Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 477 – Part V.

YOUCAT Question n. 477 – Part V. What does it mean to learn from Jesus how to pray?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Learning from Jesus how to pray means entering into his boundless trust, joining in his prayer, and being led by him, step by step, to the Father.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2612) In Jesus "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mk 1:15). He calls his hearers to conversion and faith, but also to watchfulness. In prayer the disciple keeps watch, attentive to Him Who Is and Him Who Comes, in memory of his first coming in the lowliness of the flesh, and in the hope of his second coming in glory (Cf. Mk 13; Lk 21:34-36). In communion with their Master, the disciples' prayer is a battle; only by keeping watch in prayer can one avoid falling into temptation (Cf. Lk 22:40, 46). 2612   

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The disciples, who lived in community with Jesus, learned to pray by listening to and imitating Jesus, whose whole life was prayer. Like him, they had to be watchful and strive for purity of heart, to give up everything for the coming of God’s kingdom, to forgive their enemies, to trust boldly in God, and to love him above all things. By this example of devotion, Jesus invited his disciples to say to God Almighty, “Abba, dear Father”. If we pray in the Spirit of Jesus, especially the Lord’s Prayer, we walk in Jesus’ shoes and can be sure that we will arrive unfailingly in the heart of the Father.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2614) When Jesus openly entrusts to his disciples the mystery of prayer to the Father, he reveals to them what their prayer and ours must be, once he has returned to the Father in his glorified humanity. What is new is to "ask in his name" (Jn 14:13). Faith in the Son introduces the disciples into the knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6). Faith bears its fruit in love: it means keeping the word and the commandments of Jesus, it means abiding with him in the Father who, in him, so loves us that he abides with us. In this new covenant the certitude that our petitions will be heard is founded on the prayer of Jesus (Cf. Jn 14:13-14).

(The next question is: Why can we be confident that our prayer is heard by God?)