P. Antonín Příkaský, O.Carm.
I was asked by the editorial team of the magazine Karmel to prepare my lecture, which was part of the program of this year's national meeting of Carmelite tertiaries on June 12, 1999, in Kostelní Vydří, into written form. However, the written text is always different from the spoken word. Therefore, while maintaining the basic outline, I made some stylistic and content adjustments and additions.
The theme that I see as very important for spiritual life, and on which I want to speak today, is praise. Praise in the life of prayer. I am firmly convinced that the prayer of praise is a great, unfortunately often undervalued, gift from God. A gift that is offered to us by God to make progress on our way to Him.
As the basic motto of this lecture, I have chosen verses 16-17 from Psalm 89:
“Blessed is the people who knows how to praise,
O Lord, they walk in the light of your face.
In your name they rejoice all day long
and they are exalted by your righteousness.”
This excerpt from the psalm suggests that whoever discovers the prayer of praise on their journey to God has found the source of their happiness. And those who give praise a firm place in their personal prayer will grow in the knowledge of God and in the knowledge of themselves.
Praise is one of the most powerful weapons in the spiritual battle. It is a very effective weapon against despair, sadness, giving up, distrust, in short, against a whole range of various difficulties that bother us on our way to God and that make our prayer and our Christian life unpleasant. Why does the prayer of praise have such power? Because especially in praise, the Holy Spirit comes into our prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (hereafter CCC) states: “Through praise, the Holy Spirit joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God” (CCC 2639). The Holy Spirit Himself thus comes into our prayer of praise to lead us and at the same time to protect us from the attacks of God's enemy.
Here arises the question: Do we need the Holy Spirit to bear witness to us that we are indeed children of God? After all, we have heard this so many times, so we know it! Yes, however, the reality that as God’s children we often do not live up to this knowledge shows that we mostly have this awareness in our heads – in the intellect, and not also in the heart! And because this awareness is not anchored in our hearts, any external event can easily push it away from our reason. Often our internal thought process looks something like this: yes, I am a child of God, but ... now God cannot love me because I have done this ..., now it is this situation, now it is that, now it is the other ... – we know it very well ... So we need to hear and be convinced again and again that we are children of God, so that this awareness can descend “from our heads to our hearts.” And this is precisely what happens in the prayer of praise. The Holy Spirit – the Third Divine Person – witnesses to us in this prayer that we are children of God.
Praise also helps us to realize the value of God's gifts. The value of what we have received, what we receive day by day, and also what we will still receive! And again – we somehow know, consciously or subconsciously, that everything we have comes from God. And whoever claims otherwise is proud and ignorant. However, we must also reckon with the fact that these gifts can become mundane over time. Let us think here of Saint Francis with his canticle to brother sun and sister moon. This is a beautiful example of an attitude in which a person realizes that everything around them is a tremendous gift from the Father. The water with which I wash thoughtlessly and automatically every morning, or the fact that I wake up in bed at all, the fact that I have somewhere to sleep ... such ordinary things! Or the friends I have, with whom I meet daily, and without whom life would often be very difficult. For this we must praise God. Not for God's sake, as if He needed it for His happiness, but for our sake. We need to continually realize that the Father loves us and that He bestows gifts upon us day by day. Therefore, praise, figuratively speaking, wipes away the dust of the ordinary from the gifts we receive daily.
Another no less important effect of praise is that it helps us to see and recognize our own value. Perhaps if we conducted a survey among Christians and asked how many of us (and if so, how many times) have praised God wholeheartedly for ourselves in our lives, ... I don't know, I don't know how we would fare. This is the well-known problem of self-acceptance. There are many things we do not like about ourselves, we have problems with this and that – in short, in many areas, we do not meet our own ideals we have created about ourselves. But here we need to clearly state and also realize and accept: one of the first great gifts I received from God is myself! With all I have and who I am. Therefore, I should also thank God and praise Him for myself. It is not about proving to myself how good I am and how lucky those around me are to have me nearby ... It is about a true view of oneself: I am here because God wanted me. There has never been and will never be a person like me; I came from God's hands as an original, and as such I have my unique, specific task here. In spite of all my faults and sins, including those who have influenced me, I am still created in the image of God. And my Father God always has enough strength to create that image within me.
I am not saying anything here that I have only read somewhere; this is what I have experienced myself. At the age of sixteen, seventeen, I was a severely complexed person and thought I had no gifts. I didn't know what I was even doing in the world, and I was convinced that God had forgotten about me. In a community, however, my brothers taught me to praise. And truly, through praise, my view of myself changed. Praise indeed helps to see and recognize our own value. It heals our feelings of inferiority, our self-rejection, our dissatisfaction with ourselves, our distrust in ourselves, and teaches us to look at ourselves through God's eyes.
Another very important fruit of praise is the knowledge of God. Praise gradually reveals to us what God is like. In other words - God gives us to know, to experience Himself through praise and through His Spirit who is present in it. In praise, it is possible to meet God intensely, to experience His closeness. And along with thanksgiving, praise also brings peace into our hearts. The peace that Jesus Himself has given us. In the letter to the Philippians (4:6-7), the Apostle Paul gives Christians this advice: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Just as thanksgiving, praise fills the human heart with peace. How many people long for peace ... How many people seek peace ... How many people are tossed back and forth by unrest ... And we can be freed from this unrest and be gifted with Christ's peace – precisely through the prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
The evangelist who very often records the amazement and praise for God's wondrous deeds, for the marvelous works of Christ, is the evangelist Luke. In his gospel, you often find passages where it says that the people praised God for healing or for the great deeds that were done (CCC 2640).
The early church understood the power of praise and thanksgiving very well. Most of the New Testament letters are filled with invitations to praise, invitations to give thanks. However, the Old Testament also contains similar invitations. For example, in Psalm 50, it says: “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me” (or: praise – according to the translation) - Psalm 50:23. Hymns celebrating God's wisdom, greatness, mercy, and goodness permeate a large part of the Book of Psalms.
Last but not least, praise is also preparation for life in heaven. In the Book of Revelation, we read that the prophets, saints, and martyrs sing praise in honor of God and in honor of the Lamb. Therefore, the correct answer to the question: “What do the saints do in heaven?” is the simple statement: “They praise God.” And it is true. If we want to go to heaven, let us not wait until the moment we enter it, but let us engage in praise now – and God will let us experience heaven on earth ... Saint Augustine even considers praise as preparation for eternal life when he says: “We are to live our earthly lives in praise of God, for in it will rest the eternal joy of our future life. And whoever does not practice this now cannot be prepared for eternal life.”1
What is said about the prayer of praise applies equally to prayer in general. The new Catechism states: “Prayer is not limited to spontaneous expression of internal movement, but to pray, one must want to” (CCC 2650). What does this mean in the case of praise? In our prayer life, there are moments when praise and gratitude come to our hearts seemingly on their own. For example, one climbs a mountain, and at the top, a wonderful natural panorama opens up before their eyes. Suddenly, admiration and praise spring forth from their heart. Or when you need help and ask God, but help does not come for a long time, so you begin to lose hope – and then the help arrives. At that moment, one feels blessed and spontaneously praises God. So to be precise – it is God who places praise directly in our heart without any effort. I think the example of Mary’s Magnificat during her visit to Elizabeth is an example of such praise. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaims: My soul magnifies the Lord.
However, if the prayer of praise is not to be limited to a spontaneous expression of internal movement, then I should praise even when I don’t feel like it ... The Catechism clearly states: “One must want to pray.” It therefore also holds true: one must want to praise. As we all know well, there are also moments in our lives when we feel at our lowest, nothing excites us, prayer gives us nothing, when we are simply digging in the dust of our own misery, in the mud of ourselves, and we say to ourselves: “Now I have to praise? For what ...?” At that moment, it is essential to first truthfully open our hearts before God and openly tell Him: “God, I don’t want to pray at all, I’m bored, I feel like I don’t even want to live.” And without hiding, show God what is all within me. Thus, I fill the words of Scripture: “Pour out your heart before Him” (Ps 62:9).
It often happens that this first step causes our transformation, and peace and change come. However, if our hearts still remain dejected, then it is necessary not to surrender to this state, to rally our mind and will, and to realize that there is always something for which to praise God! With my mind, I therefore search for reasons for praise, and with my will, I place them into my prayer. And it’s not about feeling particularly good at that moment ... I want to pray in this moment, I know that God deserves praise for everything, and therefore I strive for it, even when I feel like merely complaining. Often our poor disposition to prayer is only caused by the fact that God's enemy manages to implant a negative view of ourselves and the world around us into our minds, so we are no longer capable of perceiving anything else ... (And often we also create this negative perspective ourselves with our incessant laments: “I can’t handle this, I can't manage; I am basically the worst, and I am of no use ...” Whoever feels this is their problem, let them take a look at Anselm Grün's brochure – How to Deal with Evil.) Just the simple fact that I am here, that I live, can be a subject of praise because if God for just a moment stopped wanting me, I would cease to exist. However, He continues to want me, and therefore loves me, this is why I am here, this is why I live ...
It is quite possible that even after concerted effort, my heart remains unmoved and sad. However, my effort to praise and thank God even in this sadness brings great joy to God. And then know, dear person, YOU HAVE LOVED GOD! You prayed when it brought you nothing at all. You loved. You have just completed a small lesson in genuine selfless love. And do not fear, the Father will soon reward you abundantly.
The prayer of praise is truly a great gift, even though it sometimes costs us a bit of effort. It is not about posing or playing a role. Nor is it about some contrived effort to drown out everything I have within me. It is about a relationship of love, in which I offer praise to God, because I know that praise belongs to Him, that it rightly belongs to Him, because He is love and does not cease to bestow gifts upon us. In one catechesis, the speaker posed the question: “What is the opposite of sin?” Various answers were given, most commonly: “Virtue,” but the speaker finally answered: “The opposite of sin is praise!” And I believe there is a grain of truth in this. I am not a theologian, but if by sin we withhold from God what belongs to Him, namely praise (when we do not live according to His plan), then our proper life actually means that we are as God wanted us to be in His original plan. And by that very same act, we are already praising God, because if creation is as the Creator wanted it to be, then simply by our being, we are praising Him. After all, all nature praises God by simply existing. The same is true for us. Saint Augustine says about this: “If we do not cease to live properly, we will continually praise God.”2 Thus, a person can offer to God praise both through their proper life and through their prayer of praise as compensation for their sins.
