God Knows Latin
Sometimes we forget, don't we? God knows more languages than just English. How else does He hear the prayers of people praying in Russia, Cuba, China, Germany, Italy, and Japan?
It's a good exercise, once in a while, to offer Him prayers in a language you don't understand - just to remind yourself that you're not the important party in this picture, He is. It doesn't matter if you don't understand, He does.
We have to fight that instinct sometimes. The instinct that tells us that we have to be center of all of this - that if I personally can't participate in this prayer or this liturgy, then it's a waste of time for me.
But - it's not about me!
There's that really horrid "Praise and Worship" song making the rounds currently at the really hip-n-relevant Protestant churches ... "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, it's all about You ... I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it, when it's all about You ..."
I have to laugh when I hear it (or cry), because this lyric which pretends to shift the spotlight away from self is almost always being performed by human beings on a "worship stage," in full view and front and center of the congregation.
So try it - try praying a prayer in a foreign language, which you don't understand. Try to offer it to God with just as much sincerity as you would if you were praying in English - which will require you to believe in faith that He actually can understand you, and does appreciate it.
Here are a few prayers you might try ...
"Our Father" in Italian
Padre Nostro, che sei nei cieli,
sia santificato il tuo nome,
venga il tuo regno,
sia fatta la tua volontà ,
come in cielo cosà in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,
e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti,
come noi li rimettiano ai nostri debitori,
e non c'indurre in tentazione,
ma liberaci dal male.
Amen.
"Hail Mary" in Latin
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum
Benedictitu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesu
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
It's a good exercise, once in a while, to offer Him prayers in a language you don't understand - just to remind yourself that you're not the important party in this picture, He is. It doesn't matter if you don't understand, He does.
We have to fight that instinct sometimes. The instinct that tells us that we have to be center of all of this - that if I personally can't participate in this prayer or this liturgy, then it's a waste of time for me.
But - it's not about me!
There's that really horrid "Praise and Worship" song making the rounds currently at the really hip-n-relevant Protestant churches ... "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, it's all about You ... I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it, when it's all about You ..."
I have to laugh when I hear it (or cry), because this lyric which pretends to shift the spotlight away from self is almost always being performed by human beings on a "worship stage," in full view and front and center of the congregation.
So try it - try praying a prayer in a foreign language, which you don't understand. Try to offer it to God with just as much sincerity as you would if you were praying in English - which will require you to believe in faith that He actually can understand you, and does appreciate it.
Here are a few prayers you might try ...
"Our Father" in Italian
Padre Nostro, che sei nei cieli,
sia santificato il tuo nome,
venga il tuo regno,
sia fatta la tua volontà ,
come in cielo cosà in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,
e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti,
come noi li rimettiano ai nostri debitori,
e non c'indurre in tentazione,
ma liberaci dal male.
Amen.
"Hail Mary" in Latin
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum
Benedictitu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesu
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
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