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