Prayer – What it Is
The fact
that God always calls us first is portrayed wonderfully in John’s Gospel,
chapter 4, the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus speaks to her
first. “Give me a drink.” When she tries to put him off, He says, “If you knew
the gift of God” – ah! if only you knew! Then “you would have asked Him and He
would have given you LIVING water!” God says through the prophet Jeremiah
(2:13) that people “have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.”
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
Last week
we looked at examples of what prayer is not. Now we will jump to the heart of
what prayer is by asking first, What does it mean to be human?
The Vatican
II constitution on the “Church in the Modern World” (Gaudium et Spes),
19, says, “The root reason for human dignity lies in man’s call to communion
with God. From the very circumstance of his origin, man is already invited to
converse with God.” We see this in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 where God creates
Adam and Eve, blesses them, gives them tasks (purpose), speaks to them, and
“waits” for their response (e.g., 2:19, 3:9). God gave them the covenant of
marriage (2:24) which images (cf. 1:27) the loving communion of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit (the Blessed Trinity; cf. 1:26, “Let us”), and of Christ and
His Body, the Church (Eph 5:31-32). So our human dignity, at its deepest root,
lies in the fact that God invites us to communion – and we would not exist as
persons were it not for this fact.
So what
does it mean to be human? To pray. To respond to the God who created you, loves
you, and invites you to the deepest of friendships.
And what is
prayer? The Catechism of the Catholic Church ("CCC"), 2558, says prayer is our
personal relationship with God. Everyone is called to believe the mysteries of
faith, to celebrate them in the sacramental liturgy, so that they then “live
from” these mysteries “in a vital and personal relationship with the living and
true God.” God calls each person, without exception, to this personal
relationship, to prayer.
CCC 2567,
puts it this way: “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.”
Most people
know the simple definition of prayer by St. John Damascene (675/676-749):
“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the requesting of
good things from God.”
St. Thérèse
of Lisieux (1873-1897) put it this way: “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. Theresa
of Ávila (1515-1582) says prayer is a “close sharing between friends” and gives
an image of sitting down with a friend over a cup of coffee at the kitchen
table. (A very useful image when you feel stuck!)
Prayer is
this, but it is also far more. It is the living relationship with God, the
habit of being in His presence, the communion of our life with God’s life.
(CCC, 2565.)
Prayer can
be expressed in words, in mental intentions, and gestures (e.g., folded hands,
kneeling, fingering beads), but always it is the whole person who is praying.
Scripture generally speaks of the “heart” as the source of prayer. “The heart
is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the
Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the
place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth,
where we choose life or death.” (CCC 2563.) From our hearts come our prayer.
Dibby Green
Originally published in the print edition of the Mojave Desert News on November 14, 2019.Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.