Archbishop Leonard P. Blair
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead at Easter is what defines the world and the human person from beginning to end. The risen Christ makes it possible for us to attain our high calling to enter into what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God.”
Perhaps surprisingly to some, the catechism goes on to say that “this relationship is prayer” and that prayer “is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.” (n. 2558ff )
In her book The Essence of Prayer, Sister Ruth Burrows, OCD observes that “prayer is not our activity, our getting in touch with God, our coming to grips with or making ourselves desirable to God. We can do none of these things, nor do we need to, for God is there ready to do everything for us, loving us unconditionally. … The surest help we can give to ourselves … [is] an ardent coming to grips with Jesus in the New Testament so as to ‘get God right,’ and the constant plea for greater faith. Nothing else is needed.” (p. 28)
This does not mean that there is not a form, content or method to prayer. It simply means that these are all means to an end — namely, our relationship with God in Christ. The forms and manner of personal prayer may vary from person to person, or according to our state of life or immediate situation, but certain fundamentals constitute a common heritage of prayer.
In the “Our Father,” Jesus taught us how to pray. St. Augustine tells us that “… if we are praying in the right way, we say nothing that cannot already be found in the Lord’s Prayer.” (Ep. 130) If you reflect on all the petitions of the “Our Father” (as the catechism does in its second section on prayer), you will find everything you need for a right relationship to God, to the world and to your very self. Remember, prayer is about relationship — our relationship to God and all else in relationship to him.
Although prayer is directed primarily and ultimately to God the Father, as reflected in the Liturgy, it is also right and proper to direct prayers to God the Son — Jesus — and to God the Holy Spirit, both of whom are co-equal with the Father in divinity and majesty. Then there are prayers invoking the intercession of Mary, whose motherhood embraces us all, and the intercessory prayers directed to the saints and angels, who are united with the faithful on earth from their place in heaven, thus reminding us once again that prayer is a relationship.
Finally, the catechism devotes several pages to a section that bears the provocative title: The Battle of Prayer. Aren’t we supposed to think of prayer as serene and peaceful? Not really. No. 2725 tells it like it is: “Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. The great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. We pray as we live, because we live as we pray. If we do not want to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ, neither can we pray habitually in his name. The ‘spiritual battle’ of the Christian’s new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer.”
Prayer requires not only faith, but humility, trust and perseverance. May the joy of Easter confirm our hearts in the certainty that Christ is risen in our mortal flesh. God exists, he loves us and he thirsts for our love. Prayer alone in all its forms – public and private – can sustain and deepen this relationship. So let us do what the Lord asks of us in faith, and pray.