The body and prayer

I have noticed a tendency among Americans (including myself) to be Cartesian in our prayer life. We don't pay too much attention to the body or the senses. We pray with our bodies any old way. Whatever is comfortable.

The theology of the body implies that our bodies, as expressions of our spirit, ought to be an active component in our prayer life. We should be intentional about it. It is like sign language. We communicate not only with thoughts or even words, but with our whole self.

Anthony Lilles, of St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, has begun a series of posts on St. Dominic's nine ways of using the body in prayer. Here is the first one. This is the second. Keep watching his blog for the rest of the series.