Colloquia Maruliana, Vol. 10 , 2001.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Christian Prayer in Marulić's De Institutione
Gabrijel Hrvatin Jurišić
Sažetak
No religion can exist without prayer, because prayer is of the very essence of religion. Christianity too devotes a proper attention to prayer. Countless books and treatises have been written about it, and there are several schools of prayer. Prayer is an encounter and dialogue with God. This is one of the many definitions. It can be divided into four types: praise of God, thanks for benefits, repentance for sin and prayers for beneficence. Prayer can be oral (the utterance or chanting of set forms) or thought (thinking about God and spiritual realities).
Marulić accepted everything that theologians and teachers of the spiritual life said about prayer on the basis of Revelation. He wrote no treatise on prayer, but faithful to the title of his work recommended the Christian soul a virtuous life according to the examples of the saints - De institutione bene vivendi per exempla sanctorum. The writer wishes to prompt both himself and others (Foreword) to the attainment of the evangelical virtues, i. e., Christian perfection according to the examples that the saints in their lives extended to the Christian. How much the writer was concerned to state the true teaching of the Church can be seen from the Foreword: “Lord… inspire me… help me while I write… so that I should not stray from what is Thy will”. After the first book, in which he says that it is necessary to shun earthly riches and pride, to be lowly and poor, he devotes a good part of Book Two to care for prayer and the way to pray. Then he highlights the power of prayer and warns of the pitfalls that lay in the way of good and pious prayer. He talks also of contemplation, i. e., supreme prayer, and of the reading of the Scriptures as preparation for prayer.
The writer has an introduction to each of these topics, bearing them out with quotations from the Scriptures, and then giving examples from the lives of the saints, starting with the Old Testament, going on to the New, and then from the times of the early Christians up to his own day. He very largely adheres to this plan or order. Mentioning an individual event from the life of some saint, he will often quote the Bible, and at the end will offer some concrete moral, for example, how prayer helps souls in Purgatory.
From everything that Marko wrote about prayer, it is clear that he is stating the doctrine of the Church, and that he values prayer very highly, considering it a component part of the Christian life, and a particular aid in the search for Christian perfection. Apart from this, it can be concluded from all his writings that Marulić did not only write handsomely about prayers, recommending them to others, but also himself consistently and with great piety resorted to prayer.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
8804
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.4.2001.
Posjeta: 1.741 *