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§2600
The Gospel according to St. Luke emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit and
the meaning of prayer in Christ's ministry. Jesus prays before the decisive
moments of his mission: before his Father's witness to him during his baptism
and Transfiguration, and before his own fulfillment of the Father's plan of
love by his Passion.43 He also prays before the decisive moments
involving the mission of his apostles: at his election and call of the Twelve,
before Peter's confession of him as «the Christ of God,» and again
that the faith of the chief of the Apostles may not fail when
tempted.44 Jesus' prayer before the events of salvation that the Father
has asked him to fulfill is a humble and trusting commitment of his human will
to the loving will of the Father.
§2601
«He was praying in a certain place and when he had ceased, one of his
disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray."'45 In seeing the
Master at prayer the disciple of Christ also wants to pray. By contemplating
and hearing the Son, the master of prayer, the children learn to pray to the
Father.
§2602
Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at
night.46 He includes all men in his prayer, for he has taken on
humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers
himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, shares by his human prayer in
all that «his brethren» experience; he sympathizes with their
weaknesses in order to free them.47 It was for this that the Father
sent him. His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in
secret.
§2603
The evangelists have preserved two more explicit prayers offered by Christ
during his public ministry. Each begins with thanksgiving. In the first, Jesus
confesses the Father, acknowledges, and blesses him because he has hidden the
mysteries of the Kingdom from those who think themselves learned and has
revealed them to infants, the poor of the Beatitudes.48 His
exclamation, «Yes, Father!» expresses the depth of his heart, his
adherence to the Father's «good pleasure,» echoing his mother's Fiat
at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he will say to the Father in
his agony. the whole prayer of Jesus is contained in this loving adherence of
his human heart to the mystery of the will of the Father.49
§2604
The second prayer, before the raising of Lazarus, is recorded by St.
John.50 Thanksgiving precedes the event: «Father, I thank you for
having heard me,» which implies that the Father always hears his
petitions. Jesus immediately adds: «I know that you always hear me,"
which implies that Jesus, on his part, constantly made such petitions. Jesus'
prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the
gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself.
the Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the «treasure»; in
him abides his Son's heart; the gift is given «as well.» 51
The priestly prayer of Jesus holds a unique place in the economy of salvation.52 A meditation on it will conclude Section One. It reveals the ever present prayer of our High Priest and, at the same time, contains what he teaches us about our prayer to our Father, which will be developed in Section Two.
§2605
When the hour had come for him to fulfill the Father's plan of love, Jesus
allows a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial prayer, not only before
he freely delivered himself up (“Abba . . . not my will, but
yours.»),53 but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer
and the gift of self are but one: «Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do» ,54 «Truly, I say to you, today you will be with
me in Paradise» ,55 «Woman, behold your son» -
«Behold your mother» ,56 «I thirst.»;57
«My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?» 58 «It is
finished»;59 «Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit!» 60 until the «loud cry» as he expires, giving up
his spirit.61
§2606
All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the
petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry of
the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers
them by raising his Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama
of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation. the Psalter gives us the
key to prayer in Christ. In the «today» of the Resurrection the
Father says: «You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I
will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your
possession.» 62
The Letter to the Hebrews expresses in dramatic terms how the prayer of Jesus accomplished the victory of salvation: «In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.» 63
Jesus teaches us how to pray
§2607
When Jesus prays he is already teaching us how to pray. His prayer to his
Father is the theological path (the path of faith, hope, and charity) of our
prayer to God. But the Gospel also gives us Jesus' explicit teaching on prayer.
Like a wise teacher he takes hold of us where we are and leads us progressively
toward the Father. Addressing the crowds following him, Jesus builds on what
they already know of prayer from the Old Covenant and opens to them the newness
of the coming Kingdom. Then he reveals this newness to them in parables.
Finally, he will speak openly of the Father and the Holy Spirit to his
disciples who will be the teachers of prayer in his Church.
