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Episode 39 – Is Everyone Called to Pray Like a Carmelite? – The Art of Living Well Podcast
A Catholic Response to Web 3.0
Episode 39 – Is Everyone Called to Pray Like a Carmelite?
Episode 39 - Is Everyone Called to Pray Like a Carmelite? - The Art of Living Well Podcast
WELL, you’ve certainly set yourself apart from the laity on this one. You sound like Paul – married people are too busy with the mundane task of raising families to be bothered with scripture and prayer to any level of real importance. Only priest, those of superior holiness, are capable of achieving spiritual perfection, right? And you want to talk to the laity about Canon Law. Hell, most of us don’t even know what a narthex is.
But I love my Lord Jesus Christ and I believe he blesses me and my wife and our children and grandchildren. I believe I can pray to him and he knows me better than anyone else.
Thanks for the feedback. I am going to think about this a little more before responding, but I appreciate the feedback.
From this podcast It sounds like you don’t have much respect for married people. That’s too bad. I thought we were on the same team and Jesus was our manager.
Your words: We know that we’re striving to learn the Father’s will, but a lot of time, what I’ve seen with married families
Your words: What they (married people or “families”) really need to do in their silent time is, one they need to process their stress, two, they need to examine their heart, but they also need to fill their mind with scripture.
So you’re saying priests don’t need to do this, right? Why do you think we have so many pedophiles? Why the cover up? Yes, it’s my job to ask these questions because I now have grandchildren. I’m looking at you and every other priest. I think part of the reason we have these problems is because priests hold themselves above married people. Many of them don’t respect marriage as a holy vocation. In an earlier podcast you talked about Canon Law. I relate the idea of Canon Law to the Inquisition; to priests damning people to purgatory for committing various sins and excommunication, and certainly not about a loving Lord who wants us to come to him.
But, that’s how the Scribes and Pharisees looked at religion: follow all the laws and be prosperous in this world and go to heaven in the next. They always thanked God that they were not sinners like common people. Canon Law? Most of the people at Church don’t even know what a narthex is.
From your references to professional athletes it’s easy to think that you regard single religious people superior to married folk. Just so you know, we married people believe we devote our lives to Christ. I am responsible to God the Father for a loving family that he has entrusted to me. Yes, I was in the delivery room for the birth of all four of my sons, and then and now I give God the glory that they were and are fearfully and wonderfully made… Wonderful is his works. Yeah, it was Saint Pope John Paul II who wrote Familiaris Consortio, the role of the family in modern world. I don’t think he regarded us as inferior people in God’s Kingdom. In fact, he referred to us the “little Church.”
I guess you can probably tell you’ve upset me with this podcast, but so what. I’m an old married man, so I’m certainly no threat to you. You’ve lost a little bit of me. I’ll go so far as to challenge you to say something good about marriage and mean it.
Hi, This is Father Ian Van Heusen here at the Art of Living Well Podcast. I just take this opportunity at the podcast to flush out ideas that I deal with on a regular basis on my website.
I want to talk about a traditional idea that was not official Church teaching, but it developed in the manuals of esthetical and mystical theology over the years. It was widely refuted after Vatican II in discussions about the universal call to holiness. It’s this idea of a two-tiered system of holiness; that there was a certain direction or path to holiness for what were called seculars or diocesan priests and also for lay people. Then there was a higher tier (level) for the contemplative and the religious. initially many people scorned this after Vatican II saying that there was a universal call to holiness. There is no division, especially in America where we had the good wholesome egalitarianism [I’m being a little sarcastic]. But, we don’t like the idea of different vocations and different paths, so this idea of a superior or a more perfect path didn’t resonate with us in America.
