Prayer—Consistency Matters More Than Method

"In a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." (1 Cor. 9:24)

When I talk to Catholics about their spirituality, one of the most common complaints I hear is that they are unhappy with their prayer life. It is very rare for me to speak to someone who says, "Why yes, I am happy and fulfilled with my prayer life!" The vast majority of people express disappointment with the quality of their prayers. The complaints are legion—they don't know what to say, prayer feels dry or forced, they can't stay focused, they don't feel like it accomplishes anything, they are bored with the fixed prayers but don't feel eloquent enough for spontaneous prayer, they get tired, don't have time, haven't found a method they like, and so on. When it comes to prayer, nothing seems to be going right for them.

The Worship Compass

I recently did an article featured on the Pelican Brief entitled "The Charismatic-to-Trad Pipeline," which discussed how, for all their differences, traditional Catholics and charismatic Catholics actually have a similarity in their shared belief that worship should be transcendent, which accounts for why so many traditional Catholics are former charismatics. From the article:

Theater on Both Sides of the Tiber: The SSPX Consecrations and Leo XIV

Thinking about the sad events of the last week, I could not help but be struck by the complete failure of negotiations on both sides. The back-and-forth leading up to the July 1 SSPX consecrations in Écône felt like the tortured counseling session of a couple who have already decided to divorce but are giving marriage counseling the old college try merely to save appearances. This is a suspicion I would like to examine here by looking at the behavior of both sides leading up to the consecrations on July 1.

Any kind of successful negotiation requires compromise from both sides, otherwise it is not a negotiation at all but just dictation of terms, two sides shouting at each other. From my perspective, I did not see any meaningful compromise in these discussions, especially from the Society but also from Pope Leo. It's like they tried nothing and were all out of ideas. We shall consider each in turn.