476 JESUS PRAYS FACING DEATH

YOUCAT Lesson 476

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

476  How did Jesus pray as he was facing his death?

When face to face with death, Jesus experienced the utmost depths of human fear.  Yet he found the strength even in that hour to trust his heavenly Father: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this chalice from me; yet not what I will, but what you will (be done)” (Mark 14:36). 

This is the facial feature on the Turin Shroud enshrined at Turin, Italy and revered by many to be that of Jesus. At left is a modern photo of the face which is imprinted on the burial cloth. When the image is reversed and digitally enhance, a recognizable image appears as seen on the right. The photography and digital image work was done by Dianelos Georgoudis. …..476

“Times of need teach us to pray.”  Almost everyone experiences that in his life.  How did Jesus pray when he was threatened by death?  What guided him in those hours was his absolute willingness to entrust himself to the love and care of his Father.  Yet Jesus recited the most unfathomable prayer of all, which he took from the Jewish prayers for the dying: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, citing Psalm 22:1).  All the despair, all the laments, all the cries of mankind in all times, and yearning for God’s helping hand are contained in this word of the Crucified.  With the words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), he breathed forth his spirit.  In them we hear his boundless trust in his Father, whose power knows the way to conquer death.  Thus Jesus’ prayer in the midst of dying already anticipates the Easter victory of his Resurrection.  100

“Jesus prays Psalm 22 which begins with the words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He takes to himself the whole suffering people of Israel, all of suffering humanity, the drama of God’s darkness, and he makes God present in the very place where he seems definitively vanquished and absent.”  Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, Good Friday, 2005

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy novena 9th Day intention given by Jesus to Saint Faustina reads: “Today bring to Me souls who have become lukewarm and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy.  These souls wound My Heart most painfully.  My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls.  They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.’  For them the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy.”

475 THE PRAYING JESUS

YOUCAT Lesson 475

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

475  How did Jesus pray?

Jesus’ life was one single prayer.  At decisive moments (his temptation in the desert, his selection of the apostles, his death of the Cross) his prayer was especially intense.  Often he withdrew into solitude to pray, especially at night.  Being one with the Father in the Holy Spirit—that was the guiding principle of his earthly life.  [2600-2605]

“Trinity” a fresco by Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738-1739 (Saint Gaudenzio Church at Ivrea, a town and commune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy). …..475

“The Father and I are one.”  John 10:30

[2600-2605]

 Jesus prays

2600 The Gospel according to St. Luke emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit and the meaning of prayer in Christ's ministry. Jesus prays before the decisive moments of his mission: before his Father's witness to him during his baptism and Transfiguration, and before his own fulfillment of the Father's plan of love by his Passion.( Compare Luke 3:21; Lk 9:28; Lk 22:41-44.)⁴³ He also prays before the decisive moments involving the mission of his apostles: at his election and call of the Twelve, before Peter's confession of him as "the Christ of God," and again that the faith of the chief of the Apostles may not fail when tempted.(Compare Luke 6:12; Lk 9:18-20; Lk 22:32.)⁴⁴ Jesus' prayer before the events of salvation that the Father has asked him to fulfill is a humble and trusting commitment of his human will to the loving will of the Father. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

 2601 "He was praying in a certain place and when he had ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray."'(Luke 11:1.)⁴⁵ In seeing the Master at prayer the disciple of Christ also wants to pray. By contemplating and hearing the Son, the master of prayer, the children learn to pray to the Father. –CCC

 2602 Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night.( Compare Mark 1:35; Mk 6:46; Luke 5:16.)⁴⁶ He includes all men in his prayer, for he has taken on humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, shares by his human prayer in all that "his brethren" experience; he sympathizes with their weaknesses in order to free them.( Compare Hebrews 2:12,15; Heb 4:15.)⁴⁷ It was for this that the Father sent him. His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in secret.  –CCC

 2603 The evangelists have preserved two more explicit prayers offered by Christ during his public ministry. Each begins with thanksgiving. In the first, Jesus confesses the Father, acknowledges, and blesses him because he has hidden the mysteries of the Kingdom from those who think themselves learned and has revealed them to infants, the poor of the Beatitudes.(Compare Matthew 11:25-27 and Luke 10:21-23.)⁴⁸ His exclamation, "Yes, Father!" expresses the depth of his heart, his adherence to the Father's "good pleasure," echoing his mother's Fiat at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he will say to the Father in his agony. The whole prayer of Jesus is contained in this loving adherence of his human heart to the mystery of the will of the Father.( Compare Ephesians 1:9.)⁴⁹ –CCC

