491. The Bible: a wellspring of prayer

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 491

Ave Maria series

Can you learn to pray from the Bible?

The Bible is like a wellspring of prayer.  To pray with the Word of God means to use the words and events of the Bible for one’s own prayer.  “To be ignorant of Scripture is to be ignorant of Christ” (St. Jerome).  [2652-2653]

 The Gospel in Latin according to the Apostle St. John: “In the beginning was the word…” ..... 491

 “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  --Ist Corinthians 13:4-7   --New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE)

Sacred Scripture, especially the Psalms and the New Testament, are a valuable treasury; in it we find the most beautiful and most powerful prayers of the Judeo-Christian world.  Reciting these prayers unites us with millions of people from all times and cultures who have prayed, but above all with Christ himself, who is present in all these prayers.

“Above all, the Gospels sustain me during my hours of prayer; in them I find everything that my poor little soul needs.  I constantly discover in them new insights, hidden, mysterious meanings.”  --St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

[2652-2653]

AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER

2652 The Holy Spirit is the living water "welling up to eternal life"³ 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.--Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

3   John 4:14.

The Word of God

2653 The Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ'"* 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."'⁴ –CCC

*  (Philippians 3:8).

4  S t. Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum 1,20,88:Patrologia Latina 16,50.

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