Day 342: Trinitarian Prayer (2663-2672)

• It’s Day 342!!

• ARTICLE 2: THE WAY OF PRAYER

• There is this living tradition of prayer that the Church proposes to every one of us

• PRAYER TO THE FATHER

• PRAYER TO JESUS

• “COME, HOLY SPIRIT”

• Paragraph 2670 says, “‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.’ Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action. If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoration?”

• The briefer these episodes get, the more space there is to make for prayer

• Let us actually use the silence after these episodes to pray to the Father, pray to the Son, and pray to and through the Holy Spirit

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise. Jesus Christ, your only Begotten Son, we give you praise. Holy Spirit, we give you praise. We know that we can pray to you at all times, Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know that at all times you are attentive to us, you are calling us. You are moving us by your prevenient grace to attend to you and to respond to your voice. Lord God, help us in this moment. Help us to be vulnerable before you, help us to be honest in your presence, help us to be humble, and help us to be patient. Let us be patient with the silence of prayer, help us to be patient with the dryness of prayer, help us to be patient with the way of prayer. And we make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2663 says, “In the living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures, iconography. The Magisterium of the Church has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ.”

• Paragraph 2664 says, “There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we pray ‘in the name’ of Jesus. The sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father.”

• This might seem so obvious to you

• We live in a very pluralistic world where all these alternative forms of “prayer” or “meditation” have usurped the role of Christian prayer

• If there is a prayer that does not involve Christ, then that is not Christian prayer

• People have taught “centering prayer”

• A person could take some of the aspects of centering prayer and incorporate them, like stilling the mind, calming oneself down, reaching a place of peace

• Not all people who taught centering prayer had Christian prayer at heart

• Because at heart, there is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ

• Centering prayer made a big splash in the Church for a while in certain circles

• Maybe it helped someone calm themselves and get to a place of peace, then they had access to Scripture and prayed in the name of Jesus and in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• That is wonderful

• BUT…

• It was not taught in a way to include Jesus or the Scriptures or the Holy Spirit

• So if anyone presents to you prayer and they claim that it is Christian prayer but it doesn’t involve Jesus or the name of Jesus, then we have to hit the brakes on that and discern whether it is really Christian prayer

• Paragraph 2655 says, “The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in the Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our lips and engrave in our hearts prayer to Christ in the form of invocations: Son of God, Word of God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God, King, Beloved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Life, our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of mankind…”

• When we pray the Mass, almost every prayer is directed to God the Father

• In the Mass, we are offering the sacrifice of the Son to the Father, in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• The Trinity can’t be separated, but there are three distinct persons in one God

• Maybe it will help you pray in the Mass when you realize that you are talking to Abba, Father, Dad, our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• Remember when we talked about prayer of praise?

• Sometimes we are simply praying these titles of our Lord Jesus and they can be a form of prayer of praise

• If you are wondering what are some of the ways that you can praise the Lord, you can give Him glory in your speech through all these titles

• Paragraph 2666 says, “But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: JESUS. The divine name may not be spoken by human lips, but by assuming our humanity The Word of God hands it over to us and we can invoke it: ‘Jesus,’ ‘YHWH saves.’ The name ‘Jesus’ contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation. To pray ‘Jesus’ is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him.”

• When we say the name JESUS, He is present in a unique way

• His NAME is His PRESENCE and His PRESENCE is His POWER

• Paragraph 2667 says, “This simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. The most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.’ It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light. By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior’s mercy.”

• Paragraph 2668 says, “The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases, but holds fast to the word and ‘brings forth fruit with patience.’ This prayer is possible ‘at all times’ because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.”

• The name of Jesus is not a mantra

• As Christians, we cannot use it like that

• We are calling upon God Himself

• When you say the name Jesus, you are calling upon Him, the personal God, to be present to you and be with you

• And you are calling yourself to be attentive to Him

• This is not heaping up empty phrases

• Paragraph 2669 says, “The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior’s steps. The stations from the Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his Holy Cross has redeemed the world.”

• One might ask why we don’t pray to the Holy Spirit

• If you don’t pray to the Holy Spirit, it is only because you don’t pray to the Holy Spirit

• It is not because the Church told you not to pray to the Holy Spirit

• Paragraph 2670 says, “‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.’ Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action. If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoration?”

• We get to pray not only THROUGH the Power of the Holy Spirit, we also pray TO the Holy Spirit

• “Come, Holy Spirit”

• The liturgical tradition of the Church has all these prayers to the Holy Spirit

• “Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.”

• In the Byzantine liturgy, “Heavenly King, consoler Spirit, Spirit of truth present everywhere and filling all things, treasury of all good and source of all life, come dwell in us, cleanse and save us, you who are All-Good.”

• When we pray to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, we have a God who is already loving us

• And we are simply loving Him in return

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

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

• I cannot WAIT…