Thursday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Kings 18:41-46 | Psalm 64:10-13 | Matthew 5:20-26
While Ahab went back to eat and drink, Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel and bowed down to the earth, putting his face between his knees. (1 Kings 18:42)
Modern prayer often goes something like this:
<kneel> <sign of the cross>
Dear Lord, I am unworthy to ask this of you, but please do XYZ for me. Thank you, Lord.
<sign of the cross> <stand> <disappear on errand>
We usually have many demands on our time, so we tend to make our prayers quick and to the point. It’s good that we pray at all, but we barely stop to listen to what God has to tell us in return.
Last night, I found out that a friend of mine would be going into surgery in a few days to remove a brain tumour. It has been a while since I’d engaged in fervent prayer, and this was as good a reason as any to take the necessary time.
And since it was a matter of some severity, I tried to prostrate myself before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, just as Elijah prostrated himself before God on Mount Carmel. It was an interesting experience.
First, my back tensed up as I arched forward to place my face as close to my knees as possible. I had to consciously relax my back muscles to make any headway.
Then, my belly started interfering with normal breathing. There wasn’t much I could do about that, so I took shallow breaths.
Then my ankles started complaining, so I shifted my weight forward to relieve them of some load.
But it was the rush of blood to my head that surprised me. Suddenly, my hearing seemed just a little more keen, and my brain started to tingle with the awareness of just how small I’d made myself before God. I was no longer thinking about the day I’d had, or what I’d be writing in this blog; it was just God and me…in a really quite uncomfortable position.
After a minute or so, I had to admit defeat – the physical sensations was starting to overwhelm my mental focus. I now realize one pragmatic reason why priests and deacons go completely flat in prostration: it moderates the discomfort and may actually better help them focus on becoming one in mind and body with the Lord’s sufferings, rather than gasping for air or cramping up at an unfortunate moment.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
As far as I know, Catholic rubrics do not prescribe prostration for the faithful. I think it has its place, though, in the solitude of night prayer at home. Here, without the press of temporal urgency, we could occasionally spend a proper interval, not sitting comfortably erect in a chair, or kneeling upright, but prostrated in utter humility before Him.
Down on the floor, with ribs and stomach pressing against cold tile, we should remain awake long enough to thank Him for the graces and guidance of today, and open ourselves to blessed silence, out of which God may point us in the direction He wishes us to head tomorrow.
I believe it would also be a more appropriate posture for serious beseeching, like for a safe operation and a speedy recovery for a dear friend. Pleading in a comfortable chair seems just too incongruous to me.
At least, that’s the theory. I’ll be testing it out over the next few nights.