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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part Four: Christian Prayer
Section One: Prayer in the Christian Life
Chapter One: The Revelation of Prayer
2566 Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every
being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with glory and honor," man
is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging "how majestic is the name
of the Lord in all the earth."[1] Even after loSing through his Sin his
likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the
desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear
witness to men's essential search for God.[2]
2567 God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his
face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him;
yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that
mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's
initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a
response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself,
prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and
actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole
history of salvation.
Article 1: In the Old Testament
2568 In the Old Testament, the revelation of prayer comes between the fall
and the restoration of man, that is, between God's sorrowful call to his
first children: "Where are you? . . . What is this that you have done?"[3]
and the response of God's only Son on coming into the world: "Lo, I have
come to do your will, O God."[4] Prayer is bound up with human history,
for it is the relationship with God in historical events.
Creation - source of prayer
2569 Prayer is lived in the first place beginning with the realities of
creation. The first nine chapters of Genesis describe this relationship
with God as an offering of the first-born of Abel's flock, as the
invocation of the divine name at the time of Enosh, and as "walking with
God.[5] Noah's offering is pleaSing to God, who blesses him and through
him all creation, because his heart was upright and undivided; Noah, like
Enoch before him, "walks with God."[6] This kind of prayer is lived by
many righteous people in all religions.
In his indefectible covenant with every living creature,[7] God has always
called people to prayer. But it is above all beginning with our father
Abraham that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament.
God's promise and the prayer of Faith
2570 When God calls him, Abraham goes forth "as the Lord had told him";[8]
Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the Word and so he obeys. Such
attentiveness of the heart, whose decisions are made according to God's
will, is essential to prayer, while the words used count only in relation
to it. Abraham's prayer is expressed first by deeds: a man of silence, he
constructs an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. Only later
does Abraham's first prayer in words appear: a veiled complaint reminding
God of his promises which seem unfulfilled.[9] Thus one aspect of the
drama of prayer appears from the beginning: the test of faith in the
fidelity of God.
2571 Because Abraham believed in God and walked in his presence and in
covenant with him,[10] the patriarch is ready to welcome a mysterious
Guest into his tent. Abraham's remarkable hospitality at Mamre
foreshadows the annunciation of the true Son of the promise.[11] After
that, once God had confided his plan, Abraham's heart is attuned to his
Lord's compassion for men and he dares to intercede for them with bold
confidence.[12]
2572 As a final stage in the purification of his faith, Abraham, "who had
received the promises,"[13] is asked to sacrifice the son God had given
him. Abraham's faith does not weaken ("God himself will provide the lamb
for a burnt offering."), for he "considered that God was able to raise men
even from the dead."[14] And so the father of believers is conformed to
the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son but wiLl deliver
him up for us all.[15] Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables
him to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude.[16]
2573 God renews his promise to Jacob, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of
Israel.[17] Before confronting his elder brother Esau, Jacob wrestles all
night with a mysterious figure who refuses to reveal his name, but he
blesses him before leaving him at dawn. From this account, the spiritual
tradition of the Church has retained the symbol of prayer as a battle of
faith and as the triumph of perseverance.[18]
Moses and the prayer of the mediator
2574 Once the promise begins to be fulfilled (Passover, the Exodus, the
gift of the Law, and the ratification of the covenant), the prayer of
Moses becomes the most striking example of intercessory prayer, which will
be fulfilled in "the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus."[19]
2575 Here again the initiative is God's. From the midst of the burning
bush he calls Moses.[20] This event will remain one of the primordial
images of prayer in the spiritual tradition of Jews and Christians alike.
When "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" calls Moses to be his
servant, it is because he is the living God who wants men to live. God
reveals himself in order to save them, though he does not do this alone or
despite them: he caLls Moses to be his messenger, an associate in his
compassion, his work of salvation. There is something of a divine plea in
this mission, and only after long debate does Moses attune his own will to
that of the Savior God. But in the dialogue in which God confides in him,
Moses also learns how to pray: he balks, makes excuses, above all
questions: and it is in response to his question that the Lord confides
his ineffable name, which will be revealed through his mighty deeds.
