Prayer, true prayer is our means of expression to God, by which we can show our gratitude to him for sending his son Jesus Christ. Likewise, through prayer we show our sorrow to Him for our sins. We, as the redeemed, come before God in humbleness, humble in the presence of a father who is everything while we are nothing in ourselves. Prayer is beautiful. We do not pray to God out of fear but out of love, both because we want to and because we have to.
What bothers me is the approach of the intellectuals and others who are leaving the “King’s English” (Thee, Thou, Thy, etc) and converting to the current you and your. I find with this change there is also a use of mod expressions in prayers such as “Lord, make us come alive” and “Lord, please give us a kick in the pants,” both of them referring to a student’s duty to God and his studies.
When listening to prayers like that, I feel as if I was talking to a doctor and asking him for a shot of thyroxin, or asking the grocer for a bottle of Pepsi. In using such common everyday language, prayer is depicted as if one person is talking to another on an even level, while we are really approaching a great and majestic God, whom we of ourselves have no right to approach. Tradition has made the words Thee and Thou sacred and respected and I feel this also applies to our addressing of God. Therefore let us come before God in humbleness and not in the pride of our own strength.
In the Catholic paper “Operation Understanding”, a young teenager asked the question, what is considered a modest covering in swim wear and dress wear for boys and girls of high school age by their church? The editor of the column, Father Gonrov, began the answer by saying that modesty is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is the preserving of one’s charm for the’ one he or she is to marry. And if a person does not marry this charm goes back to God who gave it in the first place.
Father Conroy brings out a very true and worthwhile point, but I feel that another aspect concerning the question on modesty should be shown. Consider Romans 12:2, “And be ye not conformed (or fashioned according) to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The trend of modern day society is to progress, forget past rules and regulations, and live for the present and the future. Yes, two- piece swimming suits are “in” and so are miniskirts and hip huggers. But where are these modern fashions formed? Of course the answer is that it is the work of the world. The verse I quoted states, “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It commands us to separate from the world, not by becoming hermits in a woods far north, but separating in the sense that we as Christians should be able to let the world know’ that we are different both by our dress and by our walk.
