Day 340: Scripture and the Liturgy (2650-2655)

• It’s Day 340!!

• CHAPTER TWO: THE TRADITION OF PRAYER

• ARTICLE 1: AT THE WELLSPRING OF PRAYER

• THE WORD OF GOD

• THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH

• We are going to look at what prayer is and what prayer is not

• Paragraph 2650 says, “Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures reveal about prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a living transmission (Sacred Tradition) within ‘the believing and praying Church,’ the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how to pray.”

• Sometimes we want the nuts and bolts and then we can do it on our own

• Prayer is not like that

• Yes, we have tools for prayer

• Yes, we have techniques for prayer

• But prayer can never be reduced to a technique

• Prayer is deeper than that

• Prayer is richer than that

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. We thank you and praise your name. We bless you because you blessed us. We glorify you because you are worthy of all glory. In this moment, we pray for those who are close to us. We pray for the needs of our family members and our friends. We pray, Lord God, for our enemies, for those who hate us, for those who have hurt us. We pray that you give them what they need. Give them all that they need. And please, Lord, give us what we need because without you, we are nothing and without you, we can do nothing. So meet us in our need. Meet us in our poverty, and receive our hearts. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• ARTICLE 1: AT THE WELLSPRING OF PRAYER

• Paragraph 2652 says, “The Holy Spirit is the living water ‘welling up to eternal life’ in the heart that prays. It is he who teaches us to accept it at its source: Christ. Indeed in the Christian life there are several wellsprings where Christ awaits us to enable us to drink of the Holy Spirit.”

• Paragraph 2650 says, “Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures reveal about prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a living transmission (Sacred Tradition) within ‘the believing and praying Church,’ the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how to pray.”

• We don’t just do whatever we want

• We have to have the will to pray

• We have to have discipline in prayer

• We can’t just see what other people have done or how other people have prayed

• It’s good to know the Scriptures and see what they reveal about prayer, but we also have to learn how to pray

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike make an analogy using a piano…

• So what are the sources of living water?

• THE source is Christ and the Holy Spirit

• Where can we go to always come into contact with God?

• We want to come into contact with God so that we can become like Him

• So where do we go for these wellsprings?

• THE WORD OF GOD

• If you have ever prayed with Scripture, you know how essential it is

• Paragraph 2653 says, “The Church ‘forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn “the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures…Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man. For “we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles.”’”

• LECTIO DIVINA

• It means SACRED READING

• It involves 4 steps

• LECTIO = reading

• MEDITATIO = meditation on what you just read

• ORATIO = pray about what you just read

• CONTEMPLATIO = contemplate what you just read 

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike extrapolate these using Jesus walking on water in the Gospels…

• Prayer is between you and God

• At some point you have to look up and talk to God about what you have read

• THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH

• Paragraph 2655 says, “In the sacramental liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and of the Holy Spirit proclaims, makes present, and communicates the mystery of salvation, which is continued in the heart that prays. The spiritual writers sometimes compare the heart to an altar. Prayer internalizes and assimilates the liturgy during and after its celebration. Even when it is lived out ‘in secret,’ prayer is always prayer of the Church; it is a communion with the Holy Trinity.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about the afterburn and exercise…

• You go to Mass and the reality of the mission of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is made present and is continued in the heart that prays

• If you have a heart that prays, there is the spiritual afterburn that lasts long after you are done with Mass and the mission of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is still proclaimed

• Everywhere you go, you are carrying the mission of Jesus and the Holy Spirit out into the world, proclaimed, made present, and communicated

• That is IF we pray

• We need to have the heart that prays so the heart can become an altar

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…