2576 "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks
to his friend."[21] Moses' prayer is characteristic of contemplative
prayer by which God's servant remains faithful to his mission. Moses
converses with God often and at length, climbing the mountain to hear and
entreat him and coming down to the people to repeat the words of his God
for their guidance. Moses "is entrusted with all my house. With him I
speak face to face, clearly, not in riddles," for "Moses was very humble,
more so than anyone else on the face of the earth."[22]
2577 From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding
in steadfast love,[23] Moses drew strength and determination for his
intercession. He does not pray for himself but for the people whom God
made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle with the
Amalekites and prays to obtain healing for Miriam.[24] But it is chiefly
after their apostasy that Moses "stands in the breach" before God in order
to save the people.[25] The arguments of his prayer - for intercession is
also a mysterious battle - will inspire the boldness of the great
intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is
therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must
remember his marvellous deeds, Since his glory is at stake, and he cannot
forsake this people that bears his name.
David and the prayer of the king
2578 The prayer of the People of God flourishes in the shadow of God's
dwelling place, first the ark of the covenant and later the Temple. At
first the leaders of the people - the shepherds and the prophets - teach
them to pray. The infant Samuel must have learned from his mother Hannah
how "to stand before the LORD" and from the priest Eli how to listen to
his word: "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."[26] Later, he will
also know the cost and consequence of intercession: "Moreover, as for me,
far be it from me that I should Sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray
for you; and I will instruct you in the good and the right way."[27]
2579 David is par excellence the king "after God's own heart," the
shepherd who prays for his people and prays in their name. His submission
to the will of God, his praise, and his repentance, will be a model for
the prayer of the people. His prayer, the prayer of God's Anointed, is a
faithful adherence to the divine promise and expresses a loving and joyful
trust in God, the only King and Lord.[28] In the Psalms David, inspired by
the Holy Spirit, is the first prophet of Jewish and Christian Prayer. The
prayer of Christ, the true Messiah and Son of David, will reveal and
fulfill the meaning of this prayer.
2580 The Temple of Jerusalem, the house of prayer that David wanted to
build, will be the work of his son, Solomon. The prayer at the dedication
of the Temple relies on God's promise and covenant, on the active presence
of his name among his People, recalling his mighty deeds at the
Exodus.[29] The king lifts his hands toward heaven and begs the Lord, on
his own behalf, on behalf of the entire people, and of the generations yet
to come, for the forgiveness of their Sins and for their daily needs, so
that the nations may know that He is the only God and that the heart of
his people may belong wholly and entirely to him.
Elijah, the prophets and conversion of heart
2581 For the People of God, the Temple was to be the place of their
education in prayer: pilgrimages, feasts and sacrifices, the evening
offering, the incense, and the bread of the Presence ("shewbread") - all
these signs of the holiness and glory of God Most High and Most Near were
appeals to and ways of prayer. But ritualism often encouraged an
excessively external worship. The people needed education in faith and
conversion of heart; this was the mission of the prophets, both before and
after the Exile.
2582 Elijah is the "father" of the prophets, "the generation of those who
seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob."[30] Elijah's name, "The
Lord is my God," foretells the people's cry in response to his prayer on
Mount Carmel.[31] St. James refers to Elijah in order to encourage us to
pray: "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."[32]
2583 After Elijah had learned mercy during his retreat at the Wadi
Cherith, he teaches the widow of Zarephath to believe in The Word of God
and confirms her faith by his urgent prayer: God brings the widow's child
back to life.[33]
The sacrifice on Mount Carmel is a decisive test for the faith of the
People of God. In response to Elijah's plea, "Answer me, O LORD, answer
me," the Lord's fire consumes the holocaust, at the time of the evening
oblation. The Eastern liturgies repeat Elijah's plea in the Eucharistic
epiclesis.
