Faith and ‘Star Wars’: Pray The Fourth Be With You

A Darth Vader toy stands on a cellphone. — Adobe Stock

May the 4th has become widely known as Star Wars Day, with the catchphrase “May the Fourth be with you,” based on “May the Force be with you,” a line from the original 1977 film.

But where did the tradition begin?

From StarWars.com:

Like anything that emerges from the collective passion of a group of people, the Star Wars fan holiday on May the 4^th each year has no single point of origin. It has no official commencement year, no formal dedication. It is a grassroots phenomenon that now transcends the English language pun that inspired it. Around the world, “May the 4th Be With You” is more ubiquitously known as “Star Wars Day.”

Pray the Fourth

The first Thursday in May is also the National Day of Prayer, formally instituted by President Harry Truman in 1952. This year, it’s May 4th.

In honor of this convergence, Skylight.org, the people behind the Skylight: Spiritual Self-Care app on Android and iOS, partnered with respected Boston-based marketing research and strategic consulting practice City Square Associates to ask people about their prayer practices — with a Star Wars twist.

In the interest of full disclosure, Skylight.org is part of Radiant Digital (which now owns Patheos, the website that hosts this blog), which is itself owned by Bonneville Communications, which is part of Deseret Management Corporation, which is a for-profit company affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The survey was carried out from April 6 to April 17 on a nationally representative sample of adults aged 18-64. It is one of the most in-depth surveys of its kind on prayer.

Father Peyton, Prayer and One of Today’s Priests

My day job is with Hollywood-based Family Theater Productions, part of Holy Cross Family Ministries. The founder was Venerable Patrick Peyton, a Holy Cross priest who dedicated his life to creating radio, film and TV — and traveling the world — to promote family prayer, especially the Rosary.

We even did a 2020 movie about him, called PRAY: THE STORY OF PATRICK PEYTON.

So, I could hardly discuss prayer, and Star Wars, without calling on my colleague Father Vincent Kuna, C.S.C., a movie buff, producer-at-large for FTP, and a graduate of USC film school (alma mater of Star Wars creator George Lucas — who’s also got a history with FTP and Father Peyton).

Here are some of the study’s findings, followed by Father Vince’s commentary (click on the images for a larger, clearer view).

Father Vince, what was your biggest takeaway from these statistics?

The only statistic that really surprised me was the low usage of objects for prayer by Generation X. As part of a generation that grew up in the materialistic 1980s, I thought collecting physical pop-cultural things was something that defined us from previous and especially succeeding generations that place more value on collecting “experiences.”

So, religious objects such as Rosaries or icons are truly different from what the world offers. It also reminds me that whatever is actually true of a generation does not necessarily prescribe what else you think might be true.

According to these charts, most people pray alone. Father Peyton wanted to encourage praying as a family (or a family of friends). What can be done to encourage people of all ages to be willing to pray with others?

There’s a saying in religious life that whatever’s worth doing poorly is worth doing.

So, while my preference, like most Americans, is also to pray alone, I pray with the other four priests in the rectory, even if someone inevitably stumbles on the psalms or Scripture reading.

The key then for communal prayer is low expectations.

For Catholics, what are the best ways to pray?

Individually, whatever works. Communally, the opposite would apply–the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the one singular best way for a Catholic to pray with others.

In your view, what are the real benefits of regular prayer?

The disposition of humility before the Lord. That’s what the great figures of the Scriptures and saints usually exhibited at their best moments.

Whatever their personal hopes and struggles with others might be, the sense of “not my, but thy will be done” is the goal. I think the virtue of humility could temper a lot of pride, fear and anger in our current culture.

Many believe that “May the Force be with you,” which became “May the 4th be with you,” had its origins in the Latin phrase Dominus Vobiscum, or “May the Lord be with you,” uttered during Mass and as a greeting (followed, in the Catholic fashion, by “And with your spirit.”). That being said, what value is there for Catholics in thinking about the fictional spirituality of the Star Wars universe?

I’m not entirely sure the line from Star Wars originated with the Mass responsory. Even so, the prequels pulverized any spiritual mystery the Force held in the three original films.

Instead of something invisible anyone could tap into with fervent belief, episode one revealed characters in the universe could be more genetically attuned to the Force given their midi-chlorian count.

As the Mass response has changed (to “and with your spirit”), maybe it’s time to update the movie line, too. “And with your midi-chlorian count” doesn’t quite have the same ring, though.

For more on the survey, go to PrayerWrap.Skylight.org.

And here are a few more prayer stats: