Tuesday, Week 16 (C)

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD:
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

Ex 14:21—15:1

“Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.” This song is of praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving are one of the 4 kinds of prayer, while singing is one mode of praying.

What are the modes of praying?

The first I call body prayer. It’s either static or dynamic. Static prayer refers to maintaining a posture such as kneeling, prostration or hands raised to heaven. When I was in Korea, I saw how Koreans prostrated in prayer at the shrine of their martyrs. Dynamic body prayer can take the form of a dance or body movements accompanied by a song or instrumental music. I consider walking ever so slowly (Zen-inspired) while praying to be a dynamic body prayer.

A second mode is singing. St. Ambrose, the great bishop of Milan said that he who sings prays twice. We’re not only talking here about singing during the Mass. During my 30-day retreat I used to pray by singing “Huwag Kang Manamba” and “Pilgrim's Theme”.

A third is writing. I pray by writing my prayer in my journal. Fr. Philip Rinaldi (The cause of his canonization has been introduced.) used to pray for his inten-tions by writing them on a piece of paper and putting them under the statue of Mary, Help of Christians.

And then there is the common mode of praying: mental and oral. St. Teresa of Avila has this advice to give to those who have trouble praying mentally (medita-tion and contemplation): pray using the traditional formula prayers (Our Father) or those prayers composed by

What are the traditional kinds of prayer?

They are ACTS. Adoration, Contri-tion, Thanksgiving and Supplication.

Adoration is acknowledging God as God. This was what Job did when he prayed: “The Lord has given. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Contrition is saying sorry. The act of contrition during confession is an exam-ple. The penitential rite during the Mass is another example. In our community, we pray the rosary walking up and down the corridor after washing the dishes after supper. After the Hail Holy Queen, the leader says: “Examination of Conscience.” After a few moments of silence, we pray the act of contrition.

Thanksgiving is saying thank you. Morning and evening prayers are oppor-tunities for giving thanks. In the morning we thank God for being alive. At the end of the day, we thank God for the blessings received. Perhaps we are guilty of not saying “thank you” to God often enough.

And finally, there is supplication. Supplications are petitions and requests made to God and through the intercession of those on earth, in heaven and in purgatory. I bet we don’t run out of prayer of supplication.

Why did I talk about all this?

We don’t enjoy food that is tasteless. To make food tasty we sometimes have to add spices and condiments such as pepper, or salt, or patis (fish sauce), or toyo (soy sauce), catsup and vinegar.

To enjoy our prayer, to give life to our prayer, it might help if we were to add some condiments to our prayer. The modes of praying and the kinds of prayer might do just that.

Why don’t you experiment? See what works for you. Do it today.

Buon appetito!