Prier en temps d’épidémie
Je vais prendre le temps d’écrire quelque chose à ce propos.
Je vois passer tellement de conneries sur les réseaux sociaux, dans
les communiqués épiscopaux, dans les initiatives paroissiales ou communautaires.
Je vois aussi passer, en ces mêmes lieux, beaucoup de propositions,
réflexions, actions frappées au coin du bon sens de l’incarnation.
Devant l’inconnu, l’inconnu qui effraie ou au minimum inquiète, il
n’est pas étonnant que l’on crie vers « ce que tout le monde appelle dieu ».
Reste à savoir si « ce que tous appellent dieu » désigne aussi le
Dieu de Jésus.
Vous me direz, le Dieu de Jésus, il n’est pas du genre à se
formaliser des prières tordues, des superstitions, de la magie. Il aime. Alors,
tous les appels au secours, il fait comme s’ils lui étaient adressés.
Ce qui est plus curieux, c’est quand les « spécialistes »
de la foi chrétienne, on va dire ceux qui ont paraît-il l’habitude de prier
(mais prier peut-il relever de l’habitude ?, c’est toujours nouveau) et
ceux qui sont chargés de servir les communautés, retournent sans coup férir à
la superstition la plus païenne, drapés cependant des oripeaux de l’orthodoxie.
Il est trop tôt, il sera trop tôt le 25 mars, pour faire sonner les
cloches. Je comprends que l’on ait envie de montrer qu’on est vivant. Mais pour
l’heure, trop meurent et vont mourir d’ici-là.
Il est inutile de lancer une neuvaine et de s’alarmer de ce que
Lourdes ferme ses grilles. On s’en fout. Ou plutôt, c’est normal. On a dit Confinement, on a dit Restez chez vous. Lourdes ou le sex-shop du quartier glauque derrière la gare,
même régime !
Ces ecclésiastiques et leurs appels pour mobiliser les troupes sont
aussi nuls que les autres. Il n’y a pas de troupe à mobiliser, mais des
communautés empêchées de se retrouver à conforter, une mission contrariée à réinventer.
Il faut faire quelque chose. Mais non. Il n'y a rien à faire. Et la
prière n'est surtout pas un truc à faire. C'est l'expérience de la passivité.
Qu'ils prêchent plutôt sur ce qu'est prier. Mais ils ne prient pas.
Ils sont païens. Quelle calamité !
François Cassingena-Trévedy citait Pascal sur FaceBook, il y a
quelques heures. "Rien n'est si insupportable à l'homme que d'être dans un
plein repos, sans passions, sans affaire, sans divertissement, sans
application. Il sent alors son néant, son abandon, son insuffisance, sa
dépendance, son impuissance, son vide. Incontinent il sortira du fond de son
âme l'ennui, la noirceur, la tristesse, le chagrin, le dépit, le désespoir…
Quand je m'y suis mis, quelquefois, à considérer les diverses agitations des
hommes, et les périls et les peines où ils s'exposent (…), j'ai découvert que
tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas
demeurer en repos, dans une chambre." Le comble, faire de la prière de
quoi éviter le "demeurer en repos."
Je recommande son commentaire.
Il n'y a qu'une urgence, la charité. Inventer comment vivre le
service des autres, l'amour quoi, en temps de confinement. Là, des idées et initiatives
seraient les bienvenues ! Il en existe déjà. Une créativité assez incroyable
d'ailleurs.
Le Secours Catholique a lancé un appel. Que fera-t-on avec et pour
les migrants, les détenus, les gens à la rue, etc. ?
On se prend à rêver. Si le message des évêques avait été en faveur
de toutes ces personnes, plutôt qu'une neuvaine.
Et surtout, qu'on s'abstienne de réfléchir à ce que Dieu veut nous
dire avec ce virus. Dieu ne veut rien nous dire avec ce virus, ni avec cette
épreuve. Il reste silencieux. Il aime. Il aime sans condition. Et on aimerait
que ses thuriféraires en fassent autant.
La prière, ce n'est pas une activité. C'est un cri, un silence ou
un chant.
Et parfois, pour crier et chanter, les mots manquent. Une bougie
peut venir à la rescousse. Parfois, pour rester en silence, fixer son regard sur le feu ou la flamme, il n'y a rien de mieux.
La prière, ce n'est pas pour lutter contre
l'épidémie. C'est pour rien, d'ailleurs. La gratuité, la grâce, est son
univers.
Merci comme toujours à Jean François Garneau pour la traduction.
On the meaning of prayer, during an epidemic.