People generally have to learn to praise. The verse with which we began this reflection states: “Blessed is the people who knows how to praise.” The Czech translation here uses the phrase “knows how to praise,” which suggests that it is a certain skill that may not always be a given for everyone, and that it must be acquired.
The easiest way to learn to praise is in the company of those who are more experienced – those who already have some experience with the prayer of praise. To be precise, the subject of praise is not primarily God’s deeds, but God Himself, so in praise, the goal is for God to be exalted for who He is and for who He is as we recognize Him now. Therefore: “I praise you, God, for you are; I praise you for being as I now recognize you, that you are good, that you are Savior, that you are God, that you are friend of people ...” And so on. This is not to say that we cannot praise God for His works, for His deeds, that we cannot praise God for what He has done in our lives. But strictly speaking – in praise, it is about acknowledging God as God, and we praise Him for Himself. The New Catechism describes praise in this way: “Praise is a form of prayer that more directly acknowledges that God is God. It glorifies Him for Himself, it praises Him because He is, regardless of what He does” (CCC 2639).
When one cannot attend a community that praises or if they cannot for some reason, it is possible to learn to praise by incorporating a prayer of praise into one's regular prayers. For example, Glory to God in the Highest. After all, we pray this every Sunday. Or some Psalm that has spoken to me and praises God (e.g., Ps 66; 92; 111). In the Book of Psalms, we would find a whole range of them. Or I can praise my Lord spontaneously, in my own words. And I can do this either in the morning, for the new day, but even better in the evening, since during the day I could again recognize God’s goodness and love toward us. And as I mentioned earlier, I can (it’s not forbidden) praise the Lord also for His gifts – for what I have succeeded in, as well as for what I have not succeeded in, because I again see that without God, I can do nothing. And thus I can reflect on the whole day and offer praise. Praise is indeed also a very good tool for our daily examination of conscience. If I conclude my day by recalling all my shortcomings and transgressions, then I regret them and go to sleep, while I have examined my conscience, it is not the best closure to the day, and it is rather a good preparation for my sins to pursue me even in my sleep. Whereas if I close the day by reminding myself of God’s works and I begin to thank Him, I start to praise Him, I fill my heart with the Holy Spirit, who takes care that against the background of God’s works of love, my mistakes and failings begin to emerge as well. And at that moment, it is my task to express my regret, to ask the Father for mercy, but then to continue in praise.
Personally, I am convinced that praise also has its place immediately following a sin. By sinning, I denied God a certain part of praise, and when I realize this, I regret it, and I want to remedy it right away; I can begin to thank God and praise Him precisely for allowing me to again recognize and feel my weakness. This way, it is possible to avoid those false attempts to distance myself from God for a moment, to do something good, and then – as if with a polished shield – to present myself before God already as improved. These attempts have nothing to do with the attitude of a child of God and are merely expressions of our human pride and unwillingness to be completely dependent on God.
Praise does not have to be loud or boisterous. Perhaps when speaking of praise, an exuberant community with arms raised up and all kinds of noise and commotion comes to some of your minds ... No; praise springs from our hearts, and can quietly be in it. Psalm 65 says: “It is proper to praise you in silence.” I can therefore calmly sit alone on a bench in the park, close my eyes, and praise God. With all my heart.
The fact that praise has its firm place in the spirituality of Carmel is evidenced by the blessed saint Elizabeth of the Trinity. Those who know her better know that she found the motto of her life in the hymn from chapter 1 of the letter to the Ephesians, where the apostle says: “That we who have put our hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:12). This expression deeply touched Elizabeth, and she recognized in it her life’s mission: I must be the praise of God’s glory, I must be the praise of Christ.
I wish that each of you can somehow incorporate the prayer of praise into your prayer life. May God guide you through praise, so that you may experience His presence in prayer and thereby be transformed more and more into Christians who display their knowledge of God, maintain contact with Him, and are happy in their Christianity.
And finally let us read an excerpt from the pen of the blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity:
Praise of glory is a soul that dwells in God,
that loves Him with pure and selfless love,
seeking not in the sweetness of love its own self;
that loves Him more than all His gifts ...
Praise of glory
is a soul devoted to silence,
that behaves like a lyre,
so that under the mysterious strokes of the Holy Spirit
it produces divine chords.
It knows that suffering is the string,
that evokes the most beautiful sounds,
and therefore it willingly sees it on its instrument,
so that it may more gently touch the heart of its God.
Praise of glory
is a soul that gazes upon God in faith and simplicity ...,
it is like an unfathomable abyss,
in which He can pour Himself out ...
And finally, praise of glory is a being,
that is constantly in thanksgiving:
its acts, its movements, its thoughts, its desires
root it deeper in love
and at the same time are as if an echo of the eternal Sanctus.
