integration paper

Date: 03.06.18

Jesus’ Practice of and Teachings about Prayer

The gospels have produced very little information concerning the regular or routine practices of the life of Jesus. According to the book of Mark in the New Testament, he tells us how Jesus got up very early in the morning in order to go and pray at a deserted place after his initial successes in casting out a demon, healing Peter’s mother in-law, calling disciples and also healing many other people (1:35) (Spong, 2016). Jesus prayed at this place until when Simon Peter summoned him together with the other companions to go and continue his public ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. In the book of Mark 6:46, we are told that Jesus decided to withdraw from his disciples and the people in order to go and pray on a mountain.

This was after his miraculous feeding of the five thousand people and also walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. When we look at the Old Testament, both the mountain and the desert used to serve as special places where people went to encounter God. From the book of Mark, we get the impression that Jesus had actually developed some rhythm between his teaching and other public activities and his communion with the Father. Jesus advised people to always have some willingness to forgive others as they also wish to be forgiven by God (Mark 11:25). His advice echoes to the words that are usually found in the Lord’s Prayer which can be found in Mathew 6:12 and Luke 11:4).

During the sermon on the mountain, Jesus challenged his disciples to always love their enemies and also pray for those who persecute them (Chapters 5-7). In Matthew 6: 1-18, Jesus told his disciples to always be devoted when performing the three acts of piety which are (prayer, fasting and almsgiving). Jesus insisted that these acts should be performed without public display or ostentation (Ironside, 2015). Jesus wants these acts to be done in a genuine way that shows the religious devotion to God rather than being done to obtain some public reputation for holiness. In Matthew, 6:5-6, those who only like praying in synagogues or streets should be seen as hypocrites because they want to be seen by others. Jesus advises his disciples to always pray in places where they cannot be seen by anyone in order to avoid any mixed motives in such kind of prayers. He stresses that acts of piety such as prayers are always a way of expressing one’s devotion to God and therefore it is important to keep them authentic and pure as possible as we can (Matthew 6:7-8). Jesus also warns people against holding very wordy and long prayers like the Gentiles because according to him, God already knows what one wants even before he or she asks of him (Matthew 6:7-8) (Spong, 2016).

The Prayer of God’s Son

The gospel of John tells us very little about the practices of prayer by Jesus unlike other synoptic gospel books that delve deep into Jesus’ practice of prayer. The topic of prayer in John’s gospel is only seen at the farewell discourse of the book (Bennema, 2014). According to John’s gospel, Jesus gave an assurance to his disciples that their prayers will always be answered even when they pray in his name (John 14:14). However, in another chapter in John’s gospel, Jesus goes ahead to explain to his disciples that there is no need for him to ask his Father on their behalf, since his Father loves them and already knows what they want even before they ask. However, the gospel of John echoes the prayer of petition just like in the other books of gospel such as in Luke 11:9-13).

However, there is something very unique about the gospel of John. There is a time when Jesus himself had a very long prayer when we look at John 17. The prayer was done during the conclusion to his farewell discourse at the Last Supper (John 14-17). We can also see this in the prelude to the passion narrative that starts in John 18 (Bennema, 2014). This long prayer is usually sometimes referred to as the “the High priestly prayer”. It is referred to such because Jesus performed some priestly functions when he decided to intercede for his disciples, those who will also become disciples through them, and also for himself. However, the best way to call the prayer is to refer to it as “the prayer of God’s Son,” This is because Jesus was especially praying to his heavenly Father in his unique position as God’s Son. Jesus was addressing God as “Father” throughout the prayer (John 17: 1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25).

Jewish Prayer

People should not use prayers however they want (Petuchowski, 1972). According to (Petuchowski, 1972), a prayer is like an established residence for the innermost self just like the way all things have a home. He argues that a soul that does not pray is like a soul that does not have a home. A prayer can help those who have gone through all manner of challenges and difficulties in their life. All these people can have a prayer as their home of refuge and comfort. The main attributes of a prayer encompass; earnestness, continuity, authenticity, permanence, and intimacy.

The author also states that where prayer is, that is the home of the soul. According to the author, being tempted challenged or being called is what actually constitutes the essence of living as a human being. Most people usually pray to get the gift of wisdom in order to know how to respond to the various challenges being faced (Petuchowski, 1972). People should not just take living as enough by itself; rather they should always view it as something holy and a blessing. Being alive can never be the answer to the many problems that we face. To not be or to be should never be the question that we ask ourselves. The critical question that we must ask ourselves is how not to be and how to be.

