The Life of Prayer

2697  Prayer is the life of  the new heart....
....prayer is the remembrance of God often
awakened by the memory of the heart:
"We must remember God more often than we
draw breath."
(St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat. theo.,
27, 1, 4: PG 36, 16)

Expressions of Prayer

--Vocal Prayer:

2701  Vocal prayer is an essential element of the Christian
Life.  To his disciples, drawn by their Master's silent prayer,
Jesus teaches a vocal prayer, the Our Father.
 He not only
prayed aloud the liturgical prayers of the synagogue
but, as the Gospels show,
he raised his voice to
express his personal prayer, from exultant blessing
of the Father to the agony of Gethsemani............
(Cf. Mt 11:25-26; Mk 14-36)

--Meditation:

2705  Meditation is above all a quest.
The minds seeks to understand the why and how
of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond
to what the Lord is asking.............

2706  ........we discover in meditation the movements
that stir the heart and we are able to discern them.
It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light:
"Lord, what do you want me to do?"

2708  Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion
and desire.  This mobilization of faculties is necessary
in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt
the conversion of the heart, and strengthen our will
to follow Christ.

--Contemplative Prayer:

2709  What is contemplative prayer?  St. Teresa answers:
"Contemplative prayer (oracion mental)
in my opinion is
nothing else than a close sharing between friends;
it means
taking time frequently to be alone with him
who we know
loves us."  (St. Teresa of Jesus, The Book of Her Life,
8, 5 in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila,
tr. K. Kavanaugh, OCD, and O. Rodriquez, OCD
(Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976),
I, 67.............

2710  The choice of the time and duration of the
prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the
secrets of the heart.  One does not undertake
contemplative prayer only when one has the time:
one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination
not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one
may encounter.................

2712  Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God,
of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by
which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by
loving even more.   (Cf. Lk 7:36-50).............

2713  Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression
of the mystery of prayer.  It is a gift, a grace; it can be
accepted only in humility and poverty.  Contemplative
prayer is a covenant relationship established by God
within our hearts.  (Cf. Jer 31:33).............

2714  Contemplative prayer is also the pre-eminently
intense time of prayer.........................

2715  Contemplation is a gaze of faith,
fixed on Jesus...................

In Brief

2720  The Church invites the faithful to regular prayer;
daily prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, Sunday Eucharist,
the feasts of the liturgical year.

2721  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  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 teaching the Our Father to his disciples.

2723  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 life.

2724  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 real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent
that it makes us share in his mystery.

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Ligurina-Maria

Information taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.