Most of the young people who participate in a WYD and who share the story of their journey speak of the importance of prayer in their lives. Many express their joy in participating in the sacraments. Almost all attach particular importance to celebrating their faith in God, of “living it up” with God. Here is what one young woman says:

“This pilgrimage has been for me an experience of prayer. Group prayer… personal
prayer, too, where I give my life to the Lord… but also, above all, where I let Jesus speak to me. During the pilgrimage, my life was really prayer and I want that to continue. I feel strengthened in my faith and especially in my way of life.”

IF YOU HEAR MY VOICE

When everything seems to be going wrong, we sometimes say, “Where is God?” or “If there is a God who can hear me…” Other people, especially older people, might say, “What have I done to God to make this happen?”

This is already a prayer, but we must admit that, at times like these, trust is not ruling our
lives.

And yet, in the New Testament, we read these amazing words: Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. (Rev. 3:20)

Strange, isn’t it? When we say, “If there is a God who can hear me…” do we know that God is also trying to be heard? “Study the Word of God and let it enlighten your minds and hearts,” says John Paul II. “I let Jesus speak to me,” says a young woman who went on a WYD pilgrimage. As in all relationships, prayer is not a one-way street!

Does all this have something to do with prayer? Yes, all this and more. “Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world,” says John Paul II.

When Jesus wanted to pray, he went into the desert, but he didn’t do this every day. Some Christian communities, when they want to pray, go to church, but their prayer is not confined to the church. Christian prayer is not just words; it is arms and hands, too.

FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION

• When was a situation in your life when you felt the need to pray?
• How did you live through this? What role did prayer play for you?

THE PRAYER OF JESUS

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.
When evening came, he was there alone… (Mt 14:23)

Like all Jews, Jesus knew well the prayers of Israel. The big book of prayers for the Jewish people is the book of Psalms found in the Bible. The book of Psalms contains prayers of adoration, praise, demands, and – why not? – discouragement. Jesus no doubt recited the Psalms, alone or with his disciples. His prayer was life and his life was prayer. It was like a kind of breathing.

Here is how Jesus gave a new dimension, by giving God the name Abba (Father). What a scandal this was for the Jews around him: Jesus prayer to God as a son speaks to his father, and taught us to pray that way, too.

“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” (Mt 6:9-13)

CALLING GOD “FATHER”: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Calling God “Father” makes us sons and daughters, but also brothers and sisters. Even in the silence of the human heart, Christian prayer is never individual in the sense of being detached from other people. Christian prayer is fundamentally connected to the community. Thus, by adopting the prayer Jesus taught, we pray as a Church, as a community.

FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION

• Have you ever heard someone call God “Mother” instead of “Father”?

• What do you think of that?

THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

For Jesus to talk as if God was his father seemed bold. But Jesus didn’t stop there. He also said:

“The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30). After that, the disciples began to pray to Jesus, as they prayed to the Father. The apostle Thomas said to Jesus: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28)

After the resurrection of Jesus, the “first Church” discovered the presence of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had promised:
“the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name” (Jn 14:26).

After the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the apostles and Mary, the mother of Jesus, received
the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gave new breath to their lives and to their prayer:

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)

From its earliest days, the Church knew God as Father, Son and Spirit. The apostle Paul witnessed to this in his letters to the Christian communities:

And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ”Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6)

This faith has never ceased to express itself in the prayer of the Church:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

God is love. When God gives of himself, it is to be shared. God is not alone in God's "kingdom". On the cross, Jesus said to the thief who asked Jesus to remember him, "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23:43).CONTEMPLATION (Contemplatio)

Those who open the door of their hearts to God find themselves close to God. These may be the saints who are recognized by the Church, but also others, such as our family members and friends who have, died but who during their lives had let themselves be touched by the love of God.

MARY’S PLACE IN OUR CHURCH

Close to God is Mary, the mother of Jesus, of course. We can no longer count the number of feasts of Mary, titles given to Mary, and prayers to Mary. In the faith of the Church there is the conviction that Mary “intercedes” for us with God, as the Church asks her to do every day in this simple prayer:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION

• Do you pray to Mary to intercede for
you?

• What other saints do you pray to for intercessions?

One of the titles given to Mary is “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” John Paul II welcomed with joy the proposal of the Synod Fathers, in 1999, that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother and Evangelizer of America, be celebrated throughout the continent on December 12th.

The Our Father…the Glory Be…the Hail Mary…