Sr. Irene Nowell, a beloved Benedictine scholar of the Hebrew Bible, makes a striking recommendation. She suggests that we pray with the book of Psalms in one hand and the newspaper in the other. While few of us read an actual newspaper anymore, we get the point: pray with the pain of the world.
Sr. Irene says it this way: “Take the psalm book in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other. After every few psalm verses, read another headline. The voices that cry out in the daily news also cry out in the psalm. Every time we pray the psalms, we pray in the name of the whole Body of Christ, in the name of the whole world. We carry all those people in our prayer; by praying the psalms we take responsibility for the well-being of all of them.”
The current situation in Ukraine is agonizing. Other situations come to our minds—school shootings, abuse, drought and famine, the toll of pandemic, wars and violence around the world. What are we to do? “Thoughts and prayers” are not enough.
Or are they? It depends, of course, on how we understand prayer. According to Sr. Irene, prayer is not an individual, inward exercise. It is a communal, universal experience. My prayer, with the newspaper in one hand, is what joins me to my suffering brothers and sisters in Ukraine and around the world. And once joined with them, I must do what I can to alleviate their agony.
Prayer is not an escape from reality or action. It is a commitment to community, a sinking into community, an authentic identification with both the joys and sorrows of others. It is only natural, then, that prayer—which begins as words, silence, the state of the heart—should spur us to action, love, commitment. This too is prayer. Prayer reminds us who we are. It reminds us that we are a people of love. We need the discipline of prayer because it reminds us of this, and we are very forgetful.
Is prayer enough? If prayer is just words, then no, it is not enough. But if prayer is engagement with God and others, words-leading-to-love, an identification with every human being that is lonely or afraid or hungry or hurting, if prayer is action that addresses affliction, silence that clarifies, self-poured-out-for-others, only then is prayer “enough.” Only then do our lives become prayer—when the newspaper, the psalms, and whatever other love we have pondered or uttered have moved us to understand, to be, to change, to serve. Thus the instruction of St. Paul: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17).
Hear, Lord, my plea for justice; pay heed to my cry; listen to my prayer (Psalm 17:1).
A Prayer for Lent
Let’s pray for one another and for our world as we journey together this Lent. May the days ahead be rich with peace, prayer, and the giving of ourselves.
Loving God,
we offer you these sacred days.
May they be days of peace and prayer,
days of change,
days saturated in your presence.
May they be days to listen and understand,
to encounter and serve,
to heal and be healed.
May they be sacred days.
Amen.
New Book for Lent! . . . And a Reflection on Sunday's Gospel
Hello all! My new book of reflections for Lent is now available!
My co-author is the wonderful Tom Stegman, S.J.—New Testament scholar and dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. We had a great time writing this book together and are excited to share it with you.
The book is available from Liturgical Press in two sizes — the small version is $2 (or $1 each for orders of 50 or more).
The large print edition is $6. And it’s available in both sizes in Spanish!
We look forward to being with you this Lent!
"To open this book is to embark on a quiet and intimate Lenten journey with two friends. The distinct but interwoven voices of the authors—one a priest, the other a married mother of four—invite readers into an ongoing dialogue on the daily readings that is both wise and personal. Through the framework of reflections, meditations, and prayers, Ekeh and Stegman offer their readers a rich tool for prayer that is grounded in their own experiences and the incarnate beauty of daily life."
Mahri Leonard-Fleckman
Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible,
College of the Holy Cross
You are all in my prayers as Lent approaches!
Blessings!
Amy
This Is Christmas: A Reflection for the Season
Years ago as my family arrived at Mass on Christmas Eve, I told my son Julian to go find Jesus. “He’s up there,” I told him, pointing to the life-sized crèche at the front of the church. He shuffled up to the crèche, but he didn’t exactly linger. Determined that Julian and Jesus should have a prayerful moment, I sent him back. “Tell him happy birthday,” I said. Julian dutifully returned to the crèche. This time he stood before the manger for some time. I was pleased. Surely something special was happening.
But when Julian came back to the pew, he was pretty disappointed. “I told him,” he said sadly, “but . . . he wouldn’t even look at me.” I glanced up at the plaster statue at the front of the church. Julian was right. Baby Jesus was staring straight up, his glassy eyes fixed on the ceiling of the church.
Of course Julian and I both knew this was just a statue. It wasn’t Jesus. And yet I guess we both hoped for a connection, for something special, for the way we feel when loved ones look at each other. It’s only natural to yearn for that gaze.
Scripture is full of the language of looking—of humans looking for God (Ps 121:1), of God looking at us (Ps 33:13), of the intense glance of a lover toward the beloved (Song 4:9). It is this gaze that thrills us when God draws near. This is incarnation, this is Christmas—the uninterrupted gaze between ourselves and the divine—“what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands” (1 John 1:1). This is no glassy-eyed, upward-gazing disconnect. This is the burning-without-hurting, the fullness-while-yearning that is God-with-us. This is Incarnation. This is Emmanuel. This is Christmas.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Written for Little Rock Scripture Study 2021
An outdoor creche at Christ the Redeemer Church, Milford, CT
Open Hands
You open your hand and satisfy
the desire of every living thing.
—Psalm 145:16
To describe or even think about God, we rely on our own words and experiences. This means we are limited of course, and yet, what beautiful images we have! And what depth of experiences to draw upon.
The simple image from the psalm verse above—the image of God with open hands, providing for everything that lives and breathes, giving boundlessly to everything that desires—is such an image. I have experienced these outstretched hands. So have you. We’ve seen and touched them. We’ve received the gifts flowing from them, the generosity of God’s open hands.
And we’ve held our own hands open, in imitation of the God we love. We’ve outstretched them to our children, our students, our parishioners, and our coworkers, to friends, family, strangers, and spouses. We’ve kept them open longer than we ever thought we could. We’ve learned from covenants and crosses and stories of prodigal children to give more than was expected, to extend our hands deep into whatever inner stores we’ve kept and share whatever good we can find there. We’ve given till it hurts, and still we’ve kept our hands open.
This is the image I choose this Thanksgiving and Christmas, as these times stretch us and the challenges of the season await us. This is the image I choose—of a God with open hands, endlessly open, boundlessly open. Of me, remembering the times I’ve opened my hands and imitated the God I love. This is the image I choose—to stretch myself, to keep my hands open when I’m tired or disappointed, when what was supposed to be perfect isn’t, when there doesn’t seem to be enough. This is the image I choose—to keep my hands open, to imitate the God I love.
A Short Litany of Open Hands
God of open hands,
You care for the needs of every living thing.
Open my hands to imitate your love.
When there are needs to be met, open my hands.
When there is emptiness to fill, open my hands.
When there is work to be done, open my hands.
When I don’t think I can, open my hands.
When I’m willing but weak, open my hands.
When I’ve given my all, open my hands.
For the love of creation, open my hands.
For the joy of salvation, open my hands.
Without hesitation, open my hands.
God of open hands,
You care for the needs of every living thing.
Open my hands to join in your love.
Amen.
A drawing of open hands by Siobhan Ekeh.