The Wisdom of Ad Orientem

In the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles, King Solomon prays and acknowledges the sins of his people, and asks the Lord to forgive them. In one part of his prayer he says:

"If they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity, to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land...then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee."

Interesting. What difference does it make what direction you are facing when you pray? Why would he say that the people should pray, "toward their land"? Was King Solomon really ignorant of what everyone knows? It is a clearly proven fact that you can pray in any direction; numerous Catholic clergymen have proven that this is right by doing it for so long that most are now used to it (therefore, it has to be true, right?). Poor Solomon, he must have missed the Vatican II memo that made that clear; maybe we should pray for him--of course in any direction of your personal choosing.

Yes, I am being sarcastic; but only a little. King Solomon is referred to as one of the wisest men that ever lived, and he certainly knew what he was talking about when he prayed. It absolutely does make a difference which way you are facing in prayer. It is true that we can pray in any direction, but that does not mean that we always should pray in "any direction"; especially not in the Mass.

A hotly debated subject today is the direction the priest faces in the Mass when he is praying. None would deny that it is proper for him to face the people when speaking to them (after all, he is acting in persona Christi). There are those (I am certain you know of them) who claim that the priest should turn his back on God when praying to Him and face the people instead. No, they may not use those words, but that is what they are saying (I think there is a passage somewhere in Scripture where God says He will destroy those who turn their backs on Him--hmmmm).

Considering the current state of the Church, we might reword Solomon's prayer and put it this way: "If we repent with all our mind and with all our heart in each of the lands we find ourselves, and pray toward the tabernacle which holds the Sacramental Body of Christ...then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place our prayer and our supplications, and maintain our cause and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee." If Solomon thought "direction" made a difference, we ought to listen to him; especially if we are asking God for mercy.