Sometimes I just don’t get it. Not being snarky, truly. I just don’t get it. Even in the context of a larger and valid point, how can a Pope utter this sentence?
“Prayer that doesn’t lead to concrete action toward our brothers is a fruitless and incomplete prayer,” the Pope said July 21.
In the interest of fairness, I will give the full context even though I don’t think it mitigates in any way the clumsiness of this sentence.
In his Sunday Angelus message, Pope Francis told crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square to unite prayer and action in Christian life, reports Catholic News Agency.
“Prayer that doesn’t lead to concrete action toward our brothers is a fruitless and incomplete prayer,” the Pope said July 21. “But at the same time, when ecclesial service only attends to work, not reserving time for dialogue with God in prayer, it risks serving itself rather than God who is present in the brother in need.”
Even within the full context, I think that the sentence is simply wrong.
Prayer is action. Pure and simple. There are other forms of action and they can certainly be inspired by prayer, but prayer itself is never fruitless or incomplete in any way for lack of additional action. Hey, the Pope is human and the Sunday Angelus is certainly not ex Cathedra, but I find it strange that such a sentence could pass the lips of a Pope without immediate correction. It makes one wonder that when wackos like Leonardo Boff quote the Pope as saying things like this that perhaps, just perhaps, he is not entirely making it up.
From the Catholic encyclopedia.
The great function assumed by contemplatives, as has already been said, is the worship of God. When living in community, they perform this sacred office in a public, official way, assembling at stated hours of the day and night to offer to the Almighty “the sacrifice of Praise” (Psalm. xlix, 14, 23; see Office, Divine). Their chief work then is what St. Benedict (Rule, xliii) Call emphatically God’s work (opus Dei), i.e. the solemn chanting of Divine praise, in which the tongue gives utterance to the admiration of the intellect and to the love of the heart. And this is done in the name of the Church and of all mankind. Not only does contemplation glorify God, but it is most beneficial to the soul itself. Nothing brings the soul into such close union with God, and union with God is the source of all saintliness. Never so well as when contemplating the perfections of God and the grandeur of His works does man see his own imperfections and failings, the vileness of sin, and the paltriness and futility of so many of his labours and undertakings; and thus nothing so grounds him in humility, the prop and the bulwark of every other virtue.
July 23, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Somehow, I doubt he'd agree with my impressions I get when I see people praying in front of an abortion clinic. There is prayer, but no willingness to action, for we must abhor violence, even if it is the violent act of just turning off the power.
No, I think I hear echoes of an ideology, a well-known disease of our Papa's generation.
July 23, 2013 at 4:31 pm
In light of the gospel reading last Sunday, perhaps he is touching on the Mary and Martha story. That we need to be prayerful and listening to Jesus AND actively serving him. Maybe it was phrased a little awkwardly, but I don't think he's wrong.
July 23, 2013 at 5:49 pm
Is it possible that this is simply a poor translation? I'm sure he didn't say it in English and even if he did, my impression is that English isn't a language he speaks well.
July 23, 2013 at 6:19 pm
The perfect post VII church leader: be as vague as possible so that everyone can interpret your words as one would prefer.
July 23, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Perfect charity in truth demands that we seek to find out what the Pope meant, but also not presume any sort of deliberate spiritual sloth or willingness to be vague to mislead or falsely charm. Prayer is the opening to grace, our acts are the result of grace, if we examine all of our actions which are good from a standpoint of extreme genuine humility, we understand that whenever we have done good, we have cooperated with God's grace, illustrating that our prayers, our faith is not merely a cerebral or spiritual exercise, but an incarnational one.
July 23, 2013 at 9:39 pm
This is not the first time this pontiff has extolled the active, natural virtues at the expense of the passive, supernatural virtues. I find it incredible that anyone, let alone a Pope, would draw such a false, unnecessary dichotomy.
But this dichotomy has a long history in the Church. See my blog to find out how long.
July 23, 2013 at 10:29 pm
This is only troubling if you take a proof-texting approach to the words of the Pope. Everything the Pope said, especially everything he says to the Church, must be understood in the light of all Catholic teaching. The "context" isn't just the other things he said in this particular address, it is everything the Church has ever taught.
With all that context, what he said really isn't troubling at all. Prayer is an action. But if we only pray for our brothers but do nothing besides pray, then our prayer rings hollow. Even contemplatives act, not even the least "active" of paths is not corporally sedentary.
Now, I completely understand being concerned with the way the Holy Father expressed it. It is open to misinterpretation, especially by those ignorant and willfully ignorant of the Catholic foundation that supports such a statement. But I think that if we have more "WTH" for the Pope than we do for an ignorant and malicious world that seeks to misinterpret his words, we have a misplaced reaction.
July 24, 2013 at 2:16 am
Good heavens aren't we all getting a little puffed up with our own hubris. I find it curious and troubling that people who condemned those who questioned previous pontiffs now feel inspired to question the present pope and nitpick for orthodoxy. Patrick, the Pope is saying exactly the same thing as is in the letter of James in the Bible. the Pope's remarks are not inelegant nor are James'. please point out what you perceive to be his unfaithful misreading of the Bible or his departure from 2000 years of Catholic teaching. the Pope deserves more respect than this.
July 24, 2013 at 2:50 am
Eric, chapter and verse, please.
July 24, 2013 at 3:04 am
We cannot give what we don't have! Action is the overflow of Prayer, ie; action proceeds from prayer, and action leads back to prayer, as Prayer replenishes the Soul and make ready more action….Ora et Labora! Action in and of itself cannot be Prayer, as Prayer makes Actions fruitful. Empty prayer improves nothing.
July 24, 2013 at 2:51 pm
The Pope said what he said. It is not for anyone to recast his words to our way of thinking, or to the Church's teachings for that matter. When this great man of "humility" learns that not every word that drops out of his mouth is infallible, he will begin to proceed with caution.