The Rules of Pray Club
#1
The First Rule of Pray Club
Pray Club is for males only. At pray club, men pray as beggars.
Pray club is where the beggar learns to care like Jesus cares, from Jesus himself and from his brothers.
#2
The Second Rule of Pray Club
The beggar prays because Christ Himself needed to pray, and Christ is the way.
Christ’s humanity is that of Adam after the fall; not before*, and “no disciple is greater than his master”*. With Christ, human nature becomes opportunity, but unflagging prayer is still a necessity.
* St Bernard * John 15:20
#3
The Third Rule of Pray Club
The beggar makes his encounter with God in Prayer the first and foremost part of each day because there's nothing else he can do that bears as much fruit in temporal and eternal life, and because he wants to love Christ before all else, which he cannot do without His help.
The beggar makes a firm commitment to a given prayer time every day* and to pray throughout the day.
* E.g.: one hour.
#4
The Fourth Rule of Pray Club
The beggar is faithful to prayer because God is faithful and faith starts with faithfulness. If the beggar misses a day or two. He must adjust his prayer time.
If he is not yet ready for 45 min. daily, he may be ready for 30. Prayer is a privilege of the living, not a chore of the dead. The beggar adjusts his prayer time to his capacity, but he doesn't give up. It is for him a matter of life and death.
#5
The Fifth Rule of Pray Club
The beggar wants God here and now and that's where he finds Him: in His eternal present, in His sacraments, and always beyond his own expectations.
Not tomorrow which does not yet exist. Not after death when it might be too late.
#6
The Sixth Rule of Pray Club
The beggar welcomes dryness and desolation in prayer for the opportunity they give him to beg meritoriously or from the bottom of his heart.
He grows because he acts on what he knows and believes and not merely on what he feels. Like the importunate man who asks for three loaves of bread at midnight, the beggar uses his natural faculties to garner the supernatural virtues he needs for these same faculties: faith to power his intellect, hope his memory and love his will.
#7
The Seventh Rule of Pray Club
The beggar wants to know God as he is known by God*, so he nourishes his faith and search with daily readings*.
He wants to understand with Christ's mind and see reality through His eyes, so he makes use of the reason God gave him to "seek His face" and find Him in revelation, in the witness and discoveries of His Saints, and in Church teachings.
* St Augustine * suggested readings
#8
The Eighth Rule of Pray Club
As the beggar feeds his faith, he must also starve his attachments. He carves a hole in his heart to make room for Grace.
Starting with what alienates him the most from God, others and self - from distractions to addictions. He "prefers nothing whatsoever to Christ, because Christ did not prefer anything to him" *.
* St. Cyprian
#9
The Ninth Rule of Pray Club
Faith is the beggar's principle of knowledge*.
The fruit of prayer is faith*. The fruit of faith is light shining in darkness. The fruit of this bestowed illumination is an unprecedented clarity of sight and actionable knowledge, new markers for the memory, and impetus for the will. The beggar discovers a path of wonder. He receives the reasons and power to love and to serve*. He is ready for the next step.
* De Lubac * Mother Theresa * love
#10
The Tenth Rule of Pray Club
Obedience is the beggar's principle of freedom*.
Once the beggar has discerned the will of God* in faith, he must act in faith. The beggar must walk with Christ the talk he had with Christ*. He must walk in darkness and trust and put obedience before understanding. Once he has adjusted to the dark and can see by himself, he has conformed his will to Christ's. He has acquired true freedom and virtue. He "becomes" love. He is ready for the next step; for more wonder and discovery.
* De Lubac * for him * Now and through time
#11
The Eleventh Rule of Pray Club
The beggar is the dough not the baker (and the dough that he makes does not matter.)
In prayer and faith, the beggar is leavened, kneaded and baked into bread. In obedience and love he is broken, given and eaten. In Christ he truly lives. He walks in the kingdom of God, ever attentive to God's will of good pleasure in his life. This is how the beggar finally starts to care, caring for what Christ cares about and the way Christ cares about it.
#12
The Twelfth Rule of Pray Club
The beggar’s shield is his humility.
It shields him from evil within and without. It is his cloak of invisibility.
Finally...
If it is your first time at pray club, you must lead us briefly in prayer.
And needless to say, you don't brag about pray club.
Q&A
Who is Pray Club for?
Pray club is for men who know that they do not care enough. It is for men who nevertheless care deeply about truth, goodness and beauty and for their sake try to give their lives to the Creator and source of all good. Pray Club is for men who hope to live a contemplative life together, in the midst of their ordinary lives. It is for men who will spare no help to prime the pump of Grace for themselves, their brothers, and their family.
What is the beggar’s desire.
The beggar's burning desire is to desire with God's desire and be rewarded with God's reward. His own desires contain their own reward and generally disappoint. He is here to grow a desire that does not, a heart that he doesn't yet have, for a satisfaction and joy that he cannot yet contain. The beggar does not put limits on God’s Grace.
Do I belong in Pray Club?
The beggar has no place to go but Christ. No Home but Christ. Nothing to believe in but Christ. nothing to hope for but Christ, and nothing to love but God and his brothers and sisters. There is no shiny city on the hill, only the kingdom of God and His Church, and the heart of Christ where to lay our heads. Everything else in life flows from this. Your marriage and family flows from this. The rest does not matter as much. If you understand and believe this, you belong in Pray Club.
How do you join Pray Club?
By invitation from another beggar who will know if you are ready. Meetings occur once a month. You register through a link. You are sent a message before each meeting to which you RSVP. Based on attendance replies, preparation will be made for the meeting. Another message will be sent with the location of the meeting.