§2608
From the Sermon on the Mount onwards, Jesus insists on conversion of heart:
reconciliation with one's brother before presenting an offering on the altar,
love of enemies, and prayer for persecutors, prayer to the Father in secret,
not heaping up empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the
heart, purity of heart, and seeking the Kingdom before all else.64 This
filial conversion is entirely directed to the Father.
§2609
Once committed to conversion, the heart learns to pray in faith. Faith is a
filial adherence to God beyond what we feel and understand. It is possible
because the beloved Son gives us access to the Father. He can ask us to
«seek» and to «knock,» since he himself is the door and the
way.65
§2610
Just as Jesus prays to the Father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts,
so he teaches us filial boldness: «Whatever you ask in prayer, believe
that you receive it, and you will.» 66 Such is the power of prayer
and of faith that does not doubt: «all things are possible to him who
believes.» 67 Jesus is as saddened by the «lack of faith"
of his own neighbors and the «little faith» of his own
disciples68 as he is struck with admiration at the great faith of the
Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman.69
§2611
The prayer of faith consists not only in saying «Lord, Lord,» but in
disposing the heart to do the will of the Father.70 Jesus calls his
disciples to bring into their prayer this concern for cooperating with the
divine plan.71
§2612
In Jesus «the Kingdom of God is at hand.» 72 He calls his
hearers to conversion and faith, but also to watchfulness. In prayer the
disciple keeps watch, attentive to Him Who Is and Him Who Comes, in memory of
his first coming in the lowliness of the flesh, and in the hope of his second
coming in glory.73 In communion with their Master, the disciples'
prayer is a battle; only by keeping watch in prayer can one avoid falling into
temptation.74
§2613
Three
principal parables on prayer are transmitted to us by St. Luke:
- the first, «the importunate friend,» 75 invites us to urgent
prayer: «Knock, and it will be opened to you.» To the one who prays like
this, the heavenly Father will «give whatever he needs,» and above
all the Holy Spirit who contains all gifts.
- the second, «the importunate widow,» 76 is centered on one
of the qualities of prayer: it is necessary to pray always without ceasing and
with the patience of faith. «and yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he
find faith on earth?»
- the third parable, «the Pharisee and the tax collector,» 77
concerns the humility of the heart that prays. «God, be merciful to me a
sinner!» the Church continues to make this prayer its own: Kyrie eleison!
§2614
When Jesus openly entrusts to his disciples the mystery of prayer to the
Father, he reveals to them what their prayer and ours must be, once he has
returned to the Father in his glorified humanity. What is new is to «ask
in his name.» 78 Faith in the Son introduces the disciples into the
knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is «the way, and the truth, and the
life.» 79 Faith bears its fruit in love: it means keeping the word
and the commandments of Jesus, it means abiding with him in the Father who, in
him, so loves us that he abides with us. In this new covenant the certitude
that our petitions will be heard is founded on the prayer of Jesus.80
§2615
Even more, what the Father gives us when our prayer is united with that of
Jesus is «another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of
truth.» 81 This new dimension of prayer and of its circumstances is
displayed throughout the farewell discourse.82 In the Holy Spirit,
Christian prayer is a communion of love with the Father, not only through
Christ but also in him: «Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask,
and you will receive, that your joy may be full.» 83
Jesus hears our prayer
§2616
Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs
that anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer
of faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good
thief)84 or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a
hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful
woman).85 The urgent request of the blind men, «Have mercy on us,
Son of David» or «Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
has-been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer:
«Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a
sinner!» 86 Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always
responds to a prayer offered in faith: «Your faith has made you well; go
in peace.»
St. Augustine wonderfully summarizes the three dimensions of Jesus' prayer: «He prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to by us as our God. Therefore let us acknowledge our voice in him and his in us.» 87
The prayer of the Virgin Mary
§2617
Mary's prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before
the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving
kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ's conception; at Pentecost, for the
formation of the Church, his Body.88 In the faith of his humble
handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the
beginning of time. She whom the Almighty made «full of grace"
responds by offering her whole being: «Behold I am the handmaid of the
Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.» «Fiat":
this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God's, because he is wholly ours.
§2618
The Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. At
Cana,89 The mother of Jesus asks her son for the needs of a wedding feast;
this is the sign of another feast - that of the wedding of the Lamb where he
gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride. It is at the
hour of the New Covenant, at the foot of the cross,90 that Mary is
heard as the Woman, the new Eve, the true «Mother of all the living.»
§2619
That is why the Canticle of Mary,91 The Magnificat (Latin) or Megalynei
(byzantine) is the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church; the song
of the Daughter of Zion and of the new People of God; the song of thanksgiving
for the fullness of graces poured out in the economy of salvation and the song
of the «poor» whose hope is met by the fulfillment of the promises
made to our ancestors, «to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.»
IN BRIEF
§2620
Jesus' filial prayer is
the perfect model of prayer in the New Testament. Often done in solitude and in
secret, the prayer of Jesus involves a loving adherence to the will of the
Father even to the Cross and an absolute confidence in being heard.
§2621
In his teaching, Jesus
teaches his disciples to pray with a purified heart, with lively and
persevering faith, with filial boldness. He calls them to vigilance and invites
them to present their petitions to God in his name. Jesus Christ himself
answers prayers addressed to him.
§2622
The prayers of the
Virgin Mary, in her Fiat and Magnificat, are characterized by the generous offering
of her whole being in faith.
IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
§2623
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the
disciples, gathered «together in one place.» 92 While awaiting
the Spirit, «all these with one accord devoted themselves to
prayer.» 93 The Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls for her
everything that Jesus said94 was also to form her in the life of
prayer.
§2624
In the first community of Jerusalem, believers «devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the
prayers.» 95 This sequence is characteristic of the Church's
prayer: founded on the apostolic faith; authenticated by charity; nourished in
the Eucharist.
§2625
In the first place these are prayers that the faithful hear and read in the
Scriptures, but also that they make their own - especially those of the Psalms,
in view of their fulfillment in Christ.96 The Holy Spirit, who thus
keeps the memory of Christ alive in his Church at prayer, also leads her toward
the fullness of truth and inspires new formulations expressing the unfathomable
mystery of Christ at work in his Church's life, sacraments, and mission. These
formulations are developed in the great liturgical and spiritual traditions.
the forms of prayer revealed in the apostolic and canonical Scriptures remain
normative for Christian prayer.
I. Blessing and Adoration
§2626
Blessing expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter
between God and man. In blessing, God's gift and man's acceptance of it are
united in dialogue with each other. the prayer of blessing is man's response to
God's gifts: because God blesses, the human heart can in return bless the One
who is the source of every blessing.
§2627
TWO fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy
Spirit through Christ to the Father - we bless him for having blessed
us;97 it implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through
Christ from the Father - he blesses us.98
§2628
Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature
before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us99
and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is
homage of the spirit to the «King of Glory,» 100 respectful
silence in the presence of the «ever greater» God.101
Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and
gives assurance to our supplications.
II. Prayer of Petition
§2629
The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of
meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even «struggle in
prayer.» 102 Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is
petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with
God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of
adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we
have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to
him.
§2630
The
New Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the
Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by hope,
even if we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew
every day. Christian petition, what St. Paul calls {"groaning,"
arises from another depth, that of creation «in labor pains» and that
of ourselves «as we wait for the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved.» 103 In the end, however,
«with sighs too deep for words» the Holy Spirit «helps us in our
weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.» 104
§2631
The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the
tax collector in the parable: «God, be merciful to me a
sinner!» 105 It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A
trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father
and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that «we receive from
him whatever we ask.» 106 Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite
for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.
§2632
Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to
come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ.107 There is a hierarchy
in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary
to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the
mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the
object of the prayer of the apostolic community.108 It is the prayer of
Paul, the apostle par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude
for all the churches ought to inspire Christian prayer.109 By prayer
every baptized person works for the coming of the Kingdom.
§2633
When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become
the object of petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all
things, is glorified by what we ask the Father in his name.110 It is
with this confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to pray at all
times.111
III. Prayer of Intercession
§2634
Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is
the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially
sinners.112 He is «able for all time to save those who draw near
to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for
them.» 113 The Holy Spirit «himself intercedes for us . . .
and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.» 114
§2635
Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been
characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church,
Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the
communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks «not only to his
own interests, but also to the interests of others,» even to the point of
praying for those who do him harm.115
§2636
The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship
intensely.116 Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry
of preaching the Gospel117 but also intercedes for them.118 The
intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: «for all men, for
kings and all who are in high positions,» for persecutors, for the
salvation of those who reject the Gospel.119
IV. Prayer of Thanksgiving
§2637
Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the
Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of
salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew
and make it return to the Father, for his glory. the thanksgiving of the
members of the Body participates in that of their Head.
§2638
As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of
thanksgiving. the letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving,
and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: «Give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you»;
«Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with
thanksgiving.» 120
V. Prayer of Praise
§2639
Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God.
It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does,
but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of
heart who love God in faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit
is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of
God,121 testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom
we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries
them toward him who is its source and goal: the «one God, the Father, from
whom are all things and for whom we exist.» 122
§2640
St.
Luke in his gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ and
in his Acts of the Apostles stresses them as actions of the Holy Spirit: the
community of Jerusalem, the invalid healed by Peter and John, the crowd that
gives glory to God for that, and the pagans of Pisidia who «were glad and
glorified the word of God.» 123
§2641
«[Address]
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
to the Lord with all your heart.» 124 Like the inspired writers of
the New Testament, the first Christian communities read the Book of Psalms in a
new way, singing in it the mystery of Christ. In the newness of the Spirit,
they also composed hymns and canticles in the light of the unheard - of event
that God accomplished in his Son: his Incarnation, his death which conquered death,
his Resurrection, and Ascension to the right hand of the Father.125
Doxology, the praise of God, arises from this «marvelous work» of the
whole economy of salvation.126
§2642
The
Revelation of «what must soon take place,» the Apocalypse, is borne
along by the songs of the heavenly liturgy127 but also by the
intercession of the «witnesses» (martyrs).128 The prophets
and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus,
the vast throng of those who, having come through the great tribulation, have
gone before us into the Kingdom, all sing the praise and glory of him who sits
on the throne, and of the Lamb.129 In communion with them, the Church
on earth also sings these songs with faith in the midst of trial. By means of
petition and intercession, faith hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the
«Father of lights,» from whom «every perfect gift» comes
down.130 Thus faith is pure praise.
§2643
The Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer: it is «the pure
offering» of the whole Body of Christ to the glory of God's
name131 and, according to the traditions of East and West, it is the
«sacrifice of praise.»
IN BRIEF
§2644
The Holy Spirit who
teaches the Church and recalls to her all that Jesus said also instructs her in
the life of prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms of
prayer: blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise.
§2645
Because God blesses the
human heart, it can in return bless him who is the source of every blessing.
§2646
Forgiveness, the quest
for the Kingdom, and every true need are objects of the prayer of petition.
§2647
Prayer of intercession
consists in asking on behalf of another. It knows no boundaries and extends to
one's enemies.
§2648
Every joy and suffering,
every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which, sharing in
that of Christ, should fill one's whole life: «Give thanks in all
circumstances» (⇒ 1 Thess 5:18).
§2649
Prayer of praise is
entirely disinterested and rises to God, lauds him, and gives him glory for his
own sake, quite beyond what he has done, but simply because HE IS.
THE TRADITION OF PRAYER
§2650
Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order
to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the
Scriptures reveal about prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a
living transmission (Sacred Tradition) within «the believing and praying
Church,» 1 The Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how to pray.
§2651
The tradition of Christian prayer is one of the ways in which the tradition of
faith takes shape and grows, especially through the contemplation and study of
believers who treasure in their hearts the events and words of the economy of
salvation, and through their profound grasp of the spiritual realities they
experience.2
AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER
§2652
The Holy Spirit is the living water «welling up to eternal
life» 3 in the heart that prays. It is he who teaches us to accept
it at its source: Christ. Indeed in the Christian life there are several
wellsprings where Christ awaits us to enable us to drink of the Holy Spirit.
The Word of God
§2653
The Church «forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful .
. . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ'
(⇒ Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine
Scriptures.... Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the
reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and
man. For 'we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the
divine oracles."'4
§2654
The spiritual writers, paraphrasing Matthew 7:7, summarize in this way the
dispositions of the heart nourished by the word of God in prayer «Seek in
reading and you will find in meditating; knock in mental prayer and it will be
opened to you by contemplation.» 5
The Liturgy of the Church
§2655
In the sacramental liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and of the Holy
Spirit proclaims, makes present, and communicates the mystery of salvation,
which is continued in the heart that prays. the spiritual writers sometimes
compare the heart to an altar. Prayer internalizes and assimilates the liturgy
during and after its celebration. Even when it is lived out «in
secret,» 6 prayer is always prayer of the Church; it is a communion
with the Holy Trinity.7
The theological virtues
§2656
One enters into prayer as one enters into liturgy: by the narrow gate of faith.
Through the signs of his presence, it is the Face of the Lord that we seek and
desire; it is his Word that we want to hear and keep.
§2657
The Holy Spirit, who instructs us to celebrate the liturgy in expectation of
Christ's return, teaches us - to pray in hope. Conversely, the prayer of the
Church and personal prayer nourish hope in us. the psalms especially, with
their concrete and varied language, teach us to fix our hope in God: «I
waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my
cry.» 8 As St. Paul prayed: «May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may
abound in hope.» 9
§2658
«Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.» 10 Prayer,
formed by the liturgical life, draws everything into the love by which we are
loved in Christ and which enables us to respond to him by loving as he has
loved us. Love is the source of prayer; whoever draws from it reaches the summit
of prayer. In the words of the Cure of Ars:
I love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love you until the last breath of my life. I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you, than live without loving you. I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally.... My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you, I want my heart to repeat it to you as often as I draw breath.11
«Today»
§2659
We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing
in his Paschal mystery, but his Spirit is offered us at all times, in the
events of each day, to make prayer spring up from us. Jesus' teaching about
praying to our Father is in the same vein as his teaching about
providence:12 time is in the Father's hands; it is in the present that
we encounter him, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today: «O that today you
would hearken to his voice! Harden not your hearts.» 13
§2660
Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the
kingdom revealed to «little children,» to the servants of Christ, to
the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of
the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is
just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations;
all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the
kingdom.14
IN BRIEF
§2661
By a living transmission
-Tradition - the Holy Spirit in the Church teaches the children of God to pray.
§2662
The Word of God, the
liturgy of the Church, and the virtues of faith, hope, and charity are sources
of prayer.
THE WAY OF PRAYER
§2663
In the living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its faithful,
according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer:
words, melodies, gestures, iconography. the Magisterium of the Church15
has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the
tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their
meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ.
Prayer to the Father
§2664
There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is
communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we
pray «in the name» of Jesus. the sacred humanity of Jesus is
therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our
Father.
Prayer to Jesus
§2665
The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of
the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is
addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions
forms of prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in the
Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our lips and engrave in
our hearts prayer to Christ in the form of invocations: Son of God, Word of
God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God, King, Beloved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good
Shepherd, our Life, our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of
mankind....
§2666
But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God
received in his incarnation: JESUS. the divine name may not be spoken by human
lips, but by assuming our humanity the Word of God hands it over to us and we
can invoke it: «Jesus,» «YHWH saves.» 16 The name
«Jesus» contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation
and salvation. To pray «Jesus» is to invoke him and to call him
within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies.
Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the
Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him.17
§2667
This
simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms
in East and West. the most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual
writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, «Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.» It combines the
Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the
blind men begging for light.18 By it the heart is opened to human
wretchedness and the Savior's mercy.
§2668
The
invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When
the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not
lost by heaping up empty phrases,19 but holds fast to the word and
«brings forth fruit with patience.» 20 This prayer is possible
«at all times» because it is not one occupation among others but the
only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every
action in Christ Jesus.
