There is a priest that I have had the pleasure of getting to know in the last few months who had a profound impact on my life. I'm not even sure he is aware of it, but my prayer life is changed based on some comments that he made.
It helped me to discover that we as Catholics, while we have the Sacraments, really are quite limited when it comes to the experience and the expression of prayer.
This priest who we'll call Fr. Tim Hepburn, because that's his name, made the statement that since the Reformation the Catholic Church had sought to distance itself from the idea that we were to "experience" or "have an experience" of Christ in prayer. The Sacraments were effective, even if the experience was not there. This was due to the Protestant emphasis on the experience of prayer. Where as the Protestants sought to strip out anything that took away from the experience, Catholic sought to sterilize anything that was "experiential".
This is why there are a good number of Catholics who are uncomfortable with the idea of "worship." Worship as the feeling or expression that is due to a deity can only mean one thing when we are talking about God and Jesus Christ.
Everything that we are.
This means our own self-consciousness takes a back seat. Quite literally, in the truest worship, our souls worship, guiding our bodies on the path as we praise God from the very root of our being, our soul.
As a Catholic, when was the last time that you experienced that in the Mass? Why shouldn't you? If we are truly given the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, then how can we not have the most profound experience of intimacy with God that He has sought fit to give us? How can we not rejoice and worship God fully in song? How can we not witness, do, see, and feel those amazing things that seem to be resigned to the Bible?
Where are the healings?
Where are the cures?
Where are the miracles?
Where is the preaching in tongues?
Where is the prophecy?
Where is the conversion?
Where is the passion that stops the logic of the Greeks dead in their tracks?
The strangest secret about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we receive them in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The problem is that Confirmation has become a thing that you do and not a living, breathing, pulsating experience of the Holy Spirit that transforms your being.
Children feel it. I have spoken to children who know something when the Blessed Sacrament enters the room. Without being told what is going on. I have spoken to middle school football players who have confessed being in the presence of the Eucharist and feeling that something was different in the room. However faint, they were having an "experience" of Jesus. Their souls were crying out to God in worship in a voice that was so faint from lack of practice that it could barely be made out.
This isn't a matter of "Charismatics" vs. "Traditionalists." True charismatics are traditionalists and true traditionalists are charismatics. With the great variety of people on the Earth would it not make sense that our passion for God would spill over into raised hands, songs, tongues, and even the silent peace of simply being in the presence of God, with all else melting away?
We touch that just a little bit when we "fall in love." God reaches through the other person to draw us closer to Him, closer to His sacrifice. Yet so many times we are blinded by our own society we miss God in the art. We miss God in the music. We miss God in the prayer. We miss God in the passionate shouts of those who engage themselves in unaltered, pure worship.
We cannot be satisfied with mere ritual, going through the motions. We wouldn't be satisfied in a marriage where the couple went through their day, dryly paying the bills, cleaning the house, and watching television.
Worship is also not simply about emotion and an experiential connection. God has given us the means to have these experiences. That is why the Sacraments engage our senses, every single one. Because the Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath. Each of our simple actions in worship are meant to lead us to that experience of God.
This is the biggest pain of the Reformation. We have lost the sense of who we are. The Body has been ripped apart, it has come undone. Our worst rituals are emotionless marriages that we hope will one day just work themselves out while our emotional outbursts seem like something more to be medicated than to be imitated.
Combine the two.
Reunify the experience and the ritual.
Worship becomes a spiritual critical mass.
Worship goes nuclear.
Questions for Reflection:
- How do you define worship? When do you worship? What limitations do you put on worship? On God? On the Holy Spirit?
- Have you ever wondered why the stories from the New Testament don't happen today? Have you considered it is because of our own lack of faith?
- If you could change one aspect about your worship, what would it be? How would you go about making that change?
- Do you prefer the ritual or the experience? Why? What can you learn from the other?
- What would you imagine it would be like for your soul to praise God directly? What would happen to your body? Why?
- Close your eyes (after you finish reading this) and let yourself worship God. Open yourself up and let your spirit, your soul pour worship to God. Whatever form that takes. If you are more comfortable doing it in the privacy of your own room that is fine. Do what you can to remove the barriers that keep you from true worship.
- Pay a special attention to the experiences and rituals that you go through every day. When is the experience level higher? The ritual experience? When are they balanced? Which one do you prefer? Why?
- Sing louder in Church this week. Try praying in a different posture. Let yourself truly experience the meaning behind the ritual. In the moments of silence let your soul just praise and worship God.
- God has created the entire world, meaning his fingerprints are on everything. Give Him the credit He deserves by worshiping as much as possible, whenever you see a reason to. Recognize coincidences are providence. See God speaking to you through the little signs around you, pointing you in the direction you need to go.
- Ask someone for what they need prayers for. Pray for them immediately. Right in front of them. Expect miracles this week.
Simply worship God throughout the day. Allow your soul to connect with God. If you don't know what to say, simply say the name of Jesus. Or repeat the word Alleluia. Allow the Holy Spirit to work.