 2604 The second prayer, before the raising of Lazarus, is recorded by St. John.( Compare John 11:41-42.)⁵⁰ Thanksgiving precedes the event: "Father, I thank you for having heard me," which implies that the Father always hears his petitions. Jesus immediately adds: "I know that you always hear me," which implies that Jesus, on his part, constantly made such petitions. Jesus' prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself. The Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the "treasure"; in him abides his Son's heart; the gift is given "as well."(Matthew 6:21, 33.)⁵¹ –CCC

 The priestly prayer of Jesus holds a unique place in the economy of salvation.( Compare John 17.)⁵² A meditation on it will conclude Section One. It reveals the ever present prayer of our High Priest and, at the same time, contains what he teaches us about our prayer to our Father, which will be developed in Section Two.  –CCC

 2605 When the hour had come for him to fulfill the Father's plan of love, Jesus allows a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial prayer, not only before he freely delivered himself up ("Abba . . . not my will, but yours."),(Luke 22:42.)⁵³ but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer and the gift of self are but one: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"(Luke 23:34.)⁵⁴; "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise"(Luke 23:43.)⁵⁵"; "Woman, behold your son" - "Behold your mother"(John 19:26-27.)⁵⁶; "I thirst."(John 19:28.)⁵⁷; "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"(Mark 15:34; compare Psalm 22:2.)⁵⁸; "It is finished"(John 19:30.)⁵⁹; "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"(Luke 23:46.)⁶⁰until the "loud cry" as he expires, giving up his spirit.( Compare Mark 15:37; John 19:30b.)⁶¹ –CCC

 2606 All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry of the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising his Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation. The Psalter gives us the key to prayer in Christ. In the "today" of the Resurrection the Father says: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."(Psalm 2:7-8; compare Acts of the Apostles13:33.)⁶² –CCC

  

The Letter to the Hebrews expresses in dramatic terms how the prayer of Jesus accomplished the victory of salvation: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him."(Hebrews 5:7-9.)⁶³ --CCC

474 JESUS' ASSOCIATION WITH PRAYER

YOUCAT Lesson 474

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

474  How did Jesus learn to pray?

Jesus learned to pray in his family and in the synagogue.  Yet Jesus broke through the boundaries of traditional prayer.  His prayer demonstrates a union with his Father in heaven that is possible only to someone who is the Son of God.  [2598-2599]

Jesus  with Mary and Joseph in the Temple  by James Tissot, Brooklyn_Museum. ….. 474

Jesus, who was God and man at the same time, grew up like other Jewish children of his time amid the rituals and prayer formulas of his people, Israel.  Nevertheless, as the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple demonstrated (Luke 2:41-45), there was something in him that could not be learned; an original, profound, and unique union with God, his Father in heaven.   Jesus knew, as men hope for, a hereafter in another world, and prayed to God.  At the same time, though, he was also part of that hereafter.  The occasion [of the 12-year old Jesus in the Temple teaching and answering questions of the elders prefigured] that one day people would pray to Jesus, acknowledge him as God, and ask for his grace.

And [the child Jesus said to Mary and Joseph], “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”--Luke 2:49

“To pray means to think lovingly about Jesus.  Prayer is the soul’s attention that is concentrated on Jesus.  The more you love Jesus, the better you pray.”  Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)

[2598-2599]

THE REVELATION OF PRAYER 

ARTICLE 2
IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

2598 The drama of prayer is fully revealed to us in the Word who became flesh and dwells among us. To seek to understand his prayer through what his witnesses proclaim to us in the Gospel is to approach the holy Lord Jesus as Moses approached the burning bush: first to contemplate him in prayer, then to hear how he teaches us to pray, in order to know how he hears our prayer. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Jesus prays

2599 The Son of God who became Son of the Virgin also learned to pray according to his human heart. He learns the formulas of prayer from his mother, who kept in her heart and meditated upon all the "great things" done by the Almighty.( Compare Luke 1:49; Lk 2:19; Lk 2:51.)⁴¹ He learns to pray in the words and rhythms of the prayer of his people, in the synagogue at Nazareth and the Temple at Jerusalem. But his prayer springs from an otherwise secret source, as he intimates at the age of twelve: "I must be in my Father's house."(Luke 2:49.)⁴² Here the newness of prayer in the fullness of time begins to be revealed: his filial prayer, which the Father awaits from his children, is finally going to be lived out by the only Son in his humanity, with and for men.

