He starts with a statement that sort of punched me in the gut when I heard it - he tells us that to become effective in prayer, we must come with the attitude of the beggar - really? Listen in!

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Comments

[Linda]

OY VEY! GEVALT! Here we go again..before we beat up on the poor Pharasee, let's remember that Jesus was a Pharasee.

The question that I have is...Doesn't the concept of beggers suggest the heart of prayer to be needs and requests? This is not the Jewish concept of prayer. Prayer is an introspective practice.The Hebrew world for prayer is tefila, "to judge" or "to differentiate". The act of judgements is called "pilelah" and it's roots mean...a clear seperation. Prayer is the means by which we separate what truly matters from the trivial. It is through prayer that we discover who we are, who and what we should be, and how to achieve that change. Torah describes prayer as a service of the heart. We become better people through prayer and in this way able to absorb G-d's blessings.

Jewish law requires that the individual or individuals (for it is always best to pray with others when possible) be aware that you are speaking to G-d. "Know before Whom you are standing". Kavanah is the intention of standing in the presence of G-d and by doing so fulfilling the commandment. Though kavanah isn't just realizing that you are in the presence of G-d, it is more it is attention, focus.....Rabbis say, "prayer without kavvanah is like a body without a soul." Rabbi Yitzchak Arama said, "it is easy to stand in prayer at a certain time each day. But if you do not concentrate your heart, how is your prayer any different than the mindless chirping of the birds?"

Prayer requires awe, modesty,and a sense of gratitude for what we have in life. Instead of begging for what we need...we should be giving thanks and offering our hearts for what we already have.

[Deacon Tim]

Begging in the sense that I used it doesn't just mean asking God to give something tangible to the one praying. It's a disposition of recognizing God's transcendence and our relative unworthiness to even be in His presence, a sense that we are nothing without Him and His grace. It's having the awe, modesty and sense of gratitude of which you speak. In the Catholic Church, a primary source of prayer is the Psalms. Our priests, deacons and religious recite from the Psalms twice a day if not more. If they're good enough for King David, there good enough for us. They capture virtually the whole range of emotion in our relationship with God.

[Linda]

Tim- I am surprised. I would have thought, and this is my own prejuidice showing, that Catholic clergy would look to the New testament for their inspiration.

(BTW, I apologize if you made your meaning of the word begger clear in the podcast...I didn't listen to the entire podcast. Our attention was sketchy at best this past couple of weeks.)

[Deacon Tim]

The New Testament and the Old Testament (as we call it) cannot be separated. They both have the same purpose: to reveal to humanity who God is.