Prayer in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church #4
January 14, 1995
Brother John Raymond
Well, we had a little break at Christmas but I would like to
continue discussing the Catechism and what it says about prayer. We
have already seen how prayer is a gift, a covenant and communion.
Now we move into the universal call to prayer and trace it through
salvation history.
I was just reading an interesting article about a married couple.
The wife kept feeling like "something was missing" in their
marriage. They loved each other. They seemed to have everything that
would make for a happy marriage. What could this missing something
be? Both of them had been raised Catholic but had stopped practicing
their Faith. The void the wife felt was filled when she started
practicing her faith again. Her husband also returned to the Faith.
Is this woman's feeling of emptiness or void a common experience?
We were brought into existence by a loving God. We retain the desire
for the One who called us into existence. "All religions bear
witness to men's essential search for God." (#2566) St. Augustine is
often quoted in this regard. He said that his heart was restless
until it rested in God.
Are we really looking for God - or is it the reverse? When we
look back to Adam and Eve in the Garden we are told that, after
sinning, they hid from God. Yet, God is depicted as looking for
them. Who is looking for whom? "The living and true God tirelessly
calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer."
(#2567) As God reveals Himself over time to a person he reciprocates
with prayer. This covenant drama between God and a person or God and
a nation can be seen throughout the whole history of salvation. This
covenant makes our relationship with God very concrete. Our God
reveals Himself in history - the world's and each person's.
Prayer, as described in the first nine chapters of the Book of
Genesis, is very much caught up in God and His creation. For
example, Noah "walks with God." Noah is pleasing to God because his
heart is upright and undivided. Noah is blessed for this and through
him all creation, as creation is spared from total destruction by
the Flood because of him. So there is an interplay between
ourselves, God and creation. All are caught up in the covenant
relationship. Some years ago a man visited our monastery. He was
seeking some moral guidance - but He didn't believe in God. We
walked through the beautiful woods discussing his dilemma. Without
my initiating it this atheist all of a sudden said that he really
felt the presence of God walking through the woods. Coincidence?
This leads us to the beginning of any life of prayer - faith. One
man more than any other in the Old Testament was an example of faith
- Abraham. He is referred to as "our father in faith." Abraham
responded with obedience to the Word of God. "Such attentiveness of
the heart, whose decisions are made according to God's will, is
essential to prayer, while the words used count only in relation to
it." (#2570) Abraham's obedience is a reminder to us of fidelity to
the Word of God. This fidelity requires the yielding of our
intellect and will in faith to God Who reveals Himself, both to us
personally and through His Church. Abraham gives us a wonderful
example of intercessory prayer in his supplications for the people
of Sodom and Gomorrah. (cf. Gen. 18:16-33)
Certainly the sections we are looking at in the Catechism contain
much more material for thought than we can comment on here. But with
the material on prayer we have covered let us look into our own
prayer lives and see where perhaps we could improve. Let us look to
the great Old Testament men and women of prayer to help us do this.