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    Chapter 2 - Prayer

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    This document provides an overview of prayer from a Catholic perspective. It discusses what prayer is, why it is necessary, how humans are universally called to prayer, and different ways to pray including using psalms, lectio divina, and the Lord's Prayer. The document examines each petition of the Lord's Prayer, including both "Thou-petitions" focused on God and "We-petitions" focused on human needs and forgiveness.

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    Chapter 2 - Prayer

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    oldaltarboy7137
    122 views16 pages
    This document provides an overview of prayer from a Catholic perspective. It discusses what prayer is, why it is necessary, how humans are universally called to prayer, and different ways to pray including using psalms, lectio divina, and the Lord's Prayer. The document examines each petition of the Lord's Prayer, including both "Thou-petitions" focused on God and "We-petitions" focused on human needs and forgiveness.

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    This document provides an overview of prayer from a Catholic perspective. It discusses what prayer is, why it is necessary, how humans are universally called to prayer, and different ways to pray including using psalms, lectio divina, and the Lord's Prayer. The document examines each petition of the Lord's Prayer, including both "Thou-petitions" focused on God and "We-petitions" focused on human needs and forgiveness.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    122 views16 pages

    Chapter 2 - Prayer

    Uploaded by

    oldaltarboy7137
    This document provides an overview of prayer from a Catholic perspective. It discusses what prayer is, why it is necessary, how humans are universally called to prayer, and different ways to pray including using psalms, lectio divina, and the Lord's Prayer. The document examines each petition of the Lord's Prayer, including both "Thou-petitions" focused on God and "We-petitions" focused on human needs and forgiveness.

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    of 16

    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

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