Did you experience the “gold star” or “sticker” reward system as a child? I don’t remember these, but I do recall my Dad’s voice cheering my sister and I after we rode our bicycles all by ourselves. I also remember him buying us ice-cold raspas on that hot, San Antonio day!
When we receive praise from others, it’s often because of something we’ve accomplished, or some admirable trait we’ve just expressed.
Praise in Scripture
This pattern is even in the Bible; how often we read that, after God performed some miracle or marvelous sign, the people “praised God”! Whenever I hear this, I imagine a diverse crowd with wide smiles and eyes, hands raised, voices crying out in surprise and wonder.
What about, though, when God was doing the most miraculous thing of all; conquering sin and death through his suffering, execution, and resurrection? The crowd then only stared, mocked, and jeered. At the moment of Jesus’ resurrection, where was that glorious praise from the crowd?
Praising God when things apparently ‘go our way’ is fine, but if that’s where our prayers of praise end, then our faith is sure to fail.
Perhaps the least-spoken about form of prayer is true praise:
“Praise is the form of prayer which… lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2639)
Finding Strength Through Praise
I experimented with praise recently as my family experienced a very challenging period. I decided that I would be intentional about praising God, especially when I felt most disheartened. Weary in spirit one night, I did the dishes and ironed clothes singing praise songs until my voice was hoarse. In the end, I was amazed; although I had no new information about how our situation would turn out, a stronger sense of hope was almost tangibly rooted in my soul.
This experience helped me to understand the mysterious power of praise. True praise of God does not play a game of rewards, nor is it predicated by ‘results.’ Acknowledging our Creator with prayers of true praise is a weapon to fight the temptations we experience against faith, hope, and love – temptations which the Eden story in Genesis tells us are at the root of all that introduced chaos into Creation. When we praise God, we are setting our sights on our life’s purpose, and our hope is renewed. As spiritual writer Fr. Romano Guardini put it,
“Praising God means ascending into that homeland of our spirit where, it may be said, we truly live.”
A Prayer to Practice True Worship
Perhaps you’ve heard the popular prayer called The Divine Praises written by Fr. Luigi Felici, S.J., more than 200 years ago. It begins:
“Blessed be God. Blessed be his holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man…” Committing the Divine Praises to memory so that we can pray them anytime, is a good way to practice praise.
As we praise God simply “because HE IS,” we might consider how rarely we ourselves hear praise from others not because of something we’ve done or some quality we possess but simply ‘because we are.’ Yet, if we listen to God in prayer, we will know that our Heavenly Father delights in us simply ‘because we are.’ Jesus directed his disciples to imitate Him who causes the sun to shine on everyone—loving all regardless of their deeds (cf. Matthew 5:45).
You Are Valued Just as You Are
At the end of each episode of his famous TV program, Fred Rogers would look into the camera and say, “You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you.” A Christian minister, Rogers’ message for every child was intentional. If we go through our lives convinced that we are only good because of what we do, then we easily fall into false, utilitarian ideas about the value of our life and of any other life. The practice of praising God and of accepting God’s love for us, helps us to keep hope alive not only for ourselves, but for all of Creation.
May we advance along our daily journey of conversion, praising God as pilgrims of hope!
Originally written by Pilgrim Center of Hope for Today's Catholic newspaper.
Angela Sealana is the Media Coordinator for Pilgrim Center of Hope, having served at the apostolate since 2010. She also serves on the PCH Speaker Team.
Answering Christ’s call, Pilgrim Center of Hope guides people to encounter Him so as to live in hope, as pilgrims in daily life. See what’s happening & let us journey with you! Visit PilgrimCenterOfHope.org.
