May 2nd is The National Day of Prayer. Congress passed this day of national prayer for the first Thursday of May. The President is to sign a proclamation every year encouraging every American to pray. It started with Harry S. Truman in 1952. I have two books to display.
First, “Character Calendar” by Sister Mary Fidelis and Sister Mary Charitas, 1931. It has prayers for every day of the year, along with a saint to venerate. For May 2nd, it is St. Athanasius. “if you put your trust in God, and cease worrying, just trust in God and depend upon Him to take care of you. He will not forsake you, provided you endevor to serve him meanwhile as well as you can.”
My next book is “The Notebook: a Collections of Anecdotes and Illustrations, For the use of the Teacher” Sunday School Union, printed in 1872. They quote,
“Prayer must be humble and earnest. Constantine the Great, looking at some statues of noted persons who were represented standing, remarked “I will have mine taken kneeling, for that is how I have risen to eminence.”
“It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they be,” says Bishop Hall, “nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how elequent they be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they may be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be. Nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; nor even the divinity of our prayers, how good the doctrine may be-which God cares for…Fervency of Spirits that which availeth much”
May 2nd is The National Day of Reasoning. National Day of Reason is observed each year also on the first Thursday in the month of May. The observance originated in 2003 in response to the perceived unconstitutional National Day of Prayer. According to the organizers of the day, the National Day of Prayer, “violates the First Amendment of The United States Constitution because it asks federal, state and local government entities to set aside tax dollar supported time and space to engage in religious ceremonies.”
For this event, I have a set of books of ‘Applied Psychology” “Psychology and Achievement, Being the First of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the Applications of Psychology to the problems of Personal and Business Efficiency” by Warren Hilton, published 1920. The program establishes several propositions:
-All human achievement comes about through bodily activity.
-All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by the mind.
-The mind is the instrument you must employ for the accomplishment of any purpose.
-There is no spirit, no other worldly function that will assist one in decision making.
I received this set of books from my grandfather back in high school. This was an interesting read, but I thought it sad that the National Day of Reason was proposed and written just to combat prayer, not to just stand up on its own.
Keep reading, whether it be prayers or psychology. You have a choice.
Librarytomes 