Catechism index

2718 III. Contemplative Prayer Contemplative prayer is a union with the prayer of Christ insofar as it makes us participate in his mystery. the mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and …
2719 III. Contemplative Prayer Contemplative prayer is a communion of love bearing Life for the multitude, to the extent that it consents to abide in the night of faith. the Paschal night of the Resurrection passes …
2720 IN BRIEF The Church invites the faithful to regular prayer: daily prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, Sunday Eucharist, the feasts of the liturgical year.
2721 IN BRIEF The Christian tradition comprises three major expressions of the life of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplative prayer. They have in common the recollection of the heart.
2722 IN BRIEF Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and …
2723 IN BRIEF Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own …
2724 IN BRIEF Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves …
2725 THE BATTLE OF PRAYER Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. the great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as …
2726 I. Objections to Prayer In the battle of prayer, we must face in ourselves and around us erroneous notions of prayer. Some people view prayer as a simple psychological activity, others as an effort of concentration …
2727 I. Objections to Prayer We must also face the fact that certain attitudes deriving from the mentality of "this present world" can penetrate our lives if we are not vigilant. For example, some would have it …
2728 I. Objections to Prayer Finally, our battle has to confront what we experience as failure in prayer: discouragement during periods of dryness; sadness that, because we have "great possessions," 15 we have not given all to …
2729 II. Humble Vigilance of Heart The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical …
2730 II. Humble Vigilance of Heart In positive terms, the battle against the possessive and dominating self requires vigilance, sobriety of heart. When Jesus insists on vigilance, he always relates it to himself, to his coming on the …
2731 II. Humble Vigilance of Heart Another difficulty, especially for those who sincerely want to pray, is dryness. Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, …
2732 II. Humble Vigilance of Heart The most common yet most hidden temptation is our lack of faith. It expresses itself less by declared incredulity than by our actual preferences. When we begin to pray, a thousand labors …
2733 II. Humble Vigilance of Heart Another temptation, to which presumption opens the gate, is acedia. the spiritual writers understand by this a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart. "The spirit …
2734 III. Filial Trust Filial trust is tested - it proves itself - in tribulation. 22 The principal difficulty concerns the prayer of petition, for oneself or for others in intercession. Some even stop praying because …
2735 III. Filial Trust In the first place, we ought to be astonished by this fact: when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or …
2736 III. Filial Trust Are we convinced that "we do not know how to pray as we ought"? 23 Are we asking God for "what is good for us"? Our Father knows what we need before …
2737 III. Filial Trust "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." 26 If we ask with a divided heart, we are "adulterers"; 27 God cannot answer us, …