§2669
The
prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes
his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of
love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to
follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps. the stations from the
Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy
Cross has redeemed the world.
«Come, Holy Spirit»
§2670
«No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit.» 21
Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the
way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling
Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites
us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the
end of every important action.
If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoration?22
§2671
The traditional form of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father
through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit.23 Jesus insists
on this petition to be made in his name at the very moment when he promises the
gift of the Spirit of Truth.24 But the simplest and most direct prayer
is also traditional, «Come, Holy Spirit,» and every liturgical
tradition has developed it in antiphons and hymns.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the
hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.25
Heavenly King, Consoler Spirit, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling
all things, treasure of all good and source of all life, come dwell in us,
cleanse and save us, you who are All Good.26
§2672
The Holy Spirit, whose anointing permeates our whole being, is the interior
Master of Christian prayer. He is the artisan of the living tradition of
prayer. To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who
pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all. It is in the
communion of the Holy Spirit that Christian prayer is prayer in the Church.
In communion with the holy Mother of God
§2673
In prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the person of the only Son, in his
glorified humanity, through which and in which our filial prayer unites us in
the Church with the Mother of Jesus.27
§2674
Mary gave her consent in faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without
hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever since, her motherhood has extended to
the brothers and sisters of her Son «who still journey on earth surrounded
by dangers and difficulties.» 28 Jesus, the only mediator, is the
way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him: she
«shows the way» (hodigitria), and is herself «the Sign» of
the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West.
§2675
Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the
Churches developed their prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the
person of Christ manifested in his mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons
expressing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the
first «magnifies» the Lord for the «great things» he did
for his lowly servant and through her for all human beings29 The second
entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of
Jesus, because she now knows the humanity which, in her, the Son of God
espoused.
§2676
This
twofold movement of prayer to Mary has found a privileged expression in the Ave
Maria:
Hail Mary [or Rejoice, Mary]: the greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this
prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary.
Our prayer dares to take up this greeting to Mary with the regard God had for
the lowliness of his humble servant and to exult in the joy he finds in
her.30
Full of grace, the Lord is with thee: These two phrases of the angel's greeting
shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her.
the grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of
all grace. «Rejoice . . . O Daughter of Jerusalem . . . the Lord your God
is in your midst.» 31 Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made
his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the
place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is «the dwelling of God . .
. with men.» 32 Full of grace, Mary is wholly given over to him who
has come to dwell in her and whom she is about to give to the world.
Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. After
the angel's greeting, we make Elizabeth's greeting our own. «Filled with
the Holy Spirit,» Elizabeth is the first in the long succession of
generations who have called Mary «blessed.» 33 «Blessed
is she who believed....» 34 Mary is «blessed among women"
because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's word. Abraham. because of
his faith, became a blessing for all the nations of the earth.35 Mary,
because of her faith, became the mother of believers, through whom all nations
of the earth receive him who is God's own blessing: Jesus, the «fruit of
thy womb.»
§2677
Holy
Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, «and why is this granted
me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?» 36 Because she
gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust
all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself:
«Let it be to me according to your word.» 37 By entrusting
ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with
her: «Thy will be done.»
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray
for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to
the «Mother of Mercy,» the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to
her now, in the Today of our lives. and our trust broadens further, already at
the present moment, to surrender «the hour of our death» wholly to
her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she
welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing38 to lead us to her
son, Jesus, in paradise.
§2678
Medieval
piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a popular substitute
for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the litany called the Akathistos and
the Paraclesis remained closer to the choral office in the Byzantine churches,
while the Armenian, Coptic, and Syriac traditions preferred popular hymns and
songs to the Mother of God. But in the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of
St. Ephrem or St. Gregory of Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the
same.
§2679
Mary is the perfect Orans (prayer), a figure of the Church. When we pray to
her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to
save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our
homes,39 for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray
with and to her. the prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary
and united with it in hope.40