541. From whom did Jesus learn how to pray?
(Comp 541) Jesus, with his human heart, learned how to pray from his mother and from the Jewish tradition. But his prayer sprang from a more secret source because he is the eternal Son of God who in his holy humanity offers his perfect filial prayer to his Father.
“In brief”
(CCC 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.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 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.
Reflection
(CCC 2599) The Son of God
who became Son of the Virgin learned to pray according to his human heart. He
learns the formulas of prayer from his mother, who kept in her heart and
meditated upon all the “great things” done by the Almighty (Cf. Lk 1:49; 2:19;
2:51). 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" (Lk 2:49). 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.
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