Beauty in prayer is at the heart of Jesus Youth (BJRE033)
Beauty in prayer is at the heart of Jesus Youth.
(By Dr. Edward Edezhath - Published in Kairos Magazine in 2020)
“Please stop!” Father said this gently yet firmly, and the noisy babble abruptly stopped. All were singing in tongues aloud, but it was not very pleasant to listen to. Fr Gino pointed out from Psalms that singing in the Spirit is ‘making a joyful noise to the Lord’; it should be beautiful, not irritating babble. He also took two passages from First Corinthians – ‘Spirit of the prophets are subject to prophets’ (14:32) and ‘God is not a God of confusion but of peace’ (v33). With some attention, a group can pray and sing pleasingly and nicely, but if not, it can become just an irritating loud noise.
This was 1982 during a training session for nearly a hundred youth from all over the state. All had their personal initiation into the Renewal under different preachers and had different spiritual styles. But on the first day, Father made clear that certain order and beauty, especially in prayer styles, were expected in that training. It had its effect. Everyone learned to pray nicely and started singing in the Spirit melodiously.
Opting for order and beauty
A conscious decision for order and beauty is important for a healthy community prayer. In Jesus Youth, praying together is important, but how to pray together is also significant. ‘Note how a group prays; that speaks a lot about the God they believe in and the spirituality they follow.’ St. Paul instructs his groups on how to pray together and use gifts; in the same way, we were lucky to have some animators who gave us good guidance on how to pray in fellowship.
“You have two ears to use when you sing and pray in the Spirit.” Fr Marcelino would say, “Use one ear to listen to the Spirit inside you, giving joyful melodies to sing. Use the other ear for the body of Christ and the people around. Sing along in joyful harmony with them.” There were effective practice sessions to gently listen to the music in your heart and sing out. Also, we were trained to pray in love, in harmony with all those singing around us. But some people needed help and had to be told to be a little careful about the way they sing and pray. All that worked well, often resulting in people learning to pray together beautifully.
What kills beauty in prayer
Going into a parish church one day, I was surprised and shocked to hear such wailing and shouting from inside. Half a dozen youths were in a session of “praise and worship.” Poor boys, some preachers had convinced them to praise God with ‘all their might’! The parish priest was someone I knew. He found all that quite ‘funny’ but was tolerant because these boys who would never come to church were now coming to pray. But privately, he asked me, “How long will these youth continue such ‘funny’ kind of prayer? And won’t these unnatural prayer styles make them buffoons among their friends?”.
I remembered St Paul’s words, ‘They have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened’. Their styles remained at the level of mere imitation and did not go beyond. But if only someone guided them into something beautiful! Later, I learned that they all discontinued after a few months, and the group is no longer there.
Joyous presence of God, the lifeblood of Jesus Youth
‘The way of beauty’ is so dear to Pope Benedict XVI. God speaks to us through beauty; the best path to grow closer to God and evangelize others is beauty. Beauty and joy should stand out in all that we do. With some care, we can escape the rut and make prayer beautiful.
What are some of the practical approaches to beauty in prayer?
Be attentive to the Holy Spirit: When prayer is one-way traffic, it becomes tedious. In a group, prayer becomes quite enriching if many are alive in the Spirit and the group is focused on His guidance. St. Paul instructs that when you come together, each has something to contribute, which must be done for mutual building up (1Cor14:26).
Love—sharing—participative: Experiencing God’s love and warm mutuality is at the heart of prayer. Perhaps the leader should not talk much but encourage all to talk and take steps, thus making everyone come alive in love and joy.
Closer to normal daily speech: Traditional liturgical prayer is beautiful for its solemnity and detachment, but informal community prayer should be closer to the normal tone of daily speech. Too much shouting and long artificial prayers become so out of place because they are far away from this friendly informality.
Spontaneous newness: Each prayer session is entirely beautiful and new. As the Lord tells Nicodemus, the work of the Spirit contains an element of creative surprise. But the Spirit can lead you in unexpected ways only when there is much freedom and mutual understanding in the group, which leads to each person's spontaneous use of charisms and gifts.
Finally,
David puts his heart’s yearning for prayer so nicely. He wanted so much “to dwell in the house of the Lord . . . to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Ps.27:4). According to Plato, beauty gives us a ‘healthy shock,’ drawing us out of ourselves and the rut of daily routine. In our prayer group, at the end of a beautiful prayer time, someone would say, “Go around and express your joy and love to everyone.” And that would become a big celebration. I think it should be that way, from the joyous presence of the Lord to share the beauty of love with everyone around.
1. Share an instance of irritating or upsetting prayer from your own experience.
2. In your opinion, how does group prayer become ugly or repulsive?
3. Share an experience of beautiful and well-conducted group prayer, highlighting its important elements.
4. What must your group do to make prayer more beautiful and enriching?
Topics
Elements of Prayer Group
Leading a group
Beauty in prayer
Listening to the Spirit
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