M ind & S oul
The Lorian
Feb. 21, 2019
Pray for Vocations
9
Petitions during the ‘Universal Prayer’
by ANDREW HANSEN staff writer
This is my experience based on the three parishes I’ve been a member of and countless other parishes I’ve attended. It’s not about Loras’ on-campus parish specifically. When I hear the “Universal Prayer” also known as the “Prayer of the Faithful” used to pray for marriages, I’m always blown away. Even more so if it’s used to pray for an increase in response to the call of marriage; I think I heard that prayed for once. I began listening for prayers concerning married life a number of years ago, but I don’t think I’ve heard marriage prayed for during mass even ten times, aside from wedding ceremonies and anniversaries. This has been especially on my mind since World Marriage Day on Feb. 10. For those who might not know, The “Universal Prayer” is the part of the mass where, together, we offer our petitions to God. The petitions are read aloud; they can be read by anyone, though usually the priest does it. After each petition the response is: “Lord, hear our prayer.” In general the prayers follow a sequence: First the needs of the Church, then public servants along with the whole world, those who are struggling, and the local community. Along with prayers for the Church, the most common prayer I hear is: “An increase in vocations,
especially those of the priesthood, religious life, and the diaconate.” When I don’t hear this followed by a specific prayer for marriage, or for people to respond to the call to marriage, I offer up my own: “For a greater response from those who are called to the married life and haven’t yet accepted the call.”
facing marriage today offer clear evidence that people, en masse, are rejecting their call to marriage, or are at least postponing their response; there’s enough reason for concern, and that concern needs to be followed by prayer and action. It might be encouraging for those who are called to marriage
It’s often said we don’t pray to change God, we pray to change ourselves so our will is in line with God’s will. In our nation, considering the high divorce rate, high annulment rate, and high cohabitation rate, among other problems plaguing marriage, maybe it’s time to consider how we are aligning our will. When we pray for an increase to the religious life, we should consider where the professed religious come from and pray for faithful marriages. The problems
to know they are being prayed for. It might even be encouraging to hear that marriage is a calling. There’s a universal call to holiness; failing to respond to one’s vocation hinders that universal call, and hurts the Church as a whole. I expressed this view to about a dozen students here on campus, and they mainly agreed -- only one didn’t answer. I’ve posited the same view at multiple parishes since I became aware of it as a problem,
Hydration in the winter: You probably are not sweating a whole bunch, but ... by AUDREY MILLER staff writer
Maintaining proper hydration in the summertime is pretty easy. It’s hot outside, so we naturally want to drink more water. Sure, it’s easier to get dehydrated in the summertime because of the heat and increased outdoor activity, but it’s also easier to tell how dehydrated you are. In the wintertime, it’s a bit more difficult to tell how dehydrated you are. A study done by a group of kinesiology researchers at the University of New Hampshire reported that the body’s thirst response is diminished by up to 40% in cold weather. This happens because when you’re cold the blood vessels in your hands and feet (your extremities) constrict. Your body does this to conserve heat and draw more blood into your core. As a result your hands and feet get uncomfortably cold in the wintertime. This also means your body is a lot less sensitive to knowing how much water you’re storing in it at any given time. You could be dehydrated and not know it. Your body is basically fooling itself into believing it’s well-hydrated and doesn’t have to tell you to drink water. This can be especially dangerous for athletes who don’t feel the same need to hydrate as they would in warmer weather. Along with fooling your sense of thirst, your body does an even better job of fooling itself. If your body thinks it’s perfectly hydrated, your kidneys will continue to excrete water from your system rather than store it. It’s more dif-
ficult to adequately hydrate yourself in the wintertime if you don’t pay close attention to how much water you’re drinking. The current recommendation is the “eight-by-eight rule” – eight ounces of water eight times a day. You’ve probably heard of this rule. You might be surprised to learn that this rule actually has no scientific basis. It’s an arbitrary number, put forward by the 1945 Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. When they made this recommendation, they cited no clinical studies to back it up. Still, this rule has benefited people for years. It’s an easy-to-remember number. If you try to follow this rule, you’re bringing hydration to the forefront of your mind, and you’ll remember to drink more water throughout the day. Unfortunately, since this guideline isn’t backed up by real clinical studies, there’s no way to know how much water you really should consume in a day. The best recommendation is to listen to your body: it’ll tell you how much water you need to drink. If you’re stuck in cold, wintry Iowa where your body’s thirst sensors are tuned down by 40%, you’re best to just make sure to carry a water bottle around with you all day long. That way you’ll always have water if you need it, and you’ll be carrying a constant reminder to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. About 60% of your body is composed of water. So do your body a favor and make sure you hydrate all day long, every season of the year.
and so far, no disagreements the only time I’ve ever found myself in the apparent majority. There’s another aspect of this that deserves mentioning. We are facing a global shortage of priests, especially in the United States. The emphasis in prayer is understandable, as fewer priests become increasingly overworked to serve their parishes and deliver the sacraments. Many people see the sacrament of marriage as robbing people from the call to the priesthood, but don’t see the priesthood as possibly robbing people from the call to marriage. The Lorian would like to take a poll to know your thoughts on the subject. We want to encourage people to answer the survey. The link for the survey: https:// www.surveymonkey.com/r/L8PZQ8S. Or if you would like to answer via email, respond to Andrew.Hansen@loras.edu to the questions below: • Do you believe there’s an imbalance in the amount of time we spend praying for certain vocations versus other vocations? • Do you think praying for an increase to faithful marriage during the Prayer of The Faithful would benefit the Church as a whole, or do we spend enough time praying for marriage already? • Are there any other thoughts you’d like to share?
Blessed are you when people hate you?
What exactly does that mean? by DANIEL CHARLAND staff writer
The Beatitudes, found in the fifth chapter of Matthew, are one of the most mind-boggling sets of instructions Jesus ever gave us. They include such things as “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” and, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” To the average mind, these instructions seem counter-intuitive. Is Jesus saying it’s better for us to mourn in sadness than to be happy? That it’s better to be meek and not stand up for ourselves? Not exactly. His main point is for us to break out of our worldly ways of thinking, and be free from the limits of four things we seek to be happy: money, pleasure, power, and prestige. According to Bishop Robert Barron, the word we translate as “blessed” also translates into something akin to “lucky.” Jesus is saying “How lucky you are when comfort isn’t all you strive for in life,” or “how lucky you are when you can be meek and aren’t obsessed with power.” This last in particular was in drastic contrast to the worldly state of mind in a Roman-dominated age where “greatness” was often the measure of virtue. In addition, Jesus is offering the consolation that God will aid us-if we’re open to it-- when troubles in life inevitably come. The ways of God
aren’t the ways of the world. When we do the will of God, pressure will come. Persecution of many kinds — bullying, pressure from authorities, even violence — will come, but God will reward us for our efforts to further His kingdom --if not in this life, then in the next. If you’ve found the Beatitudes confusing, try reading them in this light. It could alter the way you see
