535. Why is there a universal call to prayer?
(Comp 535) Because through creation God first calls every being from nothingness.
Even after the Fall man continues to be capable of recognizing his Creator and
retains a desire for the One who has called him into existence. All religions,
and the whole history of salvation in particular, bear witness to this human
desire for God. It is God first of all, however, who ceaselessly draws every person
to the mysterious encounter known as prayer.
“In brief”
(CCC 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.
To deepen and
explain
(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). (CCC 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.
Reflection
(CCC 2667) This simple invocation of faith developed in the
tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. The most usual
formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt.
Athos, is the invocation, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us
sinners." It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men
begging for light (Cf. Mk 10:46-52; Lk 18:13). By it the heart is opened to
human wretchedness and the Savior's mercy.
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