13. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters – 4
In this letter Screwtape makes an interesting statement about praying. He convinces that it is best to keep people from prayer all together. However, when prayer happens none the less, he says to make sure he remembers the “parrot-like nature of his prayers in childhood”. This is interesting given a recent conversation I had.
I was speaking with a gentleman at church about trying to not live in regret and not looking too far ahead in terms of making plans and being anxious. That might seem like an odd parallel but when we think of things beyond the present we lose sight of being close to Christ and lose our ability to have a prayerful heart. Screwtape talks about taking our minds out of our prayer and placing them into another time and place. This is something that I have to work on in church. This is tough with kids but something I want to get better at. It is not always bad to have thoughts of instances or saints or other pictures however I have to be careful that these thoughts are not taking me out of my prayerful state. This is something I am constantly working on. And as we read in letter 4, this is something that Satan and his demons are constantly working on as well!
Screwtape makes another really interesting statement. “what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.” This is incredibly interesting to me. What we do impacts what we think and what lies in our hearts. As much as it is not a law that we pray a certain way or in a certain posture or position, it does impact our minds and hearts. It is common practice to stand when saying a prayer before a meal. It is easy to just stay seated but when we stand as a family, I do notice that the kids pay better attention and it seems to be more meaningful and thoughtful. I think what Screwtape is not only true of actions and posture but also of our words. We must be mindful of the words we say and the way we say them.
Lastly I find the statement Screwtape states really thought provoking. “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out”. This is amazing to think about. This goes back to my previous post about edifying those around us and living our lives building people up. Think of how many opportunities we miss to do good or help those around us because we just didn’t entertain the thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is very conceivable that satan is putting things into our head, but the things that we don’t think but should are very disconcerting. I can think of times from the past few days, several in fact, that I could have done something better, been more helpful, been more prayerful, more compassionate, a better listener, less selfish and a million other things. I am working to live my life in a more prayerful, more observant and less selfish way, edifying those around me and building them up to be the best they can be.
Mark
Orthodox Dad in America
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