Men's Rosary

Clubs play an important part in our daily lives. It is good to be with others who share the same interests, learn from each other, and sharpen our skills. We pay our membership fee and then expect the club to provide the benefits we paid for. It is about what we get from the club on a “pay to play” basis. Too often this mentality spills over into our spiritual life.

In contrast to a club, our spiritual life is based on community and a sense of family. In Christ we are called to be family. “And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12:49-50) The question to ponder is, how do we approach our spirituality and worship? We should not be engaged for ourselves alone but for the entire community or family. There needs to be a change in thinking to “what can I do for the community”. When we were baptized, we were baptized into the Church, the Body of Christ, as priest, prophet, and king; and it came with blessings and without cost. As such we are compelled to serve and bring others to Christ and to strengthen the Church. “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.” (Matthew 10:8)

I would hope that we all love our natural families, even the difficult ones in them. Furthermore, I would hope that we all want to see the best for all the members. The same is true for our spiritual family; the Church. When we love one another, even the difficult ones, we love God in the best way possible. The highest level we can love the other; to will the good of the other, is through prayer. When we pray to God, we acknowledge his being and divinity, humbling ourselves before his authority, and when we pray for others, we acknowledge their worth and divinity before God. It is our duty to gather and worship the Lord and to bring our needs and the needs of others to him for help and guidance. “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” (Psalm 95:6-7) We do this in private prayer but more effectively in communal prayer and at Mass. We must remember that we are not the center and most important. We are called to work and to serve, to suffer well and unite our sufferings to Christ, to give thanksgiving for all God has done for us and all the faithful. Intercessory prayer is a fundamental practice of our faith. While we may and should, ask for God’s help and blessing, our spiritual life must come from a place of service to God and man. When we pray for those who ask for prayer, for those we know that are suffering, for those we know are in a sinful state, for those who are making poor decisions, in thanksgiving for blessing bestowed on others, for answered prayers, we are growing in the spiritual life and our needs will always be met by God. “Since Abraham, intercession – asking on behalf of another – has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ’s, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks “not to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.” (CCC 2635) As Christians, we have much work to do. We are part of bringing God’s will “on earth as it is in Heaven”.

In the words of St. Teresa of Avila:

“Christ has no body on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassionately on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses the world. Christ has no body now but yours!”

Let us avoid the occasion of coming to Mass like it is a club, something we do to escape the grind of life and a place to go to get something “out of it”. Rather, let us enter it as a time to humbly bow before God and offer our life in service to him and pray for the needs of his Holy Church. When we are all gathered at Mass or outside of Mass, and offer our prayers together, there also is Christ, who intercedes for us! “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Always gather as family, not as an individual, loving the other and willing their good. As we pray, pray for the ones around us gathering all our prayers together to lay before the Lord.

“Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: if you set it on fire it makes lots of little flames. But if you gather these straws into a heap and light them, you get a mighty fire, which rises into the sky…it is much the same with prayer offered in common.” (St. Catherine of Siena)