Chapter Two - Prayer

Second Sunday of Advent

 Opening Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and

enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, by the light of the Holy Spirit, You

have taught the hearts of Your faithful. In the same Spirit
help us to know what is truly right and always to rejoice in
Your consolation. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
 The Second Luminous Mystery—The Wedding Feast at
Cana

And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to Him:

They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what
is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His
mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to
you, do ye. John 2:3-5
“You awake us to delight in
your praise; for you made us
for yourself, and our hearts are
restless until they rest in you.”

The Confessions of St. Augustine, AD 397

 What is Prayer?
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned
toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love embracing
both trial and joy.”
- St. Therese of Lisieux
Manuscrits autobiographiques

“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the

petition of good things from him 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.”
(Compendium #534)
 Is Prayer Necessary?
Yes! One simply cannot be a Christian without prayer. What
communication is to our marriage relationship with our spouse,
prayer is to our relationship with God. If we say we love God, but
we do not pray, we lie. For love is intimacy, and intimacy is
communication, and communication with God is prayer. If God is
necessary, prayer is necessary.

- Peter Kreeft
Catholic Christianity, pg. 376
 The Universal Call to Prayer
“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.”
(CCC #2567)
 We Pray Not For Our Will
…but for God’s.

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to

thy word.”
(The Annunciation, Luke 1:38)

“My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.

Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

(The Agony in the Garden, Matthew 26:39)

 Three Prerequisites for Prayer
1. “Humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly
acknowledge that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought,’
are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.” (CCC #2559)

2. “Love is the source of prayer; whoever draws from it reaches

the summit of prayer.” (CCC #2658)

3. “One enters into prayer as one enters into liturgy: by the

narrow gate of faith…and…hope.” (CCC #2656-57)
 How Do We Pray?
1. The Psalms
a) Book length prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit
b) Thoroughly Christocentric

2. Lectio Divina
a) Known as ‘divine reading’
b) Prayerfully reading Scripture

3. The Lord’s Prayer, a.k.a. the Our Father

a) From the mouth of Jesus - this is the perfect prayer!
b) The Catechism calls this prayer the ‘summary of the whole
Gospel.’
 The Seven Petitions
…from Matthew 6:9-13 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

1. Hallowed be Thy Name.

2. Thy kingdom come.
3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
4. Give us this day our daily bread.
5. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
6. Lead us not into temptation.
7. Deliver us from evil.
 Our Father
“When we say ‘our’ Father, we recognize first that all his
promises of love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the
new and eternal covenant in his Christ: we have become ‘his’
people and he is henceforth ‘our’ God.” (CCC #2787)

Before Jesus taught it, “the expression God the Father had never
been revealed to anyone. When Moses himself asked God who
he was, he heard another name. The Father's name has been
revealed to us in the Son, for the name ‘Son’ implies the new
name ‘Father’.” (CCC #2779)
 Thou-petitions
1. Hallowed be Thy Name.
a) ‘To hallow’ means to make holy, to set apart.
b) We ask that His Name is hallowed in us.

2. Thy kingdom come.

a) Refers primarily to the final coming of the reign of God.
(CCC #2818)
b) Major obstacle to ‘Thy kingdom come’ is ‘My kingdom
come’.

3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

a) In the agony, Jesus says, “not my will, but yours be done.”
b) How much more do we need to learn obedience?
(CCC #2824-25)
 We-petitions
1. Give us this day our daily bread.
a. Give us today the bread we need in order to live.
b. “Supersubstantial” bread? (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 154)

2. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

a. In this petition, we ask God to forgive our sins.
b. BUT…our petition will not be heard unless we first
forgive the debts of others. (CCC #2838
 We-petitions
3. Lead us not into temptation.
a) “This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our
sins result from consenting to temptation.” (CCC #2846)
b) Dual meaning - “do not allow us to enter into temptation”
and “do not let us yield to temptation”

4. Deliver us from evil.

a) “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I
ask you to protect them from the evil one.” John 17:15
b) This ‘evil’ is not an abstraction, but refers to Satan, the
Evil One, the devil who throws himself across God’s plan