APPETIZER: Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man. 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." Faith in the Son introduces the disciples into the knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life." 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." (CCC #2564, 2614)
MAIN COURSE: The Transfiguration of Jesus (read Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8 or Luke 9:28-36) was a profound and mystical event in which the disciples were brought into a supernatural experience of God. The reality of who Jesus of Nazareth is - the Eternal Son of God the Father - shines forth gloriously from within him, no longer hidden for the moment by his flesh and bone humanity. The cloud that descends over the disciples is a symbol of the Holy Spirit who has come upon them. God the Father's voice is heard. Once again, he declares Jesus to be his Beloved Son and bids us to listen to him.
Because of this mystical experience with God the Trinity, the Transfiguration has become in Christian tradition a lesson on prayer, a sign of our communion with God. In prayer, we focus of course on Jesus because he became one of us and so we can imagine him. That's who the disciples focused on as well. However, all prayer of course involves the whole Trinity, Father and Spirit as well. We go tot he Father through Jesus. We are led by the Spirit in how to pray and in what to say. And the fruit of our prayer is listening to Jesus speaking through his Word and in our hearts. Thus, the Fourth Luminous Mystery invites us to enter into personal communion with God by prayer as an indispensable part of our embracing the Gospel and Kingdom of God.
I think that Christians who come from a heavily liturgical ritual church like Catholicism often find themselves a bit stumped when it comes to private prayer. And by this I do not mean praying the Rosary, the Chaplet of Mercy, the Stations of the Cross or other such devotions (which are very good and helpful forms of vocal prayer). I mean personal prayer from the heart. In one's own words. We are just not used to it nor are we trained in it as children. Both in the family and in religion classes we are taught the memorized prayers not how to converse with God as with a friend. But we can use what we do know about our human conversations to help us learn how to pray from the heart. The late Jesuit, Fr. John Hardon, once gave the following elements of human conversation as a good guide to our prayerful conversation with God.
1. We don't converse alone but with somebody else. And so to begin a conversation we must be aware of the other person and be present to them. Awareness of God, traditionally called "recollection", is the first step when praying. We place ourselves in a state of awareness of God's presence.
2. As in conversation with a friend, we pray in order to share ourselves, our lives, our thoughts, our needs with God. I wish to share with God something of what is inside of me. There are sentiments in my heart, desires in my will and feelings in my soul, that I do not wish to possess alone. So I enter into the prayer of conversation in order to share.
3. We turn towards the person with whom we are conversing both physically and interiorly. It's typically rude to speak to someone without looking at them or, if busy, at least letting them know that they have your focus, your attention. And so the same with God in prayer. We turn powders God in our body posture - we each might express this in our own way in addition to our common posture of kneeling - and we turn towards him in our minds, our hearts. This is why we Catholics have developed the use of statues, holy pictures, crosses and candles. Though not at all necessary, they help us to focus our attention while praying. Many even have a special prayer center in their home where these sacred items are displayed.
These four elements can help us develop a more mature understanding and practice of prayer. But still sometimes it become difficult to know what to say, how to begin, when we first learn to pray from the heart as a conversation, using our own words. I once heard something that helped me and maybe it might help you as well: the altar is a great symbol of prayer, so take each letter of the word ALTAR rand let it guide you in forming your personal prayer:
I think that Christians who come from a heavily liturgical ritual church like Catholicism often find themselves a bit stumped when it comes to private prayer. And by this I do not mean praying the Rosary, the Chaplet of Mercy, the Stations of the Cross or other such devotions (which are very good and helpful forms of vocal prayer). I mean personal prayer from the heart. In one's own words. We are just not used to it nor are we trained in it as children. Both in the family and in religion classes we are taught the memorized prayers not how to converse with God as with a friend. But we can use what we do know about our human conversations to help us learn how to pray from the heart. The late Jesuit, Fr. John Hardon, once gave the following elements of human conversation as a good guide to our prayerful conversation with God.
1. We don't converse alone but with somebody else. And so to begin a conversation we must be aware of the other person and be present to them. Awareness of God, traditionally called "recollection", is the first step when praying. We place ourselves in a state of awareness of God's presence.
2. As in conversation with a friend, we pray in order to share ourselves, our lives, our thoughts, our needs with God. I wish to share with God something of what is inside of me. There are sentiments in my heart, desires in my will and feelings in my soul, that I do not wish to possess alone. So I enter into the prayer of conversation in order to share.
4. Finally, conversation is not a one-way street. It is a dialogue not a monologue. And so in our prayer we cannot do all the talking. We need moments of silence, solitude, stillness, to hear the interior whisper of God speaking. And he always will respond in one way or another: words impressed on our hearts; thoughts that come to our minds; a peaceful warm fullness within us; or perhaps the inspiration to look up a particular passage of Scripture.
Adore - Adoration means that we praise and glorify God who is our Father, Creator and Source of all that is. We owe him everything that we are and every ability that we have and every good gift we possess. Bow down before him in humility.
Love - Telling someone we love them never gets old. And though God knows it he wants and like to hear it! Who doesn't like to hear the words, "I love you"? It is not that this makes God "feel" better, but it shows that our hearts are set upon him.
Thank - St. Therese of the Child Jesus said "everything is a grace, everything is a gift from God". We acknowledge this truth by by expressing our gratitude for all the blessings, people, lesson and yes even the difficulties in our lives (for they have something to teach us and bring out of us). Again, God doesn't need this but we do.
Ask - Jesus said that our Father in heaven knows all that we need but he likes to hears us ask for them. Bring all of your intentions, hopes, dreams, fears, desires to the Lord in prayer. Pour out your heart before him. He wants to hear!
Repent - In our conversations and interactions with someone who has hurt us, we doubt the sincerity of heart in those who never say, "I'm sorry." In this step of repentance we speak to God in bare naked honesty, acknowledging our sins and asking for forgiveness. We depend upon him to be our strength in weakness and our power in powerlessness in the struggle to do good and avoid evil.
DOGGIE-BAG: Here are a few things for you to take away for your spiritual snacking throughout the day:
The saint quotes below are from the most contemporary "Doctor of the Church". This is a special title of honor given to a saint whose writings have greatly influenced the Christian people as helpful in living out the Gospel of Christ. "Doctor" here is used in its educational sense...so we might say that these saints are PhD's in Gospel-living! St. Therese's autobiography "The Story of a Soul" has long been the second best seller among Catholics after the Holy Bible. And through it her "Little Way of Love" has influenced thousands. Only 36 saints have been declared Doctors of the Church. If you are the curious type and want to know who they are go to this link: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/astagnaro/36-doctors-for-all-that-ails-you
"I pray as a child would who cannot read - I just say what I want to say to God, quite simply, and he never fails to understand."
For me, prayer means launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up one's eyes, quite simply, to heaven, a cry of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of despair; it's a vast, supernatural force which opens out my heart, and binds me close to Jesus.
(St. Therese of the Child Jesus, d. 1897AD, Doctor of the Church)
SCRIPTURE VERSE TO MEMORIZE: "Lord, teach us to pray..." (Luke 11:1)
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