Thursday in the Third Week of Lent

Karen Armstrong writes that it is only recent in history people believed that to have a religous life we must have faith before we take a spiritual journey. But Karen points out that the history of religion makes clear that this is not how it works. To have faith before embarking on a spiritual journey was putting the cart before the horse.

Am I engaging in a "which came first the chicken or the egg" dialogue. I hope not. During Lent, even those who do not believe or have serious doubts practice meditation, prayer and fasting and thus begin a journey that leads them to a the virtue of faith rather than the prerequisite. Karen says that faith is the fruit of spirituality not something you have to have at the start.

How does this happen? Karen points to prayer. She says, "Prayer is thus not born of belief and intellectual conviction; it is the practice that creates faith." I am not sure I agree with her because I have a sense that merely by praying I am committing an act of faith. I sense that by praying and acknowledging my vulnerability and weaknesses that I am breaking through a protective ego shield I have constructed. I am committing an act of faith by simply believing God is listening.

All of this is difficult to get a handle on, but I do think that by trying we are searching for the right answer, and in the search we are pleasing God.