PRAISE: ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S EXISTENCE

By Frank Savadera, SJ

While reflecting on the questions “Have I really praised God?” and “What has been missing in my prayer?,” I’ve felt the need to refer to descriptions of prayer made by Gary Anderson in the article entitled “The Praise of God as a Cultic Event.”

Anderson describes ‘praising God’ as ‘cultic,’ that is, having its roots in the life, worship and piety of Israel as a people. He associates the Psalms of Praise to the generous use of verbs of vocal expressions such as ‘REJOICE’ or ‘Hallelujah.’ Apparently, praising is more than a mental process. It becomes a movement outside oneself and finds expressions in very tangible actions like singing, dancing and active communal worshiping. It is indeed a joyful event which is almost accompanied by some forms of sacrifice. Simply put, “praise” according to Anderson is a public and “vowed” procla

mation of Yahweh’s faithfulness.

In all honesty, I must say that I haven’t prayed and praised God this way in a very long time. Prior to entering the Society of Jesus, I’ve encountered such a public way of praising God as a member of the “Ligaya ng Panginoon” (Joy of the Lord), a covenanted, charismatic community for the lay faithful. I also must admit that Ignatian spirituality has taught me to be more “private” and “silent” in my prayer.

How do I feel about such a sudden digression in the way I pray? In time, I’ve learned to appreciate being alone with my God. Our recollections and retreats often lead us to approximate the Manresa experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola. But then I know that I’m accustomed as well to communal worship … to singing and clapping, to raising one’s hands in prayer … to openly verbalizing my personal prayer … to speaking and singing in tongues … to attentive listening to God’s words for me and my community … to prophesying … to simply feeling the energy of the Spirit reverberating in a room full of community members vocally expressing their prayers to God. This type of praying, to my mind also subscribes to P. Humbert’s invitation to communal praise which addresses a “gathered assembly” and presumes a public audience.

It makes me wonder sometimes why such “too public” prayers hardly find concrete expressions in our own current forms of worship. A “sophisticated” view of praying seems to look down on too external expressions, the charismatic type of communal prayers. Nevertheless, I can sense that many people still encounter real emotions … spiritual in nature, during our ‘formal’ and 'sophisticated' celebrations. But then, a question: Have we learned to keep our emotions to ourselves simply because our services do not make space for their public expression? It appears therefore that our incapacities to fully praise God, in the tradition so described for us by Anderson and Humbert can be rooted in the many restrictions which evolved to promote more formal and sophisticated expressions of worship (as in our current liturgies).

Another important reason why I sometimes fail to worship and praise God to the fullest … is because of SIN and being in a state of ‘disgrace.’ The ‘dead’ - those who have succumbed to the enticements of Sheol - says Anderson, cannot perform the act of praise. I find this very true at times during retreats when I feel very distracted in my periods of prayer. I’ve felt instances when the longing to pray is present yet my condition seems not to permit being more focused in prayer. In such circumstances, I’ve realized the need for certain atonement for sins (i.e., confession, fasting, abstinence, etc.). I also find this true in the way I view ordinary things in life. Often I do not find joy in the activities that I involve in or do not appreciate the simple blessings given me … precisely because SIN is weighing me down. I fail to recognize God or more so fail to give him due worship because my personal sins easily cut me off from Him. Just like in the Psalms of Lamentations, I sometimes feel very frustrated about myself. I feel the despair of being hopeless and helpless for giving in to certain recurring sins. I remember our vow formula – our petition that the Lord provide us the grace to keep our perpetual promise – and often in my despair, I accuse God of abandoning me … of not providing me enough grace to get over my own sinfulness.

Nevertheless, I also find consolation in Anderson’s two categories of praise. He talks about ‘declarative” praise which acknowledges the work that God has performed in the past and “descriptive” praise which calls attention to workings of God in the here and now. I find most positive and optimistic these two types of praise as forwarded by Anderson. Often when I tend to dwell on my many weaknesses or the opportunities for grace that I have missed, I find the need to convince myself of the many good things that the Lord has performed and is continually performing in my life. Simply put, praising God means duly recognizing the blessings one has received through time. Quite ordinary blessings – like the gifts of life and better health, of family and friendships – have become common placed in our systems that we take them for granted. We fail to thank and praise God for such blessings. An interesting interpretation of Anderson of ‘praise’ is that it is a “joyful act.” Now, I take this as an important sign of whether or not I’m truly praising God. Am I happy or joyful? Am I angry or do I complain a lot? Simple as they may seem, the questions are themselves very revealing. The public act of praise now seems to mean how I publicly witness to the ongoing works of God in me. Such a witness, to qualify as praise for God, needs to be truly joyful and inspiring for others.

I find consolation as well in the diversity of ways and means of worship and praise relayed to us by Brueggemann. I resonate primarily with praise as a poetic act … that which is open to many meanings … that which is not coercive (with a wider latitude and accepting of realities other than our own). I think of this as the “more Asian” way of praising (as against the quite rigid and structured western mode of praying). I even think of this poetic type of praising as something which parallels the Ignatian “tantum quantum” (whatever works) principle. The image of Ignatius looking at the stars and beholding the magnificence of creation appeals to me the most … that which inspires us to praise God through the sheer acknowledgement of something greater than ourselves. To recognize with much awe and wonder the power and immensity of God … as we observe in nature … allows us indeed to be more poetic in our expressions of praise. Poems, music, paintings, sketches, sculptures are but few of tangible expressions of our praising our God.

My reflections on the theme are therefore four-fold: Firstly, as in the experience of Israel, praising God remains a communal act. We do not do so simply in the privacy of our rooms. A public and communal dimension to praying is being stressed here. The challenge therefore, for our current practices in the liturgy is to create space and time for more public expressions of worship. Secondly, we note how the current “state of our souls” determines the quality of our “one-ness” with God. By analogy, we refer to our human relationships to help us determine how “burning bridges” with another person may equal our experiences of sin. The quality of relations we keep with God matches the quality of praise that we are willing to offer Him. Thirdly, praising God is much evident in the joyful witness we manifest in the lives we live. Such a witness is anchored on the peace and contentment that mark our lives as we acknowledge the simple blessings that we have already received. And lastly, God Himself already provides us the grace to express our worship and praise through many and varied poetic means. Beyond all these however, we recognize how praising is made possible by the very presence of God himself. We couldn’t thank God enough for giving us the opportunity to praise. To worship, as we know is to acknowledge that there is an object to our praising. God must truly exist!