A Beacon Of Light… Prayer In The Age Of The Church

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + Continuing the fourth pillar of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, dedicated to Christian Prayer, today we will explore prayer in the age of the Church. Throughout the history of the Church prayer has involved a kind of gradual transformation. This transformation was necessary, in order that all might one day pray together.
  This gradual transformation, of prayer from the Old Testament to the prayer of the New Testament, is guided by the same primordial force we call the Holy Spirit. In every age, it is the Spirit that guides and nurtures prayer. It doesn’t matter if it’s personal prayer or that of the local community of faith, all prayer finds its breath in the Spirit.
  This was particularly manifest on the day of Pentecost. As the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them to teach and enrich their lives of prayer. In fact, the Early Church devoted itself to the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. In each of these instances, prayer had an important role in the fulfillment of the others. There exists a sequence, whereby the Church’s life of prayer is centered.
  First, prayer is founded on the apostolic foundation of faith. It was the apostles whom Jesus had taught in the way of the Father, meaning the apostles received what Jesus had handed on to them in all the aspects of His public ministry. This becomes for us the foundation of prayer because Jesus is the foundation of our faith.
  Second, prayer is authenticated by charity. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the disciples and other followers, that the foundations of the Ten Commandments were enriched through the Beatitudes. What were given by God as laws to follow, the Commandments were written on stone tablets, whereas the Beatitudes are written on our hearts. Thus, prayer is linked to the charity of our hearts.
  Third, all prayer finds its nourishment in the Eucharist. If the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our lives, then it makes sense it would be at the center of our life of prayer.
  How does prayer find its place in the age of the Church? It does so in several ways. Some of these include blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Each of these offers a unique caveat of prayer.
  Blessing is one of the fundamental aspects of prayer. Here, blessing is seen as the most basic of prayer because it is an encounter with God and man. Blessing is a dialogue that exists between God’s gift and man’s acceptance of that gift. This dialogue enables our prayers to ascend to the Father through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and then we show our appreciation by blessing Him for having blessed us.
  Adoration is an attitude that man achieves in prayer acknowledging how small man is compared to the vastness of God. In adoration we show our homage to the King of the Universe as we sit in the silence of our hearts and contemplate our relationship with God.
  Petition is the second way prayer is made manifest in the Church. Offering a petition to God first must include asking for forgiveness. The tax collector in the Gospels pleads for God’s mercy through his statement of petition: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
  Forgiveness of our sinful ways frees the heart in order that it might be renewed in God’s love. Petitions also involve humility. We have to be humble enough to ask for what we need. Any kind of petitions involves our desire to keep our eyes focused on the final end: everlasting life. Petitions involve a certain hierarchy. There is a hierarchy in these petitions: We pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2631).

Beyond Time And Space

Intercession is a kind of petition that leads us to pray as Jesus did. In all of Jesus’ ministry there was a continual spirit of intercession. Jesus always interceded to the Father on our behalf. Since the time of Abraham, intercession has played a major role in prayer. It involves asking on behalf of another which shows that the intercessor has a heart that is attuned to God’s mercy.
Today the whole world needs intercessory prayer. We have seen how intercession through our prayers led to major accomplishments in the world. Particularly, the recent overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision shows how fifty years of intercession to the Blessed Mother, on behalf of millions of lost innocent lives, was successful. We must always remind ourselves the intercessory prayers we offer must not only benefit ourselves, but the interests of others.
Whenever we offer these types of prayers, they go beyond the boundaries of the human understanding of time and space to affect the lives of all.
Prayer also carries within it the characteristic of thanksgiving. As mentioned earlier, we give thanks to God for the gifts God has bestowed on us. But it goes even further. Prayers of thanksgiving reveal the connection the Eucharist has to the life of prayer. Every time we participate in the Eucharistic Celebration, we grow in our ability to offer thanksgiving to God. The Celebration of the Eucharist is primal if we are to grow in this characteristic of prayer.
St. Paul speaks about this frequently in his letters. Almost always, St. Paul begins by offering his thanks to God as an example for the others to follow. Then, when he is ready to leave a place, St. Paul reminds the faithful of their need to do the same: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”; “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (CCC, n. 2638). All we do must represent a thankful attitude of praise to God.

Moments Of Great Rejoicing

Lastly, praise is the most immediate prayer recognized by God. Praise elevates our prayers to the heights of His Divine Majesty. Praise recognizes God for who He is and gives Him the glory that is proper to His name. In prayers of praise, our hearts are joined with the Holy Spirit in order that we bear witness as children of God. Praise embraces all other forms of prayer and completes them, making them acceptable to God. St. Luke in his Gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ.
In the Acts of the Apostles, praise is stressed as actions of the Holy Spirit. There are several occurrences in the Acts of the Apostles where this is profoundly expressed: in the praying community of Jerusalem, in the invalid healed by Peter and John, in the crowd that gives glory to God for that healing, and the pagans of Pisidia who “were glad and glorified in the word of God” (CCC, n. 640).
The inspired writers of the New Testament, along with the early Christians, praised God through singing the Book of Psalms. In their rejoicing and praise, they recognized the importance of the events in the life of Christ that had opened their hearts to being able to celebrate the new faith. Among these joyful events were Christ’s Incarnation, His death which conquered death, His Resurrection, and His Ascension to the right hand of the Father. For the early Church, as for us all, these were moments of great rejoicing.
In the end, Jesus was the ultimate teacher in how to pray. He taught the disciples how to pray when He taught them the Our Father.
Next week we will delve into the importance of the Lord’s Prayer and its meaning. I hope you prayed today!