545. Why is our prayer efficacious?
(Comp 545) Our prayer is efficacious because it is united in faith with the prayer
of Jesus. In him Christian prayer becomes a communion of love with the Father.
In this way we can present our petitions to God and be heard: “Ask and you will
receive that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
“In brief”
(CCC 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.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 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" (Jn 14:16-17). This new dimension of
prayer and of its circumstances is displayed throughout the farewell discourse
(Cf. Jn 14:23-26; 15:7, 16; 16:13-15; 16:23-27). 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"(Jn 16:24). (CCC 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.
Reflection
(CCC 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) (Cf. Mk 1:40-41; 5:36; 7:29; Cf. Lk 23:39-43) 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) (Cf. Mk 25; 5:28; Lk 7:37-38). 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!" (Mt 9:27, Mk 10:48). 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" (St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 85, 1: PL 37, 1081; cf. GILH 7).
No comments:
Post a Comment