I'm going to take the time to write something thoughtful about this topic. For there is just too much bullshit currently published on this topic, not only through social networks but through episcopal press releases, parish or community initiatives, etc.
Needless to say that there is also many proposals, reflections and actions being publicized, through the same channels, that strike me as full of a sound understanding of what incarnation means.
Faced with an unknown that is at the very least worrisome, if not frightening, one should not be surprised to see people cry for help towards "what everyone calls god". It remains to be seen whether "what everyone calls god" is also the sort of thing that designates the God that Jesus came to reveal.
Some might say that the God of Jesus is not of the sort to formalize himself too much with crooked prayers, superstitions, and magic. He loves. So he’ll understand all these calls for help as if they had been addressed to him.
What is more curious, however, is when the so-called “specialists” of the Christian faith, those of whom it is claimed that they are “in the habit of” praying (as if praying was a matter of habit, when it should always be something new), not to mention those whose job it is to be responsible for serving communities of faithful, bless this superstitious use of prayer by draping it into the clothes of orthodoxy.
It is too early, and it will still be too early, on March 25, to ring the bells in one big expression of thankful relief. And I understand fully that, in the meantime, we the faithful want to show the world that we are alive. But for now, too many are dying and will die to think and act wrongheadedly.
It is totally useless to throw a novena against the epidemics or be alarmed that the Lourdes sanctuary will close its gates. We should not care. Or rather, it's absolutely normal that it should happen. The operation is called “containment”, the motto used is “Stay home!” Both are meant to apply to the Lourdes sanctuary as to the creepy neighborhood sex shop behind the train station. Both fall under the same general policy!
All those clergymen with their calls to mobilize the troops are just as pointless as the others. There is no troop to mobilize. All there is are communities prevented to find comfort in one another, a thwarted mission in need of reinvention.
Yet surely something is to be done. But no. There is nothing to be done. And prayer is especially not a thing to do. It is the experience not of activity, but of passivity. If only those clergymen were to preach on what it means to pray.
But they do not know what it is for a Christian to pray. They are pagans. What a calamity!
François Cassingena-Trévedy quoted Pascal on FaceBook a few hours ago. “Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be completely at rest, without passion, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his loneliness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. At once, from the depth of his soul, will arise weariness, gloom, sadness, vexation, disappointment, despair… Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be completely at rest, without passion, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his loneliness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. When I have set myself now and then to consider the various distractions of men, the toils and dangers to which they expose themselves in the court or the camp, whence arise so many quarrels and passions, such daring and often such evil exploits, etc., I have discovered that all the misfortunes of men arise from one thing only, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own chamber.”
Just imagine what Pascal would think of using prayer to avoid being confronted with the “need to remain at rest, passive.”
I recommend reading François Cassingena-Trévedy’s entire comment of the above Pascal quote, which can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/francois.cassingenatrevedy/posts/3127356490822169
There is only one emergency, and it is that of charity. This amounts to finding the ways to live ever more at the service of others, which is nothing else than to love, in these days of confinement. That’s the sort of ideas and initiatives that would be most welcome! Many already exist anyway, the proof of quite an impressive form creativity, by the way.
The Secours Catholique (France’s Catholic Charities) has launched an appeal on this topic. What will we do with and for migrants, detainees, people on the street, etc.?
We catch ourselves starting to dream. If the message of the bishops had been in favor of all these people, rather than in favor of a novena…
And let’s refrain, above all, from thinking about what God wants to tell us with this virus. God does not want to tell us anything with this virus, nor with this test of our motivations. Our God, the God of Christ, remains silent on these matters. His business is to love, not to provide meaning nor to test our souls. He loves unconditionally. And we would appreciate that those who claim to be his devoted prophets start to do the same.
Prayer is not a sort of action. It is a cry, a silence or a song.
And sometimes, in order to cry out and to sing, words fail. A candle can come to the rescue. Sometimes, there is nothing better to do than to fix our gaze on the fire or the flame of that candle, in order to remain still, in silence.
Prayer is not a mean to fight an epidemics. As a matter of fact, prayer has no purpose at all, from a worldly point of view. Its universe is not that of usefulness, but that of gratuitousness, that of grace.
Merci comme toujours à Jean François Garneau pour la traduction.
On the meaning of prayer, during an epidemic.
I'm going to take the time to write something thoughtful about this topic. For there is just too much bullshit currently published on this topic, not only through social networks but through episcopal press releases, parish or community initiatives, etc.
Needless to say that there is also many proposals, reflections and actions being publicized, through the same channels, that strike me as full of a sound understanding of what incarnation means.