Finally, taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living
and true God reveals himself to his people, Elijah, like Moses before him,
hides "in a cleft of he rock" until the mysterious presence of God has
passed by.[34] But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses
and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; "the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ,"
crucified and risen.[35]
2584 In their "one to one" encounters with God, the prophets draw light
and strength for their mission. Their prayer is not flight from this
unfaithful world, but rather attentiveness to The Word of God. At times
their prayer is an argument or a complaint, but it is always an
intercession that awaits and prepares for the intervention of the Savior
God, the Lord of history.[36]
The Psalms, the prayer of the assembly
2585 From the time of David to the coming of the Messiah texts appearing
in these sacred books show a deepening in prayer for oneself and in prayer
for others.[37] Thus the psalms were gradually collected into the five
books of the Psalter (or "Praises"), the masterwork of prayer in the Old
Testament.
2586 The Psalms both nourished and expressed the prayer of the People of
God gathered during the great feasts at Jerusalem and each Sabbath in the
synagogues. Their prayer is inseparably personal and communal; it
concerns both those who are praying and all men. The Psalms arose from the
communities of the Holy Land and the Diaspora, but embrace all creation.
Their prayer recalls the saving events of the past, yet extends into the
future, even to the end of history; it commemorates the promises God has
already kept, and awaits the Messiah who will fulfill them definitively.
Prayed by Christ and fulfilled in him, the Psalms remain essential to the
prayer of the Church.[38]
2587 The Psalter is the book in which The Word of God becomes man's
prayer. In other books of the Old Testament, "the words proclaim [God's]
works and bring to light the mystery they contain."[39] The words of the
Psalmist, sung for God, both express and acclaim the Lord's saving works;
the same Spirit inspires both God's work and man's response. Christ will
unite the two. In him, the psalms continue to teach us how to pray.
2588 The Psalter's many forms of prayer take shape both in the liturgy of
the Temple and in the human heart. Whether hymns or prayers of lamentation
or thanksgiving, whether individual or communal, whether royal chants,
songs of pilgrimage or wisdom meditations, the Psalms are a mirror of
God's marvelous deeds in the history of his people, as well as reflections
of the human experiences of the Psalmist. Though a given psalm may
reflect an event of the past, it still possesses such direct simplicity
that it can be prayed in truth by men of all times and conditions.
2589 Certain constant characteristics appear throughout the Psalms:
simplicity and spontaneity of prayer; the desire for God himself through
and with all that is good in his creation; the distraught situation of the
believer who, in his preferential love for the Lord, is exposed to a host
of enemies and temptations, but who waits upon what the faithful God will
do, in the certitude of his love and in submission to his will. The prayer
of the psalms is always sustained by praise; that is why the title of this
collection as handed down to us is so fitting: "The Praises." Collected
for the assembly's worship, the Psalter both sounds the call to prayer and
Sings the response to that call: Hallelu-Yah! ("Alleluia"), "Praise the
Lord!"
What is more pleaSing than a psalm? David expresses it well: "Praise the
Lord, for a psalm is good: let there be praise of our God with gladness
and Grace!" Yes, a psalm is a blesSing on the lips of the people, praise
of God, the assembly's homage, a general acclamation, a word that speaks
for all, the voice of the Church, a confession of faith in song.[40]
IN BRIEF
2590 "Prayer is the raiSing of one's mind and heart to God or the
requesting of good things from God" (St. John Damascene, Defide orth. 3,
24: PG 94, 1089C).
2591 God tirelessly calls each person to this mysterious encounter with
Himself. Prayer unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation as a
reciprocal call between God and man.
2592 The prayer of Abraham and Jacob is presented as a battle of faith
marked by trust in God's faithfulness and by certitude in the victory
promised to perseverance.
2593 The prayer of Moses responds to the living God's initiative for the
salvation of his people. It foreshadows the prayer of intercession of the
unique mediator, Christ Jesus.
2594 The prayer of the People of God flourished in the shadow of the
dwelling place of God's presence on earth, the ark of the covenant and the
Temple, under the guidance of their shepherds, especially King David, and
of the prophets.
2595 The prophets summoned the people to conversion of heart and, while
zealously seeking the face of God, like Elijah, they interceded for the
people.
2596 The Psalms constitute the masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament.
They present two inseparable qualities: the personal, and the communal.
