Prayer

1. Prayer

2. Prayer as God’s GiftCCC #2559-2561 God seeks us first!

3. Prayer as CovenantCCC # 2562- 2564 God desires a bond and man responds… It is a heart decision to enter a relationship.

4. Prayer as CommunionCCC # 2565 Being presence in and communion with the Holy Trinity and with the whole human spirit.

5. “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple of look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” • (St. Theresa of Lisiuex)

6. ? Who is God for you at this point of your life in term of relationship?

7. Five Forms of PrayerCCC # 2623-2649 • Adoration • Petition • Intercession • Thanksgiving • Praise

8. Prayer of Petition CCC# 2631: The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness. CCC# 2631: Christian prayer is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come.

9. The Values of Prayer St. Thomas gives 4 distinct values to prayer 1. Satisfactory: because prayer springs from love and is a difficult task for imperfect souls. 2. Meritorious: any act of love or virtuous act can be merited. 3. Spiritual delight: prayer nourishes our intellect, arouses our sensibility in a holy manner, and stimulates and strengthens our will. 4. Impetratory: this value is based primarily on faith- rest on the promise of God.

10. - “Ask, and you will received. Seek, you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. The one who knocks enters.” (Matthew 7:7-8) - “You will receive all that you pray for, provided you have the faith.” (Matthew 21:22) - “And whatever you ask in my name I will do, so as to glorify the Father in the Son. Anything you ask in my name, I will do.” (John 14:13-14) - “If you live in me, and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will-it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) - “I give you assurance, whatever you ask the Father, he will give you in my name. until now you have not asked for anything in my name. ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23- 24) - “We have this confidence in God: that he hears us whenever we ask for anything according to his will. And since we know that he hears us whenever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.” (1 John 5:14-15)

11. According to St. Thomas, 4 conditions in prayer are required to obtain and fulfill the divine promises: • one should pray for oneself; • one should pray for that which is necessary for salvation; • one should pray piously; • one should pray with perseverance. What about praying for our loved ones ?

12. II. Utility of Prayer ? • Not to reminde God our needs, but we may be reminded of the necessity of having recourse to God. • Not to change the divine will, but to obtain what God has decreed; • Note: • Some things will be granted to us whether we pray for them or not, because God has decreed that they shall be granted to us absolutely; • Some things wukk never be granted to us, no matter how earnestly and how long we pray for them; • Others will be granted to us only if we pray, because God has decreed that they will be given only on the condition that we ask them. • 3. It is lawful to pray for anything that it is lawful to desire. (St. Augustine) • 4. Spiritual benefit: excellent act of the virtue of religion; ecercises in the virtur of humility; increases our confidence in God; we are raised to a greater dignity. 1. Does God know our needs? 2. If he knows our needs (and the truth is that he know better than we do), why do we need to give voice to our petitions?

13. III. Necessity of Prayer • It is absolutely necessary in the economy of divine providence as Jesus commanded us to pray. “Watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41); “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1); • Because we are weak and lack many things, only God can supply. • Necessary means for the salvation of adults.

14. Difficulties in PrayerTwo main sources of difficulties of prayer: distraction and dryness. • Causes of distraction: • Constitutional factors (temperament, imagination, concentration, passions); • Physical or mental illness (brain disorders, physical exhaustion, mental fatigue); • Character defects (lack of recollection, dissipation, lukewarm-ness, vain curiosity, slothfulness, lust, gluttony, pride.); • Improper spiritual direction (impose… without understanding the needs of the soul, the capacity of the soul, and the movements of grace in the soul); • The devil; • Unsuitable circumstances (time, place, posture, preparation, subject…) • Causes of dryness: • by the individual: illness, excessive activity, improper training in the practice of prayer, lukewarm in the service of God; infidelity to grace, habitual venial sin, habits of sensuality, vain curiosity, instability and superficiality, excessive activism. • by God because he prepares the soul for some new greater grace. • by devil because it wants us to give up praying.

15. 5 pitfalls to be avoided in the practice of prayer: • Purely mechanical recitation of vocal prayers and lifeless routine in the practice of mental prayer • Excessive personal effort, as if one were able to do all by sheer force; or undue passivity an inertia, as if one should leave all to God alone. • Discouragement at not perceiving the consolations one expected; or rash optimism that one is further advanced in prayer than one really is. • Attachment to sensible consolation, which causes in the soul a certain spiritual gluttony that impels one to seek the consolations of God rather than the God of consolation. • Persistence in the use of a particular method, as if that were the only possible method, or the premature abandonment of a method.