{"id":49811,"date":"2014-03-27T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?p=49811"},"modified":"2015-03-13T00:26:22","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T00:26:22","slug":"cultivating-a-habit-of-ejaculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2014\/03\/27\/cultivating-a-habit-of-ejaculation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultivating a Habit of Ejaculation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I just spent more time than I had planned<\/strong> typing the word \u201cejaculations\u201d, along with my name or blog name, into search engines and, later, into document files.<\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s get it out of our systems: \u201cshe said \u2018ejaculations\u2019! Heh-heh!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I was looking for a phrase I had written<\/strong> about what we used to call \u201cejaculations of prayer,\u201d and I was sure I had talked about it in Strange Gods<\/em><\/a>, but I couldn\u2019t find it in my files and the only thing turning up in search engines was one line in this First Things piece on \u201cOffering it Up\u201d<\/a> and one suggestion I made to put forth an hourly ejaculation<\/a> for persecuted Christians in the Near and Middle East.<\/p>\n

So, the word wasn\u2019t turning up at all in Strange Gods<\/em><\/a>; it appeared only once in \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to be a Hoo-er<\/em>\u201c<\/a>. Finally, I found it in an older thing I\u2019d written, Caring for the Dying with the Help of Your Catholic Faith<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Remember that any idea expressed to God can be prayer, no matter how simple. In fact, the things we say to God when we are unguarded and working \u201coutside the lines\u201d can often the our purest and most powerful prayers. They are the sorts of prayers that cannot help but end with an exclamation point, and often they are prayers not simply asking for help, but rather, demanding it.<\/p>\n

Older Catholics might remember when such prayers were called \u201cejaculations.\u201d The word has fallen into disuse, but the image of prayer being forced from us (like water spurting from a pressured fountain-spout) is very apt. Our most desperate pleas can burst forth from us, unbidden, to bring some relief, some small sense of controlling something, and even a bit of companionship and peace. You might find yourself saying things like:<\/p>\n

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