What am I supposed to pray at?

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Servus_Pio_XII

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I was in my parish a bit after hours, and decided to begin praying a bit. So, I got myself into a pew, put down the kneeler, and made the signum crucis. It was then that I asked myself what exactly I am facing.

The church is not ad orientam, so I wasn’t facing East. In addition, the tabernacle is one of those “adoration chapels” (stupid idea, why not just leave the church open?), but it is locked after each Mass (which makes the concept pointless). Praying towards the Blessed Sacrament was out. Finally, I decided that at least there was an image of the crucified Lord…then I recalled that only the processional crucifix was there, and it had been taken out of the Sanctuary after Mass.

So, in the end, I realised that I prayed only towards a wooden box surrounded by burlap banners. Ah yes, connexion with God!

sigh anyone have similar experience with modern architecture? I should like to hear your stories.
 
My parish isn’t that bad. There is a tabernacle in both the main church and in the chapel, although the building itself has all the charms of your average barn.

You can orient your prayers towards the altar upon which the consecration is celebrated. The altar, even if it isn’t beautiful in your parish should at least contain a first class relic, if I’m not mistaken. It’s better than a Protestant church in which there is nothing but an empty cross, if there’s even that.
 
Servus Pio XII:
I was in my parish a bit after hours, and decided to begin praying a bit. So, I got myself into a pew, put down the kneeler, and made the signum crucis. It was then that I asked myself what exactly I am facing.

The church is not ad orientam, so I wasn’t facing East. In addition, the tabernacle is one of those “adoration chapels” (stupid idea, why not just leave the church open?), but it is locked after each Mass (which makes the concept pointless). Praying towards the Blessed Sacrament was out. Finally, I decided that at least there was an image of the crucified Lord…then I recalled that only the processional crucifix was there, and it had been taken out of the Sanctuary after Mass.

So, in the end, I realised that I prayed only towards a wooden box surrounded by burlap banners. Ah yes, connexion with God!

sigh anyone have similar experience with modern architecture? I should like to hear your stories.
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My last apish church had the Blessed Sacrament in a walled-off section that was literally in a corner of the church. They did have chairs and kneelers though.
Currently I go to a Basilica, a building old enough that its design predates Vatican II. So there is no doubt at all where to look for the Blessed Sacrament.🙂
 
Servus Pio XII:
I was in my parish a bit after hours, and decided to begin praying a bit. So, I got myself into a pew, put down the kneeler, and made the signum crucis. It was then that I asked myself what exactly I am facing.

The church is not ad orientam, so I wasn’t facing East. In addition, the tabernacle is one of those “adoration chapels” (stupid idea, why not just leave the church open?), but it is locked after each Mass (which makes the concept pointless). Praying towards the Blessed Sacrament was out. Finally, I decided that at least there was an image of the crucified Lord…then I recalled that only the processional crucifix was there, and it had been taken out of the Sanctuary after Mass.

So, in the end, I realised that I prayed only towards a wooden box surrounded by burlap banners. Ah yes, connexion with God!

sigh anyone have similar experience with modern architecture? I should like to hear your stories.
Click to expand...
I agree with how you feel about the adoration chapel, crucifix, etc., not being available .

But, since you are not in a position to do anything concrete about all that, just exercise your faith, remember that the Lord is present to you, He loves you, and just pray.
 
Or you could grab a hymnal and sing a new church into being. :dancing:
 
If it is important for you to be praying at something, perhaps next time you could kneel on the floor and face east. That could also double as mortification.
 
At the risk of offending (which I do not intend to do), it seems that you are more focused on externals than on internals. Scripture tells us we are to go into our closet and pray. I suspect the Blessed Sacrament is not in your closet, there are no kneelers there (unless, per chance, you keep a prie-dieu there) and it’s highly unlikely that there is a crucifix there.

I agree that locking the Blessed Sacrament chapel defeats the whole purpose of having one, so there is no disagreement with that issue.

However, God is still present. How about a novel concept – pray to God!

Deacon Ed
 
Deacon Ed:
At the risk of offending (which I do not intend to do), it seems that you are more focused on externals than on internals. Scripture tells us we are to go into our closet and pray. I suspect the Blessed Sacrament is not in your closet, there are no kneelers there (unless, per chance, you keep a prie-dieu there) and it’s highly unlikely that there is a crucifix there.

I agree that locking the Blessed Sacrament chapel defeats the whole purpose of having one, so there is no disagreement with that issue.

However, God is still present. How about a novel concept – pray to God!

Deacon Ed
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:amen: - Well said. Nothing more to add.
 
Deacon Ed:
At the risk of offending (which I do not intend to do), it seems that you are more focused on externals than on internals. Scripture tells us we are to go into our closet and pray. I suspect the Blessed Sacrament is not in your closet, there are no kneelers there (unless, per chance, you keep a prie-dieu there) and it’s highly unlikely that there is a crucifix there.

I agree that locking the Blessed Sacrament chapel defeats the whole purpose of having one, so there is no disagreement with that issue.

However, God is still present. How about a novel concept – pray to God!

Deacon Ed
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I understand this, but, as you say, I could pray just as well as in my closet. My point is that there is nothing in the church which makes praying there any different than praying anywhere else. And isn’t the building supposed to direct one to higher things?
 
Servus Pio XII:
I understand this, but, as you say, I could pray just as well as in my closet. My point is that there is nothing in the church which makes praying there any different than praying anywhere else. And isn’t the building supposed to direct one to higher things?
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No. The building is a building. I’ve been in many of the great cathedrals in Europe, and some of the poorest churches in parts of the United States and Europe that people never see. Great, awe-inspiring buildings tend to draw attention to themselves while the simple, unadorned churches tend to leave the mind unfettered and able to focus on God.

My most prayerful times are those spent before the Blessed Sacrament – and my parish church is nothing special in terms of beauty. There is another church that I used to visit when I was working in Los Angeles that was very small and exceptionally plain. The Blessed Sacrament chapel was locked unless Mass was going on (too many thefts) and so I simply prayed in the nave.

With my prayers focused on God what need was there for things to look at?

Deacon Ed
 
Why go to Adoration?

After all, God is equally present in everyone- right? We have received the Eucharist, so why do we need to adore it outside of the comforts of our own home? It is inside of us.

We go to Adoration the same reason we build ornate churches, hang crucifixes, or have religious statues: to lift our mind to higher things. For, when one’s mind is lifted to higher things, he can be truly separate from this world, and focus entirely on God and the next. We have these various things to give us something tangible, to connect us with our faith.

When churches purposely attempt to be plain, they defame God. For it is His glory which they reflect, in the smallest of all possible ways, and if they choose to not reflect this at all, then something is lost. Maybe not connexion with God, but just a bit of reverence for him. We should be in awe of God through our awe of His dwelling, and His dwelling should represent our best efforts to make it presentable to His Almighty Majesty and Glory. Jesus Christ deserves to dwell in an abode which does not relegate him to a broom closet.
 
Just as when we pray before the tabernacle, even though the Blessed Sacrament is not exposed, we know He is present, so even when we can’t see the tabernacle, we still know He is present. No matter where you are, or what you can visualize, you are praying to Him, not to a box or a cross or an altar. I just called to mind the blind lady who is a cantor in a parish nearby. She has no visual cues, and is probably the most devout saintly Catholic I know.
 
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