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Thursday, December 09, 2004

Further Repetitions for those who are dying

The saints are not our way to Christ. Christ is our way to them. This is a pertinent quote re: the saints intercession for us.

A further confession: I am a Lutheran with sympathies for, even interests in, the rosary. This may help those of you reading this who wonder about the saints and prayer and my reflections on the same.

I tell my confirmation group each year that memorization is for when we are dying. Memorization is or can be painful at the time we are doing it, but it is the kind of thing we carry with us to our death bed. If you are ever, heaven forbid, a prisoner of war, trapped in a mine, or on your deathbed unable to see or possibly even hear, it will be the things that you have memorized that will carry with you- to recite the Lord's Prayer, to confess the Apostle's Creed, to dredge up all the echoes of psalms you can possibly remember.

Memorization is for those who are dying. Christians are honest about this. We are dying. Lutherans are hopeful about this. We die and rise daily.

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