Faced with an unknown that is at the very least worrisome, if not frightening, one should not be surprised to see people cry for help towards "what everyone calls god". It remains to be seen whether "what everyone calls god" is also the sort of thing that designates the God that Jesus came to reveal.
Some might say that the God of Jesus is not of the sort to formalize himself too much with crooked prayers, superstitions, and magic. He loves. So he’ll understand all these calls for help as if they had been addressed to him.
What is more curious, however, is when the so-called “specialists” of the Christian faith, those of whom it is claimed that they are “in the habit of” praying (as if praying was a matter of habit, when it should always be something new), not to mention those whose job it is to be responsible for serving communities of faithful, bless this superstitious use of prayer by draping it into the clothes of orthodoxy.
It is too early, and it will still be too early, on March 25, to ring the bells in one big expression of thankful relief. And I understand fully that, in the meantime, we the faithful want to show the world that we are alive. But for now, too many are dying and will die to think and act wrongheadedly.
It is totally useless to throw a novena against the epidemics or be alarmed that the Lourdes sanctuary will close its gates. We should not care. Or rather, it's absolutely normal that it should happen. The operation is called “containment”, the motto used is “Stay home!” Both are meant to apply to the Lourdes sanctuary as to the creepy neighborhood sex shop behind the train station. Both fall under the same general policy!
All those clergymen with their calls to mobilize the troops are just as pointless as the others. There is no troop to mobilize. All there is are communities prevented to find comfort in one another, a thwarted mission in need of reinvention.
Yet surely something is to be done. But no. There is nothing to be done. And prayer is especially not a thing to do. It is the experience not of activity, but of passivity. If only those clergymen were to preach on what it means to pray.
But they do not know what it is for a Christian to pray. They are pagans. What a calamity!
François Cassingena-Trévedy quoted Pascal on FaceBook a few hours ago. “Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be completely at rest, without passion, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his loneliness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. At once, from the depth of his soul, will arise weariness, gloom, sadness, vexation, disappointment, despair… Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be completely at rest, without passion, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his loneliness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. When I have set myself now and then to consider the various distractions of men, the toils and dangers to which they expose themselves in the court or the camp, whence arise so many quarrels and passions, such daring and often such evil exploits, etc., I have discovered that all the misfortunes of men arise from one thing only, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own chamber.”
Just imagine what Pascal would think of using prayer to avoid being confronted with the “need to remain at rest, passive.”
I recommend reading François Cassingena-Trévedy’s entire comment of the above Pascal quote, which can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/francois.cassingenatrevedy/posts/3127356490822169
There is only one emergency, and it is that of charity. This amounts to finding the ways to live ever more at the service of others, which is nothing else than to love, in these days of confinement. That’s the sort of ideas and initiatives that would be most welcome! Many already exist anyway, the proof of quite an impressive form creativity, by the way.
The Secours Catholique (France’s Catholic Charities) has launched an appeal on this topic. What will we do with and for migrants, detainees, people on the street, etc.?
We catch ourselves starting to dream. If the message of the bishops had been in favor of all these people, rather than in favor of a novena…
And let’s refrain, above all, from thinking about what God wants to tell us with this virus. God does not want to tell us anything with this virus, nor with this test of our motivations. Our God, the God of Christ, remains silent on these matters. His business is to love, not to provide meaning nor to test our souls. He loves unconditionally. And we would appreciate that those who claim to be his devoted prophets start to do the same.
Prayer is not a sort of action. It is a cry, a silence or a song.
And sometimes, in order to cry out and to sing, words fail. A candle can come to the rescue. Sometimes, there is nothing better to do than to fix our gaze on the fire or the flame of that candle, in order to remain still, in silence.
Prayer is not a mean to fight an epidemics. As a matter of fact, prayer has no purpose at all, from a worldly point of view. Its universe is not that of usefulness, but that of gratuitousness, that of grace.
Complètement d'accord pour ce qui est dit sur la prière. Ne pas oublier qui appelle le premier, que c'est Dieu qui crie d'abord pour se faire entendre dans nos intérieurs repliés et nos vies solitaires. Mais la citation de Pascal n'est pas très opportune ou en tout cas pas généralisable. Des millions, et j'en suis, ont des enfants à la maison qui tournent et s'inquiètent. Des millions, et j'en suis entouré, travaillent pour la santé et pour assurer à tous le minimum. Nous ne sommes pas dans le temps du repos mais dans celui d'une mobilisation très forte. Prier aujourd'hui ? Pour ne pas oublier que tout cela passera et que seul restera ce qui ne passera jamais.
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