The Spiritual Disciplines: The Wings of Prayer

Almsgiving, fasting, and prayer: these are the three essential disciplines that every Christian must practice if we are to have any hope of resisting evil. Our Lord himself in the Sermon on the Mount commends these disciplines to us.

Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21

“Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  “Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

There is one reason that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; one reason our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross… one reason why he rose victorious from the grave. That one reason is this: to save us from sin. The sin of our ancestors, and yes, our own sin.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds [we] have been healed.” (1 Peter 2.24)

Sin is the universal problem.  It leads to death.

Jesus is the universal solution.  He gives us life.

The Christian life is a constant struggle to choose Jesus and resist sin. We know that in Christ is our life. And yet so often, as Jesus says to his disciples, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The great irony of sin is that while we can get ourselves into it, we cannot get ourselves out of it. The Rev. Dr. E.B. Pusey, one of the great spiritual lights of the Oxford Movement, writes, “We cannot give ourselves any grace: but we have the fearful power of not asking for it…What we have made ourselves, we cannot ourselves unmake.”

What Dr. Pusey is saying is that we cannot remove the effects of our own sin.  For this we can only throw ourselves at the mercy of God and beg His forgiveness.  And in so doing, we are comforted by the promise that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1.9)

Repentance is the only road to forgiveness. In fact, there are only two kinds of sinners: penitent and impenitent. The cry of the penitent sinner is the cry of the psalmist who says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

In our baptismal covenant each one of us promises to “persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.”  The season of Lent is a special opportunity to do just this: persevere in resisting evil, and repent of the sins we have committed. In the ancient world a person covered himself in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of his deep remorse and heartfelt sorrow for his sin.  The ashes with which we mark our foreheads on Ash Wednesday serve the very same purpose; they are a sign of deep remorse and heartfelt sorrow for our sin.

For those of us who practice sacramental confession as part of a rule of life, Lent is an important time for confession and spiritual direction.  If you do not practice sacramental confession as part of your rule of life, Lent is a good opportunity to consider beginning that spiritual discipline.

Repentance is what we do when we sin, but what about preventing sin?

No serious athlete or soldier engages in competition or battle without first dedicating themselves to rigorous training and preparation.  Even with the best training and preparation, victory is not guaranteed.  But to engage without any training at all is almost certain failure.

The Christian life and our battle against sin is no different — except that the stakes couldn’t be any higher.  To engage in this battle against sin without any training is almost certain failure.  How then do we train to resist evil?  There are three essential disciplines that every Christian ought to practice.

Almsgiving helps us turn from the attractions of the world. Fasting helps us to control the desires of the flesh. Prayer helps us to defeat the wiles of Satan.

Almsgiving, fasting, and prayer: these are the three essential disciplines that every Christian must practice if we are to have any hope of resisting evil. Our Lord himself in the Sermon on the Mount commends these disciplines to us: “when you give alms, when you fast, when you pray.”

Almsgiving strengthens our love of others.

Fasting strengthens our denial of self.

Prayer strengthens our devotion to God.

These three disciplines go together.  They are not meant to stand in isolation.

Vernon Staley in The Catholic Religion writes:  “It is not uncommon for Christians who pray, to omit the kindred duties of fasting and almsgiving.  This is clearly wrong, for our Blessed Lord has coupled them with prayer; Fasting and Almsgiving are the wings of Prayer.”

The wings of prayer! Now that’s an amazing thought.

How often do we pray?  How often do we give alms?  How often do we fast?  Each one of these spiritual disciplines ought to be a regular part of every Christian’s Rule of Life.

Now of these three, probably the most foreign to our culture is fasting.  Why do we fast?  What does it have to do with resisting evil?

Again from Staley’s Catholic Religion: “The object of fasting is that the flesh may be subdued to the spirit; in other words, that the body may become an apt and willing minister to the soul.  St. Leo the Great wrote, “A man has true freedom when his flesh is ruled by the judgment of his mind, and his mind is directed by the government of God… If we are able to deny ourselves in things lawful, we shall be better able to deny ourselves in things unlawful.”

The point of fasting is to discipline our bodies to be completely obedient to our souls, so that when our souls are completely obedient to God, everything is in its proper place.

So often our souls are in the right place — desirous of loving and obeying God — and yet we still fall prey to sin.  It is because our souls are not in control of our bodies.  The discipline of fasting seeks to correct this.

Confession of sin, almsgiving, fasting, and prayer: all these spiritual disciplines ought to be a regular part of every Christian’s Rule of Life. Our Lenten Rule is merely an opportunity to focus and enhance our year-round Rule.

If you have a Rule of Life and have been successful in keeping it, God bless you!  Lent is a good opportunity to add a little more to your rule.

If you have a Rule of Life and have struggled to keep it, welcome to the club!  Lent is a good opportunity to focus on keeping that rule.

If you do not have a Rule of Life, Lent is the perfect opportunity to begin one.

Yes, the season of Lent is an equal opportunity season.

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?  Yes, we will — with God’s help.

Related posts:

1. Ash Wednesday
2. The Spiritual Disciplines: Praying the Daily Office
3. What Is Prayer? (2): God Is Not a Vending Machine
4. The Anglican Rosary as a Spiritual Discipline
5. Lessons from Fasting Failure

One Response to “The Spiritual Disciplines: The Wings of Prayer”

1. Ali says:

   February 18, 2010 at 6:48 am

   Another wonderful post. As a convert to Orthodox Christianity, I understand the importance of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. During Lent and other fasting seasons, these three aspects of our Christian life are emphasized a great deal. I do struggle with the fasting requirements and have not always been able to maintain them with rigor. I am also beginning to understand the importance of almsgiving as I grow in my faith.

   The prayer piece, however, has always been the one I have focused on the most. As I mature, I have really desired to maintain a more disciplined rule of prayer. I follow a lectionary and try to read from the Old and New Testaments daily; I also am beginning to enjoy reading/praying the psalms, which are so beautiful and heartfelt. It is not always easy to maintain this rule because of the fact that I have a full-time job, outside interests, and a social life. But I have found that if I now miss my prayer and reading, I do not approach the day in the same fashion. My personal prayer life has really come to mean a great deal to me. In fact, when I first converted, I could not imagine that I would want to get up even 20 minutes earlier to pray some psalms and read from the New Testament. And now, I miss that portion of my prayer time!

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