They extend to all dimensions of history, recalling God's promises already
fulfilled and looking for the coming of the Messiah.
2597 Prayed and fulfilled in Christ, the Psalms are an essential and
permanent element of the prayer of the Church. They are suitable for men
of every condition and time.
Article 2: In the Fullness of Time
2598 The drama of prayer is fully revealed to us in the Word who became
flesh and dwells among us. To seek to understand his prayer through what
his witnesses proclaim to us in the Gospel is to approach the holy Lord
Jesus as Moses approached the burning bush: first to contemplate him in
prayer, then to hear how he teaches us to pray, in order to know how he
hears our prayer.
Jesus prays
2599 The Son of God who became Son of the Virgin learned to pray in his
human heart. He learns to pray from his mother, who kept all the great
things the Almighty had done and treasured them in her heart.[41] He
learns to pray in the words and rhythms of the prayer of his people, in
the synagogue at Nazareth and the Temple at Jerusalem. But his prayer
springs from an otherwise secret source, as he intimates at the age of
twelve: "I must be in my Father's house."[42] Here the newness of prayer
in the fullness of time begins to be revealed: his filial prayer, which
the Father awaits from his children, is finally going to be lived out by
the only Son in his humanity, with and for men.
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", "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 disciples[68] 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.
Article 3: 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
said[94] 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
us[99] 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 Gospel[117] 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 liturgy[127] 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 name[131]
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.
ENDNOTES
1 Ps 8:5; 8:1.
2 Cf. Acts 17:27.
3 Gen 3:9, 13.
4 Heb 10:5-7.
5 Cf. Gen 4:4, 26; Gen 5:24.
6 Gen 6:9; 8:20-9:17.
7 Gen 9:8-16.
8 Gen 12:4.
9 Cf. Gen 15:2 f.
10 Cf. Gen 15:6; 17:1 f.
11 Cf. Gen 18:1-15; Lk 1:26-38.
12 Cf. Gen 18:16-33.
13 Heb 11:17.
14 Gen 22:8; Heb 11:19
15 Rom 8:32.
16 Cf. Rom 8:16-21.
17 Cf. Gen 28:10-22.
18 Cf. Gen 32:24-30; Lk 18:1-8.
19 1 Tim 2:5.
20 Ex 3:1-10.
21 Ex 33:11.
22 Num 12:3,7-8.
23 Cf. Ex 34:6.
24 Cf. Ex 17:8-12; Num 12:13-14.
25 Ps 106:23; cf. Ex 32:1-34:9.
26 1 Sam 3:9-10; cf. 1:9-18.
27 1 Sam 12:23.
28 Cf. 2 Sam 7:18-29.
29 1 Kings 8:10-61.
30 Ps 24:6.
31 1 Kings 18:39.
32 Jas 5:16b-18.
33 Cf. 1 Kings 17:7-24.
34 Cf. 1 Kings 19:1-14; cf. Ex 33:19-23.
35 2 Cor 4:6; cf. Lk 9:30-35.
36 Cf. Am 7:2, 5; Isa 6:5, 8, 11; Jer 1:6; 15: 15-18; 20: 7-18.
37 Ezra 9:6-15; Neh 1:4-11; Jon 2:3-10; Tob 3:11-16; Jdt 9:2-14.
38 Cf. GILH, nn. 100-109.
39 DV 2.
40 St. Ambrose, In psalmum 1 enarratio, 1, 9: PL 14, 924; LH, Saturday, wk
10, OR.
