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Post by maolsheachlann on Jun 20, 2018 10:05:31 GMT
We all know the warnings from the Gospel: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." And there is also the complaint about the Pharisees broadening their phylacteries.
I want to ask my fellow Irish Catholics how they view these warnings in today's climate. I must admit that I feel a very strong urge to make public displays of my faith today, out of a reaction against the Faith being privatized and suppressed. I want to keep it in full view of people, as far as I can, both for the sake of the "public sphere" (to be grandiose) and my own soul.
I started praying the rosary on the bus a few years ago. An Opus Dei priest I know was not very enthusiastic about the idea, but subsequently I've learned that St. John Paul II explicitly defended this (strange as it sounds) in his enyclical on the rosary. Partly I do it because it's a convenient time, but I also do it as a public witness.
What do you think? There is also the warning in the Gospel not to be ashamed of Christ before men. It's hard for me to believe that we are in the same situation as the Pharisees and Saducees today.
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Post by annie on Jun 20, 2018 10:53:53 GMT
Stopping whatever you are doing and saying the Angelus - inviting whoever is with you beforehand to join in is a great way of witnessing in your family or group of friends. It's normally said standing, genuflecting in the middle at "and the Word was made flesh".
Travelling on the road by bus or car, bless yourself as you pass a Church and offer a short mental prayer to Our Lord within it.
If you are a Pioneer, always wear your emblem on your outer clothing. Wearing a Miraculous Medal and the Brown Scapular inside your clothing is a way of uniting yourself to Christ and His Church while drawing graces and blessings on yourself and everyone you meet.
The Jews went to their deaths in the murder camps thanks to the populace being fed slanders against them. We have been warned.
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Post by assisi on Jun 20, 2018 11:33:58 GMT
We all know the warnings from the Gospel: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." And there is also the complaint about the Pharisees broadening their phylacteries. I want to ask my fellow Irish Catholics how they view these warnings in today's climate. I must admit that I feel a very strong urge to make public displays of my faith today, out of a reaction against the Faith being privatized and suppressed. I want to keep it in full view of people, as far as I can, both for the sake of the "public sphere" (to be grandiose) and my own soul. I started praying the rosary on the bus a few years ago. An Opus Dei priest I know was not very enthusiastic about the idea, but subsequently I've learned that St. John Paul II explicitly defended this (strange as it sounds) in his enyclical on the rosary. Partly I do it because it's a convenient time, but I also do it as a public witness. What do you think? There is also the warning in the Gospel not to be ashamed of Christ before men. It's hard for me to believe that we are in the same situation as the Pharisees and Saducees today. I think that in witnessing faith in public the key to the above is our intentions. If our intentions are to bear witness to the faith, influencing others towards God and the Church, then I think this laudable. If our witness was to simply impress others and to enhance our own reputation (as per the hypocrites mentioned above) then No. I have been impressed by seeing others show little signs of faith in public. Wearing a crucifix, crossing themselves etc are little gestures but quite inspiring for Catholics to see.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Jun 20, 2018 12:26:47 GMT
That's what I tend to think too, Assisi.
And yes, I find public gestures of devotion enormously inspiring myself. Even seeing an American family say grace before meals on a not-very-old TV show or movie.
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Post by hibernicus on Jun 25, 2018 21:41:08 GMT
MY own attitude is that I make such signs (cross myself passing a church etc) simply because and when it is the right thing to do. Doing it to make a point to others defeats the whole point of the exercise, and gets dangerously close to (say) Glasgow Celtic players whose lifestyles were anything but pious crossing themselves on the pitch to wind up Rangers supporters.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Jun 26, 2018 8:28:08 GMT
MY own attitude is that I make such signs (cross myself passing a church etc) simply because and when it is the right thing to do. Doing it to make a point to others defeats the whole point of the exercise, and gets dangerously close to (say) Glasgow Celtic players whose lifestyles were anything but pious crossing themselves on the pitch to wind up Rangers supporters. Well, that would be the case if the primary motive was to make a point to others, but I'm not so sure if it's a secondary motive. I must confess I never thought of myself as being similiar to a Glaswegian bruiser trying to rile the crowd at Ibrox when saying my rosary on the bus! What an image!
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Post by maolsheachlann on Jun 26, 2018 8:36:19 GMT
A bit incidental, but I was very amused by a reported conversation in Ronald Knox's Spiritual Aeneid. I forget the exact details, but one person wondered if there was anything braver than a boy who gets down on his knees in a school dormitory to say his prayers, when nobody else does. Yes, someone countered...a bishop who doesn't say his prayers in similar circumstances. (Why bishops would be sharing a dormitory, I'm not sure. I suppose it could happen. Maybe it was priests rather than bishops. The text is available online, but it's not searchable. Or at least I can't work out how to search it.)
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Post by hibernicus on Jun 26, 2018 21:00:09 GMT
It was a dormitory of bishops - the joke was that it was a bishop who was asking the schoolboys at a public school, and the person who replied to him was a schoolboy too young and inexperienced to realise how unlikely it would be for bishops to share a dormitory as schoolboys did.
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