473 150 PSALMS

YOUCAT Lesson 473

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

473  How are the Psalms important for our prayer?

There are 150 Psalms in the Old Testament.  They are a collection of songs and prayers written in the centuries before the birth of Jesus which are still prayed today in the Church community—in the so-called Liturgy of the Hours.  The Psalms are among the most beautiful texts in world literature and move even modern readers immediately by their spiritual power.  188

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Christ the Good Shepherd  illustrated in stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church, Ashfield, New South Wales. …..473

“The Lord is my shepherd, / I shall not want; / he makes me lie down in green pastures. / He leads me beside still waters; / he restores my soul. / He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. / Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, / I fear no evil; / for you are with me; / your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  Psalm 23

In Sunday and weekday masses a portion of a psalm relating to the first reading and the Gospel reading are spoken or sung in English.  As part of my daily prayers, I read one psalm each evening at bedtime. –Don L. Bragg

472 MOSES THE MEDIATOR

YOUCAT Lesson 472

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

472  How did Moses pray?

From Moses we learn that “praying” means “speaking with God”.  At the burning bush God entered into a real conversation with Moses and gave him an assignment.  Moses raised objections and asked questions.  Finally God revealed to him his holy name.  Just as Moses then came to trust God and enlisted wholeheartedly in his service, so we too should pray and thus go to God’s school.  [2574-2577]

Moses and the Burning Bush. …..472

The bible mentions Moses’ name 767 times—so central  is he as the liberator and lawgiver of the people of Israel.  At the same time Moses was also a great intercessor for his people.  In prayer he received his commission; from prayer he drew his strength.  Moses had an intimate, personal relationship with God: “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11a).  Before Moses acted or instructed the people, he withdrew to the mountain to pray.  Thus he is the original example of contemplative prayer.

Contemplata aliis trader. (To contemplate and to give to others the fruits of contemplation.)  Motto of the Dominican Order

Contemplation (from Latin contemplare = becoming absorbed in God’s presence in prayer.)  Contemplation (the interior spiritual life) and action (the active life) are two sides of devotion to God.  In Christianity the two belong inseparably together.

[2574-2577]

Moses and the prayer of the mediator

2574 Once the promise begins to be fulfilled (Passover, the Exodus, the gift of the Law, and the ratification of the covenant), the prayer of Moses becomes the most striking example of intercessory prayer, which will be fulfilled in "the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."(1 Timothy 2:5.)¹⁹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2575 Here again the initiative is God's. From the midst of the burning bush he calls Moses.( Exodus 3:1-10.)²⁰ This event will remain one of the primordial images of prayer in the spiritual tradition of Jews and Christians alike. When "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" calls Moses to be his servant, it is because he is the living God who wants men to live. God reveals himself in order to save them, though he does not do this alone or despite them: he calls Moses to be his messenger, an associate in his compassion, his work of salvation. There is something of a divine plea in this mission, and only after long debate does Moses attune his own will to that of the Savior God. But in the dialogue in which God confides in him, Moses also learns how to pray: he balks, makes excuses, above all questions: and it is in response to his question that the Lord confides his ineffable name, which will be revealed through his mighty deeds. --CCC

2576 "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."( Exodus 33:11.)²¹ Moses' prayer is characteristic of contemplative prayer by which God's servant remains faithful to his mission. Moses converses with God often and at length, climbing the mountain to hear and entreat him and coming down to the people to repeat the words of his God for their guidance. Moses "is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly, not in riddles," for "Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth."(Numbers 12:3,7-8.)²² –CCC

2577 From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,(Compare Exodus 34:6.)²³ Moses drew strength and determination for his intercession. He does not pray for himself but for the people whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle with the Amalekites and prays to obtain healing for Miriam.(Compare Exodus 17:8-12; Numbers 12:13-14.)²⁴ But it is chiefly after their apostasy that Moses "stands in the breach" before God in order to save the people.(Psalm 106:23; compare Exodus 32:1-34:9.)²⁵ The arguments of his prayer - for intercession is also a mysterious battle - will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvelous deeds, since his glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.  --CCC

471 ABRAHAM'S FAITH IN GOD

YOUCAT Lesson 471

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

471  Why is Abraham a model of prayer?

Abraham listened to God.  He was willing to set out for wherever God commanded and to do what God willed.  By his listening and his readiness to make a new start, he is a model for our prayer.

Abraham and the Three Angels (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot). …..471

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.^g By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise;^h for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.ⁱ By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy.^j So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. –Hebrews 11:8-12

Not many prayers of Abraham have been handed down.  But wherever he went, he set up altars, places of prayer, to God.  And so along the journey of his life he had many sorts of experiences with God, including some that tried and unsettled him.  When Abraham saw that God was going to destroy the sinful city of Sodom, he pleaded for it.  His plea for Sodom is the first great intercessory prayer in the history of the people of God.

