Life Meets Faith: Simple prayers

At one point in The Book of Eli a young woman named Solara (Mila Kunis) reaches for the food set between her and Eli (Denzel Washington). Eli stops her. He asks her to place both her hands in his. Out loud, Eli thanks God for the food and speaks to Him about the “hard times” people are facing.

For me, there are many great reasons to watch this movie. Among them is this scene where the centerpiece is a simple prayer.

David Adams Richards, in his book God Is, wonders if anyone can really go through life without prayer. He writes that everyone strongly desires somethings to be different from what they are. Wants a parent to stay alive, a child to be born healthy, a change in work situation. Wants a bully to not notice him, a lover to understand her, a war to end.

Seen this way, even if we don't always call out to God because we may not believe he is there, our desires for good things can be likened to prayers. Our desires for compassion, truth, beauty, love and peace are prayers, even if we may not usually see them that way.

Maybe this year you will have opportunity to consider what you truly desire. I would suggest that what we truly want are not the kinds of things on offer at the nearest mall, or opportunities to make good use of the possibly free condoms now in your possession, or the latest products you are being manipulated into buying by the advertising companies that Coors, Molsons, Budweiser and their competition hire.

What we truly want are more along the lines of a planet that will survive this century (something, by the way, that the powers that be are declaring you will absolutely not get). The fact that you are in college suggests you hope to make a living without resorting to a life of crime, and that you want the world to be a place that recognizes your honest efforts, even if you are not always honest.

Probably, if you think about it, you want a marriage (or something exactly like it without the paperwork) to a terrific (young) man or woman. Even only vaguely perhaps, you would like to be a parent and you want your possible children to love and like you. And if you are a parent already, you are likely experiencing a whole range of other desires that are unique to those of us who have children.

And maybe this last one goes without saying. You probably want a good year at Fanshawe that, in some meaningful way, leaves you a better person than you are now.

Maybe for you this can be a year of simple prayer at Fanshawe. The Fanshawe community can offer, like Eli, prayers of thanks for food and freedoms at graduations, at parties and at Remembrance Day ceremonies. And the college community can pray for help to achieve good for our neighbours as well as ourselves.

Some of us have prayed a lot. Some of us believe we never have. Many have prayed at special occasions, or at least remained quiet while others did. However often we pray, it helps us be what we ought to be: grateful to Something greater than ourselves for all the good we receive, and hopeful that whatever hard times we are facing today, in school and out of school, God can bring each one of us to a better place.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.