534. What is prayer? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 534 repetition) Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the petition of
good things from him in accord with his will. It is always the gift of God who
comes to encounter man. Christian prayer is the personal and living
relationship of the children of God with their Father who is infinitely good,
with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit who dwells in their hearts.
“In brief”
(CCC 2590) "Prayer is
the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things
from God" (St. John Damascene, De
fide orth. 3, 24: PG 94, 1089C).
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2560) "If you
knew the gift of God!" (Jn 4:10). The wonder of prayer is revealed beside
the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human
being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his
asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or
not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may
thirst for him (Cf. St. Augustine, De
diversis quaestionibus octoginta tribus 64, 4: PL 40, 56).
Reflection
(CCC 2561) "You would
have asked him, and he would have given you living water" (Jn 4:10).
Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living
God: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out
cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!" (Jer
2:13). Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and
also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God (Cf. Jn 7:37-39;
19:28; Isa 12:3; 51:1; Zech 12:10; 13:1). (CCC 2564)
Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It
is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and
ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the
Son of God made man. (CCC 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" (Ps 8:5;
8:1). 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 (Cf.
Acts 17:27). [IT CONTINUES]
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