41 Cf. Lk 1:49; 2:19; 2:51.
42 Lk 2:49.
43 Cf. Lk 3:21; 9:28; 22:41-44.
44 Cf. Lk 6:12; 9:18-20; 22:32.
45 Lk 11:1.
46 Cf. Mk 1:35; 6:46; Lk 5:16.
47 Cf. Heb 2:12, 15; 4:15.
48 Cf. Mt 11:25-27 and Lk 10:21-23.
49 Cf. Eph 1:9.
50 Cf. Jn 11:41-42.
51 Mt 6:21, 33.
52 Cf. Jn 17.
53 Lk 22:42.
54 Lk 23:34.
55 Lk 23:43.
56 Jn 19:26-27.
57 Jn 19:28.
58 Mk 15:34; cf. Ps 22:2.
59 Jn 19:30.
60 Lk 23:46.
61 Cf. Mk 15:37; Jn 19:30b.
62 Ps 2:7-8; cf. Acts 13:33.
63 Heb 5:7-9.
64 Cf. Mt 5:23-24, 44-45; 6:7,14-15, 21, 25, 33.
65 Cf. Mt 7:7-11,13-14.
66 Mk 11:24.
67 Mk 9:23; cf. Mt 21:22.
68 Cf. Mk 6:6; Mt 8:26.
69 Cf. Mt 8:10; 15:28.
70 Cf. Mt 7:21.
71 Cf. Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2; Jn 4:34.
72 Mk 1:15.
73 Cf. Mk 13; Lk 21:34-36.
74 Cf. Lk 22:40, 46.
75 Cf. Lk 11:5-13.
76 Cf. Lk 18:1-8.
77 Cf. Lk 18:9-14.
78 Jn 14:13.
79 Jn 14:6.
80 Cf. Jn 14:13-14.
81 Jn 14:16-17.
82 Cf. Jn 14:23-26; 15:7, 16; 16:13-15; 16:23-27.
83 Jn 16:24.
84 Cf. Mk 1:40-41; 5:36; 7:29; Cf. Lk 23:39-43.
85 Cf. Mk 25; 5:28; Lk 7:37-38.
86 Mt 9:27, Mk 10:48.
87 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 85, 1: PL 37, 1081; cf. GILH 7.
88 Cf. Lk 1:38; Acts 1:14.
89 Cf. Jn 2:1-12.
90 Cf. Jn 19:25-27.
91 Cf. Lk 1:46-55.
92 Acts 2:1.
93 Acts 1:14.
94 Cf. Jn 14:26.
95 Acts 2:42.
96 Cf. Lk 24:27, 44.
97 Cf. Eph 1:3-14; 2 Cor 1:3 7; 1 Pet 1:3-9.
98 Cf. 2 Cor 13:14; Rom 15:5-6,13; Eph 6:23-24.
99 Cf. Ps 95:1-6.
100 Ps 24, 9-10.
101 Cf. St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 62,16: PL 36, 757-758.
102 Cf. Rom 15:30; Col 4:12.
103 Rom 8:22-24.
104 Rom 8:26.
105 Lk 18:13.
106 1 Jn 3:22; cf. 1:7-2:2.
107 Cf. Mt 6:10, 33; Lk 11:2,13.
108 Cf. Acts 6:6; 13:3.
109 Cf. Rom 10:1; Eph 1:16-23; Phil 1911; Col 1:3-6; 4:3-4, 12.
110 Cf. Jn 14:13.
111 Cf. Jas 1:5-8; Eph 5:20; Phil 4:6-7; Col 3:16-17; 1 Thess 5:17-18.
112 Cf. Rom 8:34; 1 Jn 2:1; 1 Tim 2:5-8.
113 Heb 7:25.
114 Rom 8:26-27.
115 Phil 2:4; cf. Acts 7:60; Lk 23:28, 34.
116 Cf. Acts 12:5; 20:36; 21:5; 2 Cor 9:14.
117 Cf. Eph 6:18-20; Col 4:3-4; 1 Thess 5:25.
118 Cf. 2 Thess 1:11; Col 1:3; Phil 1:3-4.
119 2 Tim 2:1; cf. Rom 12:14; 10:1.
120 1 Thess 5:18; Col 4:2.
121 Cf. Rom 8:16.
122 1 Cor 8:6.
123 Acts 2:47; 3:9; 4:21; 13:48.
124 Eph 5:19; Col 3:16.
125 Cf. Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 6:15-16; 2 Tim
2:11-13.
126 Cf. Eph 1:3-14; Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:20-21; Jude 24-25.
127 Cf. Rev 4:8-11; 5:9-14; 7:10-12.
128 Rev 6:10.
129 Cf. Rev 18:24; 19:1-8.
130 Jas 1:17.
131 Cf. Mal 1:11.
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