YOUCAT Lesson 491
YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth
491 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]
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]
ARTICLE 1
AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER
AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER
2652 The Holy Spirit is the living
water "welling up to
eternal life"(John 4:14)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
2653 The Church "forcefully and specially
exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing
knowledge of Jesus Christ' (Philippians 3:8) 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.’”( Dei Verbum 25; compare Philippians 3:8; St. Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum 1,20,88:Patrologia Latina
16,50.)4 --CCC
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