Mothers

Mothers

“On this Mother’s Day, we give thanks to God for the divine gift of motherhood in all its diverse forms. Let us pray for all the mothers among us today; for our own mothers, those living and those who have passed away;

 for the mothers who loved us and for those who fell short of loving us fully; for all who hope to be mothers someday and for those whose hopes to have children have been frustrated; for all mothers who have lost children; for all women and men who have mothered others in any way—

those who have been our substitute mothers, and we who have done so for those in need; and for the earth that bore us and provides us with our sustenance. We pray this all in the name of God, our great and loving Mother. Amen.”—Leslie Nipps in Women’s Uncommon Prayers (Morehouse, 2000), p. 364.

Sarah Kinney Gaventa wrote an excellent piece on GrowChristians.org titled “Liturgical Trapdoors: Preparing for Mother’s Day” that explores how difficult secular holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be for some people and how the Church can compound their pain.

 Having all the mothers stand up in church can be painful for those undergoing fertility treatments. People with unhappy childhoods may have difficulty comparing the love of a mother or father with the love of God.

So many people come to spiritual direction to grapple with these very issues.

Gaventa offers this more universal prayer for mothers from Women’s Uncommon Prayers as a starting point. We know the love of God through other people, but when a standard is presented for a specific role, such as mother or father, and ours does not fit, we can become even more wounded.

Gaventa suggests we talk more about the feminine aspects of God and Jesus. We can discuss God caring for us as a mother without criticizing human mothers who have fallen short.

She also reminds us that Ann Jarvis, the woman who started the Mother’s Day movement during the Civil War, was a peace activist. Perhaps one way to honor all mothers is to suggest a peace outreach project so that mothers would never again have to send their fathers, husbands, sons, and daughters to war.

Joanna joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

Modified Prayer of St. Francis

Wolfe: Modified Prayer of St. Francis

This week, we discussed the classic book on personality types and prayer styles, Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types, by Monsignor Chester P. Michael and Marie C. Norrisey. The book is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment and explains five types of personal prayer developed over the centuries.

If your prayer type is Augustinian (Intuition, Feeling NF)—which finds prayer most meaningful when Scripture or a message is written for you or speaks directly to you—this adaptation of the Prayer of St. Francis may suit you. In this prayer, adapted by spiritual director Jane Wolfe, God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit prays and speaks directly to you. Jane’s premise is that we can turn any petition into listening, thanksgiving, and praise.

On the other hand, the more traditional version of the Prayer of St. Francis may be more meaningful to you when you pray directly to God. I have also included it.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Jane Wolfe’s modification of the St. Francis Prayer

Use Jane’s adaptation as a monthly reading, especially during Advent or Lent. Read one line each day for two days, as if God/Christ/Holy Spirit/your Higher Power were speaking it to you. Then begin again on the first day of each month.

1. I am the instrument of your peace.

2. Where there is hatred, I sow love.

3. Where there is injury, I pardon.

4. Where there is discord, I bring union.

5. Where there is doubt, I give faith.

6. Where there is despair, I bring hope.

7. Where there is darkness, I bring light.

8. Where there is sadness, I bring joy.

9. I console you.

10. I understand you.

11. I love you.

12. I give myself to you.

13. I pardon you.

14. I die for you.

15. I give you eternal life.

Our Personality and Our Prayer Life

Our Personality and Our Prayer Life

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types, which describes personality preferences in four areas: 

Energy Source. Introverts (I) get energy from within, while extroverts (E) get it from outside.

Information Method. Sensing (S) people gather factual data, while intuitive (N) people consider possibilities.

Decision Making. Thinking (T) people decide what is logical, while feeling (F) people decide based on relationships and what is of value.

World View. Judging (J) people approach the world in a planned, organized way, seeking closure when a problem arises, while Perceiving (P) people are more flexible and spontaneous, keeping options open. When a problem arises, they continue gathering data.—Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey in Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types (Open Door, Inc., 1991).

We have discussed how understanding the Myers-Briggs personality types can help us live life on life’s terms. The classic book Prayer and Temperament explains how the Myers-Briggs test is helpful in our spiritual life, especially in deciding how to pray. Lectio Divina, or Benedictine Prayer, is suitable for all personality types. 

Augustinian Prayer emphasizes feeling and intuition, which may suit the NF temperament best.

The basic temperament of SP may best respond to Franciscan or to the prayer used by St. Francis.

Those with a temperament oriented toward truth, competency, and learning (NT) may best pray using the Thomistic or Dominican spirituality of Thomas Aquinas.

The SJ temperament most readily understands the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, but NT and NF temperaments may also find them a rewarding form of prayer.

Ignatian prayer projects us into a scene, while Augustinian prayer transposes the words of the Bible so that the Bible speaks directly to us.

Those practicing Franciscan Prayer (SP) must be free and able to go wherever the Spirit moves them. Their prayer leads to action, and their action is prayer. Therefore, they cannot endure long periods of silence.

Those who best practice Thomistic Prayer (NT) are logical and orderly, thirst for truth, and approach prayer almost like a scientific project or mystery to be solved.

Prayer became a mainstay for so many during the past pandemic and social unrest. We learned several more ways to pray to enrich that time. We will talk more about it tomorrow.

Joanna Seibert   https://www.joannaseibert.com/