470 MAN IN SEARCH OF GOD

YOUCAT Lesson 470

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

How to Pray: The Gift of God’s Presence

470  What prompts a person to pray?

We pray because we are full of an infinite longing and God has created us men for himself: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (St. Augustine).  But we pray also because we need to: Mother Teresa says, “Because I cannot rely on myself, I rely on him, twenty-four hours a day.”  [2566-2567, 2591]

Sermon On The Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. …..470

Jesus’ Teaching about Prayer:

 “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.   In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The Lord’s Prayer.   “This is how you are to pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.   Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.  If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. --Matthew 6:5-15

Often we forget God, run away from him and hide.  Whether we avoid thinking about God or deny him—he is always there for us.  He seeks us before we seek him; he yearns for us, he calls us.  You speak with your conscience and suddenly notice that you are speaking with God.  You feel lonely, have no one to talk with, and then sense that God is always available to talk.  You are in danger and experience that a cry for help is answered by God.  Praying is as human as breathing, eating, and loving.  Praying purifies.  Praying makes it possible to resist temptations.  Praying strengthens us in our weakness.  Praying removes fear, increases energy, and gives a second wind.  Praying makes one happy.

“Do what you can, and pray for what you cannot, and so God will grant you the ability to do it.”  St. Augustine (354-430)

“They should seek God in the hope that they might feel after him and find him.  Yet he is not far from each one of us.”  Acts of the Apostles 17:27

“Praying does not mean listening to yourself speak; praying means calming down and being still and waiting until you hear God.”  Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

“Suddenly I experienced the silence like a presence.  At the heart of this silence was the One who is himself silence, peace, and tranquility.”  Georges Bernanos (1888-1948)

[2566-2567, 2591]

THE REVELATION OF PRAYER 

THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER

2566 Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with glory and honor," man is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging "how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth."(Psalm 8:5; Ps 8:1.)¹ Even after losing through his sin his likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God.( Compare Acts of the Apostles 17:27.)² –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2567 God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation. --CCC

IN BRIEF

2591 God tirelessly calls each person to this mysterious encounter with Himself. Prayer unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation as a reciprocal call between God and man. --CCC

469 PRAYER

YOUCAT Lesson 469

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

How We Should Pray:  Prayer in Christian Life

469  What is prayer?

Prayer is turning the heart toward God.  When a person prays, he enters into a living relationship with God.  [2558-2565]

Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane by Heinrich Hofmann.  .....469

Prayer is the great gate leading into faith.  Someone who prays no longer lives on his own, for himself, and by his own strength.  He knows there is a God to whom he can talk.  People who pray entrust themselves more and more to God.  Even now they seek union with the one whom they will encounter one day face to face.  Therefore, the effort to pray daily is part of Christian life.  Of course, one cannot learn to pray in the same way one learns a technique.  As strange as it sounds, prayer is a gift one obtains through prayer.

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”  St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

  

“The desire to pray is already a prayer.”  Georges Bernanos (1888-1948, French writer)

 [2558-2565]

PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

2558 "Great is the mystery of the faith!" The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles' Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer. --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition 

WHAT IS PRAYER?

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.( St. ThéRèse of Lisieux, Manuscrits autobiographiques, C 25r.)¹ –CCC

Prayer as God's gift

2559 "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."( St. John Damascene, Defide orth. 3,24:Patrologia Graeca 94,1089C.)² But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart?( Psalm 130:1.)³ He who humbles himself will be exalted;( Compare Luke 18:9-14.)⁴ humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought,"(Romans 8:26.)⁵ are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."(St. Augustine, Sermo 56,6,9:Patrologia Latina 38,381.)⁶ –CCC

2560 "If you knew the gift of God!"(John 4:10.)⁷ The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.(Compare St. Augustine, De diversis quaestionibus octoginta tribus 64,4:PL 40,56.)⁸ –CCC

2561 "You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."(John 4:10.)⁹ Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!"(Jeremiah 2:13.)¹⁰ Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God.( Compare John 7:37-39; Jn 19:28; Isaiah 12:3; Isa 51:1; Zechariah 12:10; Zech13:1.)¹¹ --CCC

Prayer as covenant

2562 Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain. --CCC

2563 The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant. --CCC

2564 Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man. --CCC

Prayer as communion

2565 In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is "the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity . . . with the whole human spirit."( St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio, 16,9:PG 35,945.)¹² Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ.( Compare Romans 6:5.)¹³ Prayer is Christian insofar as it is communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church, which is his Body. Its dimensions are those of Christ's love.( Compare Ephesians 3:18-21.)¹⁴ --CCC