I’d like to tell a little of my own story and where my thinking is these days. One thing that’s important to understand is the fact that I developed a way of praying that would influence all my later thinking. It wasn’t actually a method of prayer or a way of praying born of any school or particular spirituality, but it centered around a couple of simple practices that grew and expanded over time. The first practice was the liturgy of the hours. That’s obvious enough. It’s structured prayer. I first started experiencing breakthroughs when I prayed the liturgy of the hours. But then early on when I was about 23 and now I’’m 37, so it was 14 years ago. I developed the idea of doing a holy hour of mental prayer and meditation where I sat and lived spontaneous. I didn’t know that there was any instruction on how to do a holy hour, but I had seen monks at a particular monastery sitting before the Blessed Sacrament, so I thought the key was to simply sit there. I remember that I was simply trying to process things during the first week I did this. Layers began to build up over time as I learned to navigate the silence. I learned what it meant to listen to the Holy Spirit and practice discernment. I became convinced that this was the way to teach people to pray, because in that first couple of years I began to experience personal freedom around sexual sin and around other areas and I began to experience healing in my heart fairly quickly. When I first started teaching kids at St. Michael Maronite Catholic Church in Fayetteville, I first though about teaching them the liturgy of the hours using the Maronite version. i found it didn’t resonate with the kids as I had hoped it would. Now I understand better the challenges of such an undertaking. My though process at the time was that I could teach kids the liturgy of the hours, but I wasn’t geared towards teaching kids because I was studying to be a teacher and I liked the idea of working with kids.
The liturgy of the hours didn’t seem to work with kids very well. So, I was looking for some way to teach kids and young adults. I then went to seminary and l began learning ideas of Lectio Divina. I began to teach Lectio Divina and integrate it into the classroom. i had a lot more success with that, particularly with written exercises and with teaching younger people how to pray with the scriptures. The I began to teach adults. My passion for teaching about prayer continues to this day, and I still love to do it.
The question is, “What did I discover in all this?” Through all this I discovered that the two-tier system has value. Think of professional athletes and people who just need to get in shape. Think of the two-tier system as two types of training. Each group has different training needs.
Elite athletes need intense training. But like athletes you have to consider your goals.
Now, let me get this straight, Christ tells us to live our lives with humility, love and perseverance in the faith. It is St. Paul who talks in terms of winning the race and fighting the good fight. He also says that it’s better for disciples and Church officials to be unmarried. I get that, but….
Your words: We know that we’re striving to learn the Father’s will, but a lot of time, what I’ve seen with married families
Do you mean “people” or “families?” From your comments it appears that you think marriage is a lesser vocation.
Your words: What they (married people or “families”) really need to do in their silent time is, one they need to process their stress, two, they need to examine their heart, but they also need to fill their mind with scripture.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. It appears that you think priests, bishops, cardinal and the Pope don’t need to do this, right? Why do you think we have so many pedophiles? Why the cover up? Yes, it’s my job to ask these questions because I now have grandchildren. I’m looking at you and every other priest. I think part of the reason we have these problems is because priests hold themselves above married people. Many of them don’t respect marriage as a holy vocation.
In an earlier podcast you talked about Canon Law. I relate the idea of Canon Law to the Inquisition; to priests damning people to purgatory for committing various sins and excommunicating, and certainly not about a loving Lord who wants us to come to him.
But, that’s how the Scribes and Pharisees looked at religion: follow all the laws and be prosperous in this world and go to heaven in the next. They always thanked God that they were not sinners like common people. Canon Law? Most of the people at Church don’t even know what a narthex is.
From your references to professional athletes it’s easy to think that you regard single religious people superior to married folk. Just so you know, we married people believe we devote our lives to Christ. I am responsible to God the Father for a loving family that he has entrusted to me. Yes, I was in the delivery room for the birth of all four of my sons, and then and now I give God the glory that they were and are fearfully and wonderfully made… Wonderful is his works. Yeah, it was Saint Pope John Paul II who wrote Familiaris Consortio, the role of the family in modern world. I don’t think he regarded us as inferior people in God’s Kingdom. In fact, he referred to us the “little Church.”
I guess you can probably tell you’ve upset me with this podcast, but so what. I’m an old married man, so I’m certainly no threat to you. You’ve lost a me. I’ll go so far as to challenge you to come up with something good to say something good about marriage and mean it.
Thanks Ron… I am taking some time to formulate a response and to consider your feedback. Much thanks
I do Catholic yoga. I’m quite a hyper individual and find different poses while saying morning prayer very helpful. I’m love the rosary during activities as well. Venerable Sheen said we always have time for the rosary. A decade in the car. A decade in a checkout line, etc.
Also, matching your heartbeat to Christ’s in the Tabernacle is a powerful meditation. You visualize the Tabernacle from wherever you are and feel your heart beat with our Blessed Lord’s. He is everything!