Our Bodies at Prayer

By Artur Suski, S.J.

Photo: http://worldmissions.ag.org

“In the celebration of Mass we raise our hearts, minds and voices to God, but we are creatures composed of body as well as spirit and so our prayer is not confined to our minds, hearts and voices, but is expressed by our bodies as well. When our bodies participate in our prayer we pray with our whole person, as the embodied spirits God created us to be, and this engagement of our entire being in prayer helps us to pray with greater attention.” - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Lent is a time when we stop and ponder our hearts' intentions. We give up one thing; we embrace another. Among other things, then, Lent is a time to examine what we do and why we do it. The bottom line is: where is my heart? The Lord said to his disciples: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). This simple reflection brought me to the topic of prayer and the role of our bodies in prayer.

Much Ado About Nothing

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

(credit: http://ja.wikipedia.org)

After my annual eight-day retreat in Montréal about two weeks ago, I decided to stick around for a few more days to visit friends. During those days, I was twice taken out to all-you-can-eat restaurants. Although I enjoyed the company very much, I felt ill at ease during the meals. It wasn't that the food was mouldy and disgusting, but it was rather the idea behind the all-you-can-eat or buffet concept that was jarring.

During my younger days in Vancouver, I used to enjoy these kind of meals quite a bit. After all, you can get a great quantity of food from a large selection for a fixed price. You may as well get your money worth, no? One example of that was Japanese food; it meant that I could have all the salmon sashimi that I had ever wanted. Then, somewhere down the road, I began to reflect on this experience of eating in general.