Preface for Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer Metaphor ….

"Good way to organize Prayer"

Pope Francis created a Five Finger Prayer metaphor prior to becoming the pope.  My daughter, Vicki Camp, recently informed me of this prayer method. The graphic with the five fingers identified to help with a person praying is shown below.

A Simple Prayer Method From A Simple Pontiff By Omar Gutierrez  gives insight into the simple prayer method.  This link http://www.catholicvote.org/a-simple-prayer-method-from-a-simple-pontiff/ addresses this. 

As author Omar Gutierrez notes   “It has been around for a while, but several sources are saying that it was written by Cardinal Bergoglio. I should note as well that it was attributed to him well before he became Pope Francis.

 So here it is:

Pope Francis’ five finger prayer guide :

 

1.      The thumb is the closest finger to you. So start praying for those who are closest

to you. They are the persons easiest to remember. To pray for our dear ones is a

“sweet obligation.”

 

2.      The next finger is the index. Pray for those who teach you, instruct you and heal

you. They need the support and wisdom to show direction to others. Always keep

them in your prayers. 

3.      The following (middle) finger is the tallest. It reminds us of our leaders, the governors and those who have authority. They need God’s guidance.

 

4.      The fourth finger is the ring finger. Even that it may surprise you, it is our

weakest finger. It should remind us to pray for the weakest, the sick or those

plagued by problems. They need your prayers.

 

5.      And finally we have our smallest finger, the smallest of all. Your pinkie should

remind you to pray for yourself. When you are done praying for the other four

groups, you will be able to see your own needs but in the proper perspective, and

also you will be able to pray for your own needs in a better way.

This is a simple way to prayer that even kids can get. “

 

When I shared the graphic with my Bible Study class at Southeast Baptist Church on September 8, 2013, Dee Bryson felt something was missing.  It did not give our relationship with God proper attention.

 

Having reflected on this I agree with Dee that there is a need for a preface to the prayers to set the stage.  My blog http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-big-is-your-spiritual-fish.html should help in this regard.  When I was preparing my Sunday School Lesson plan somewhere around the turn of the century, there emerged in my mind a visual of two arcs; the Human Domain as a downward cupped arc and the Spiritual Domain as an upward cupped arc.  The graphic illustrates this concept of the spiritual fish in the overlap. 

Our relationship to God is reflected in the size of our spiritual fish.

It occurred to me that the praying hands may be an effective way to preface the “Five Finger Prayer”.  Therefore, in my humble opinion, I propose the following graphics as a potential method to use the praying hands as the preface to establishing a spiritual attitude before conducting the Five Finger Prayer.  It should help organize the prayers.

The following blog gives other perspectives on the concept of “SIN vs ACTs”:

http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2008/03/sin-vs-acts.html

Also the following blog gives another perspective where the praying hands are giving insights into “Rudder for Future Economy”:

http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2012/11/rudder-for-future-economy.html

It is hoped this blog will act as a vehicle towards guiding you to your full potential in God’s Will and He will be glorified by your service. 

This blog http://www.bcswonline.com/blog/index.html is an index to other blogs, feedback is welcomed.