Parish Blog

Reading the Bible is the most direct way to receive the teaching of Jesus. But in Christian discipleship we can be mentored not just by the Master, but also by other more experienced disciples.

Last week I claimed that having a personal relationship was a necessary part of discipleship, since being a true disciple involves a living connection with and constant feedback from a teacher.

For my next series of blog and Flocknote reflections, I have decided to write “Letters from the Park” (Bethel Park, that is). I hope to share my pastoral year experiences as we recall that now-Deacon Dan Kushner completed his pastoral year in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.

Discipleship is a word that doesn’t really have an analogue in our current culture. We might talk about scholars being disciples of some prior figure in their field, but this just means that their teaching is in line with-and further develops the teaching-of their predecessor.

So, we’ve just completed a tour of the deadly sins and how they manifest in our modern lives. And I want to tie us back now to why we started talking about sin in the first place: Sin keeps us from having a healthy relationship with God.

Well, everyone knew we’d cap off this series with the sin of pride, and it’s important to distinguish between pride from vainglory, which we discussed last week. Vainglory is focused on making other people think we’re great: It leads us to really, really care about what other people think of us. Pride is being certain that we are great, and that we don’t need any help or correction in how we live our life.

If the family is a privileged place of prayer, what keeps so many families from praying together more often? Our busyness surely has something to do with it: Sports practice, service requirements, and so many other things lay claim to our lives, and thus keep us from letting God lay His claim upon us.

Our discussion of the Mass last week reminds us that prayer is not just a private event. Private prayer is important, of course. Jesus even warns us not to use public prayer as a means of self-promotion, showing how “holy” we are (see Matthew 6:5– 6). But public and group prayer is important and valuable. It is important because Jesus encourages us to gather together to pray (see Matthew 18:20).

If being in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a privileged place of prayer, the greatest act of prayer we can take is participating in the Mass. In the Mass, we are not only invited to be in the presence of Jesus, but to come before him, to unite ourselves with his sacrifice re-presented on the altar, and finally to receive him not just spiritually but physically in the consecrated elements.

So far, our discussion of prayer has focused primarily on content: What should we say or think about? But, as I mentioned before, the location we pick for prayer matters too.

Last week, we discussed Lectio Divina, which is a very unstructured way to introduce oneself to praying through Scripture. For some people, that lack of structure is a freeing way to meditate on what God is saying in a particular passage. For people who want something a little more regimented, the Church offers a much more formalized way of using Scripture in prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office.

When I purchased my first car (directly from my parents), it came with the decals and bumper stickers they had placed on it. While this might lead some people to think I was the proud parent of a US Marine, I was more worried about the fish on the car: I didn't want anyone to associate Christianity with my driving.