The tragic disease of the contemporary man is failing to ask such a critical question. This disease can always prove to be very fatal and eventually lead to a disaster. Therefore, praying is a way of reflecting passionately about the perpetual urgency of this vital question. We should never see the issue of revitalizing a prayer as a problem, the main problem is actually how to revitalize ourselves (Petuchowski, 1972). We should start cultivating our virtues and thoughts which if not done, then our prayers become useless. According to Judaism, prayer is usually viewed as an ontological necessity. It is an act that encompasses the very essence of man and a man who has never prayed is often not considered a full human being.

Judaism in the Time of Jesus

Judaism during the time of Jesus was viewed as an outward legalistic religion. During this time, the message of the early Christians and Jesus was taken as a complete antithesis. However, this view has proved to be a blatant caricature. Looking at the ministry of Jesus today, it is not being opposed as it is now being viewed as a movement that is within Judaism. People are now starting understands the complexity and the developing phenomena about the Judaism of the first-century. Judaism was actually divided into several different groups at the start of the Christianity era. Each of these groups actually had its own views concerning the Jewish way of life. However, there are certain basic common beliefs that these groups had.

LectioDivina

It is the divine reading of the Bible scriptures. Divine reading allows us to forsake our own agenda and eventually open ourselves to what God wants us to hear. Guigo, who was a Carthusian Monk, is the one who helped in describing the stages that he thought were essential to the practicing of LectioDivina (Walker, 2017). He described these stages in the 12th century. These stages were to be either be practiced in a group or as an individual. His descriptions still remain very fundamental in the practice of LectioDivina.

LectioDivina: Listening as Communion and Transformation

It is usually sometimes referred to as spiritual reading. We can also say that it is a principal practice of monastic spirituality. Lectio usually starts as a method that one uses to approach a scripture with the main purpose of listening to the Word of God and also seeking to encounter Christ (Walker, 2017). Even though Lectio begins as a method, it usually ends up growing into a spirituality that eventually leads to a more constant awareness of the presence of God.

LectioDivina - Sacred Reading

It is where an individual reads the Bible scriptures in a prayerful and reflective manner. It is important to note that the basis of all authentic Christianity spirituality is the word of God. This word of God possesses the power to call the people to convert, and also renew people through its mysterious and unique power (Walker, 2017). It is important for one to always avoid the individualistic approach when reading the scriptures because the word of God has been given to particularly build a communion even though it is usually addressed to each of us personally. We must approach the sacred text in the communion of the church.

Prayer and the Gospel parables

In his writings, Harrington Wilfred tries to examine the some parables in the Bible that are mainly related to the theme of prayer. From these parables, Harrington brings out some lessons that we can learn from them. According to Harrington, an Israelite was actually a prayerful person as evidenced in the Old Testament. He believes that prayers will always have a central place when it comes to the people of God. To reinforce his point, he states that even Jesus himself prayed to God his Father. Jesus taught people how to pray. Jesus promised people that when they pray, they will always get a response.

St. Benedict’s seven principles

The St. Benedict’s seven principles usually help people on how they can live in their community in a peacefull manner without any conflicts. The Benedictine way of developing a peaceful home is to ensure that we create peace and be pro-active in the home (Laird, 2017). Benedict layed out seven principles that can help fathers to establish the happy and peaceful home that they desire and long for. These principles include: Treating family members according to their particular needs; good fathering; Leading by actions and examples through teachings; Obedience; Being prayerful and balance or stability.

This about the founding story of The Marianist Charism. The story identifies this religion from the time it was founded, its founders and why it was founded. This story not only helps us to know how it was founded, or who founded it but it also gives us a guide of where the group is actually headed to. The Marianist Charism is a great religion and interesting story to read.

References

Spong, J. S. (2016). Biblical literalism: A gentile heresy: A journey into a new Christianity through the doorway of Matthew's gospel. HarperCollins.

Ironside, H. A. (2015). Expository Notes on the Gospel of Matthew. Solid Christian Books.

Bennema, C. (2014). Encountering Jesus: Character Studies in the Gospel of John. Augsburg Fortress Publishers.

Walker, D. (2017). Lectio Divina: Examining the Impact of Experiencing Scripture in Christian's Relationship with Christ(Doctoral dissertation).

Laird, B. (2017). Rule of St Benedict. CRC Press.

Petuchowski, J. J. (1972). Understanding Jewish Prayer. Ktav Publishing House .