Pray First and You Will Turn from Sin

A common message in Catholic circles needs to be confronted and eliminated

I want you to look at the top tweet above. Do we still call them tweets, by the way? Notice what it says. Do you agree with it? I have serious problems with it. This tweet reflects an attitude in Catholicism that we must change.

Notice who is doing the action in this tweet. It is “we”. All the work in order to find the path to holiness is on us, granted with God’s, help in this tweet. The bishop teaches we must turn from social media, relationships and habits leading us away from holiness, virtue and purity. So, we must work hard so that we do not walk away from where God wants us.

Where is God

So where is God in all of this? Do we believe in a Deist god who remains passive in our lives or do we believe in the Trinity actively leading us to salvation? I believe the latter and I, obviously, believe that Bishop Burbidge does too, as demonstrated in the second tweet. However, this top tweet is a typical message that puts all the onus on us. It is the anthem of a superficial form of Catholicism all too common in popular, traditional practices.

I think it is time to raise a critical voice against this form of American Catholicism. It is all focused on working to be sinless. It has no focus on the need to pray to God to help us be His witnesses in our lives as the lower tweet does.

Catholicism is a co-operative effort

Catholicism is a co-operative effort. In fact, the moment that defines our faith—receiving the Eucharist—is through God’s initiation. He seeks to commune with us in the most intimate way in his son’s Body and Blood. We receive communion in response to his invitation.

If you look at the bottom tweet above, you will see the co-operative effort that truly is Catholicism. Ask God for the grace so you will be an instrument of unity and harmony. As the bishop indicates here: we need to pray, first.

Traditional Catholicism lost this and there is instead a focus on doing what we need to do to become holy and to get to Heaven. Notice the word prayer is not in the top tweet above.

While Catholics do pray, we also need to deepen among American Catholics the skill of prayer. We want our focus on this deep relationship with God and so that we may come to realize our life is a co-operative effort. God reaches out to us and we respond. The Father sends His Son to bring us salvation and the Holy Spirit to guide us on our journey. We listen, obey and serve in love.

Bringing life into American Catholicism

Our American Catholicism turned too static, stale and even self-righteous—led by members of a legalistic Catholic media empire promoting the extraordinary form of the Mass as the only legitimate choice. Catholicism without prayer is an atheist path to following Catholic rules so that we may grow in virtue. It is not what our vocation actually is supposed to be. Christ calls us at our baptism to live prophetically in our daily lives. Our vocation is to become signs of the kingdom but some cast it away for following rules. This must end. We follow rules in love and service to God, not because they are rules and not solely in order that we may be saved.

How do we follow the true path? Well, what did Jesus do? He prayed every day. Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, yet every day He needed to commune with the Father. That is the path to walk. If we turn to Christ, we will turn from sin. The more we turn to Christ, the more we turn from sin. If we turn to the the starboard side, we will by default turn our back to the port side. Therefore, every degree to starboard we move, is one more degree away from port. Every degree you turn towards Christ, you turn one more degree away from sin.

If you want to turn from sin, seek Christ first. Jesus Himself taught this (cf Mt 6:33)— “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” Be dedicated to prayer and seek His will in your life. Otherwise, you risk becoming like those who seek to live a life without sin but have no knowledge of Christ. They can end up bragging to God of how holy they are, while we hear him respond: “I never knew you.”

You can read on Catholic forums online Catholics seeking to be sinless. No one is sinless. Christ is calling us to be more docile to his grace which transforms us. Many believe the goal is to be without sin. No it is not. The goal is for Christ to say to us at the end of our lives: “Well done my good and faithful servant.” We get nothing for arriving believing we have no sin. It is not that He wants us to sin but if you are focused on not sinning then you are not focused on doing His will in your life. His will begins with daily prayer.

Our vocation to be prayerful

We have a vocation to be prayerful people who do as St. Paul demands in Romans 12:2 allow our mind to be renewed. The Church teaches us to pray every day, good prayer and not just an Our Father as we are drinking coffee. Our baptismal call commissions us to live prophetically and prophets pray.

We need to spend time even schedule it every day where we pray, we read, and we commune with God. If we do not understand that and seek to live a sinless life, we will fail on all counts and live a Catholicism without love. We will be nothing but a spiritual version of the body builders at muscle beach. We work to get rid of sin in our lives, then live a Catholic version of proudly displaying our accomplishment only to learn Jesus does not know us.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is again a co-operative effort. We come to the Lord seeking to be free from sin. We ask for His forgiveness and grace to be stronger witnesses.

My parishioners at St. Anthony know well that I absolutely reject any kind of focus on turning from sin that excludes prayer.

You are working hard to be sinless? Doctor of the Church St. Alphonsus Liguori taught long ago in Eighteenth Century Europe it is in being faithful at prayer that leads us to salvation.

“He who prays is certainly saved. He who prays not is certainly damned.”

“Hence, it is that the generality of theologians, following St. Blais, St. Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach that prayer is necessary to adults, not only because of the obligation of the precent (as they say) but because it is necessary as a means of salvation. “

St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, Aeterna Press, 2015, p22, p10 respectively. Kindle version

Seek first the Kingdom of God through prayer and and sin will decrease in your life by default.

Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God’s word and the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial life. #262 Evangelii Gaudium

Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA

The parish podcast is at https://catholicaudiomedia.com