Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 476.

YOUCAT Question n. 476 - How did Jesus pray as he was facing his death?

(Youcat answer) When face to face with death, Jesus experienced the utmost depths of human fear. Yet he found the strength even in that hour to trust his heavenly Father: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this chalice from me; yet not what I will, but what you will [be done]” (Mk 14:36).

A deepening through CCC

(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. 

  Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) “Times of need teach us to pray.” Almost everyone experiences that in his life. How did Jesus pray when he was threatened by death? What guided him in those hours was his absolute willingness to entrust himself to the love and care of his Father. Yet Jesus recited the most unfathomable prayer of all, which he took from the Jewish prayers for the dying: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15:34, citing Ps 22:1). All the despair, all the laments, all the cries of mankind in all times, and yearning for God’s helping hand are contained in this word of the Crucified. With the words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46), he breathed forth his spirit. In them we hear his boundless trust in his Father, whose power knows the way to conquer death. Thus Jesus’ prayer in the midst of dying already anticipates the Easter victory of his Resurrection.   

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 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" (Ps 2:7-8; cf. Acts 13:33). 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" (Heb 5:7-9).

(The next question is: What does it mean to learn from Jesus how to pray?)