Lesson 2 - Prayer

The Catechism tells us that "Prayer is the lifting up of our hearts and minds to God to adore Him, to thank Him for His benefits, to ask His forgiveness, and to beg of Him all the graces we need whether for soul or body." Prayer means that we speak with God even as Moses spoke with Him on Mount Sinai. Of course we do not see God with our bodily eyes or hear Him with our bodily ears, but we try to behold Him with the eyes of our mind and to recognize His voice in the tabernacle of our heart. We turn away our thoughts from the things of the world; we give our fancy wings, and we soar away from the earth even unto the foot of His throne. We answer the invitation of the priest. "Lift up your hearts," with the willing words, "We lift them up to the Lord." But lifting up our hearts is not enough. Thinking of God is not of itself prayer. We must give rein to our affections. Heart and mind must work together. Hence, when we come into His presence and contemplate His greatness, His goodness, His beauty and His power, our souls must go out to Him in sentiments of wonder and admiration.

"My God, how wonderful Thou art,
Thy Majesty how bright,
How beautiful Thy mercy seat
In depths of burning light.
How dread are Thine eternal years,
everlasting Lord;
By prostrate spirits day and night
Incessantly adored."

To be sure, we can only understand a little, we can only fancy a small part of His perfections. Our minds can perceive but the fringe of the garment of His glory, and our voices are but faint, thin echoes of the angelic chorus that forever rolls round His throne: "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Hosts, the heavens and the earth are filled with His glory!" Still, as we have obeyed the invitation, "Sursum corda," we would also lift up our voices as we adore and make our own the words of the "Gloria in Excelsis":

"We praise Thee,
We bless Thee,
We worship Thee,
We glorify Thee,
We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory."

This is the highest form of prayer, and has taken for itself the name of "Adoration," though properly this name covers all the means by which we honor God according to the First Commandment. The first form of prayer, therefore, is the "prayer of adoration," in which we think of God's great perfections and as dutiful children declare His praise:

"Holy God, we praise Thy name;
Lord of all, we bow before Thee;
All on earth Thy scepter claim;
All in heaven above adore Thee;
Infinite Thy vast domain,
Everlasting is Thy reign."

When we consider how good God has been to us, when we bring before our minds the many and wonderful gifts He has given us how He created us; how He keeps us alive; how He redeemed us; how He has forgiven us our sins, surely it is but right that we should be filled with gratitude and that our hearts should prompt us to words of thanksgiving. Then, moreover, we have hundreds of special favors to be thankful for, things we have asked for and have received, fear cast out, sorrow bravely borne or turned into joy of all this we speak to God and our words of gratitude we call the "prayer of thanksgiving."

Then, we remember that there are many things we need. We know well that if God does not give them to us we shall never receive them. For these we ask. We are obeying a human instinct reinforced by the words of our Blessed Lord, which are in truth an appeal to our natural feelings and our common sense.

"Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or, what man is there of you, who if his son shall ask him for a loaf will give him a stone, or if he shall ask for a fish will give him a serpent? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"

When, therefore, we ask God for what we need we use the prayer of "petition." As the prayer of adoration is called simply adoration, so the prayer of petition is known simply as "prayer."

The elements of prayer, namely, adoration, praise, thanksgiving and petition, are all exemplified in that model prayer our Lord gave His disciples when they said, "Lord, teach us how to pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
Our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.

This prayer, like the Ten Commandments, consists of two parts, one relating to God, the other to ourselves and our neighbors. In the first part we are taught how to adore, praise and glorify God. With the opening words, "Our Father," we lift up our heart to heaven, and then we proceed to praise God's name, His Church, His holy law and the whole course of His government of things and men. With the second part we present our own needs, and we beg most earnestly that He will sustain us by His providence, deal with us as we deal with our neighbor, and protect us against all our enemies.

When we put our prayers into words, especially when we employ a set form of words, as in the "Pater Noster," we are said to use "vocal prayer." When we pray in our minds, without resorting to words, we are said to use "mental prayer." We must not forget that all vocal prayer implies some mental attention. Otherwise, we should merit the rebuke of the Prophet, "This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." Willful distractions are fatal to every kind of prayer. In the same way, when we speak of mental prayer we do not absolutely exclude vocal prayer. One helps the other. The most usual form of mental prayer is known as "meditation." Spiritual writers commend it in the highest terms and declare that it is practically necessary for any Christian who wishes to make progress in the spiritual life. Mental prayer is organized according to various methods, but its essence consists in this, that we place ourselves in the presence of God and there reflect seriously on some truth of our holy religion. From this reflection pious sentiments are .stirred up in our souls, and we decide in a practical manner what steps we must take to produce in us the mind that was also in Christ Jesus, so that with fear and trembling we may work out our salvation.

- taken from The Mass, by Father Peter Christopher Yorke