PRAYER, USES AND MISUSES
The great baseball catcher Yogi Berra was involved in a ball game in which the score was tied, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. The batter from the opposing team stepped up to the batting box and made the sign of the cross on home plate with his bat. Berra was a Catholic too, but he wiped off the plate with his glove and said to the pious batter, “Why don’t we let God just watch this game?” That is good theology when applied to the outcome of a baseball game. It’s terrible when applied to the way we live our lives and carry out the work of God. Worse than that, it is fatal. God is merely in attendance at the game, our prayers are merely ceremonial functions: tips of the hats, verbal recognition over the loudspeaker between innings, or requests to throw out the game ball. Prayer is always getting nudged aside, neglected or…
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