2004-103 from a poor monk: As we begin this third consideration of prayer, we
might say that, rather than springing the idea of prayer on anyone right
off the bat, we might want to encourage them to begin by examining their life
with others, ie., about how necessary it is for them to be good
with their families, with their co-workers, with people who
need their help, etc. As we do this, it will become clear to us that
we need God's assistance throughout life, especially if we are to be
good. And prayer in a "non-good" person is somewhat ridiculous to
conceive of.
But, to go on, having seen what some ancients said
about prayer, we might briefly note what others said about prayer
in times past: Basil, the Great, descibed it as asking for God for
everything we need, while Evagrius called it the lifting of the spirit to God
and colloquium with him. St John of Damascus said it was asking for what
we need as well as lifting our minds and hearts to God. But again, we have
to note that these are descriptions, not hard and fast
definitions.
As we also said, all religions advocate prayer and
consider it, for the most part, as asking for the help we need from God.
That seems to be a kind of universal human understanding of prayer, perhaps what
we want it to be... Thus, we have short ejaculatory
phrases such as God, help me...Lord, be merciful to
me...Hear me, Lord... This is an attitude of mind found
throughout the Bible and always presupposes an anthropomorphic
conception of God. By this we mean, that God was depicted not
only in our thoughts and words as human, but also in our general
approach to him. Therefore, we thought of God in terms of, e.g., "his
leaning his ear to us"..."his listening to us"..."his having mercy on us"..."his
being moved" to do something or other for us, etc. However, Greek
philosophy gradually clarified our notion of God,
purifying it of most of its anthropomorphic attributes. It presented God
to us in terms of his goodness, his beauty, and his being the cause of all
order, etc. Thus, the person with understanding realizes that we
cannot bend God's will to do as we want, but that prayer is about our bending
OUR wills to do as HE wants of us. Such a person, furthermore, tries
to elevate his mind and heart to the Lord to contemplate his
perfections...i.e., his goodness, his power, his mercy, his glory, his
holiness, etc., etc.,
Such greats as Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius,
etc., thought of God in this way and Evagrius, the fourth century Egyptian monk
again, taking their thoughts about God into the christian context, pointed out
that for christians, however, God was first and foremost FATHER. Thus
christians have to see in God not some supernatural inanimate power, but rather,
the PERSON that he is in actuality. So, even if certain attributes of God in the
Bible resemble more the Egyptian and/or Babylonian concepts, it is nevertheless
typically biblical to see God as a person, as father, as one who
descends, so to speak, to SPEAK with humans. So the Old Testament clearly
shows God as one with whom man speaks, with whom
humans are in dialogue. And of course, this is what we see in Christ
and his relationship with the Father.
Will continue next time. In the meantime,
best to all, and don't get discouraged. Understanding anything is
work...