Pope Benedict XVI: God Calls Humanity to the Mysterious Encounter of Prayer

Prayer is an invitation to a transforming and ongoing encounter

Peter Seewald asked the Pope how he prays: "As far as the Pope is concerned, he too is a simple beggar before God -- even more than all other people. Naturally I always pray first and foremost to our Lord, with whom I am united simply by old acquaintance, so to speak. But I also invoke the saints."

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) -- During Wednesday's general audience celebrated in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI continued his reflection on prayer, highlighting the manner in which it is an integral aspect of the human person.

"There has never been a great civilization, from time immemorial to our age, that has not been religious," stated the Pope. "The human being is religious by nature. . . . The image of the Creator is engraved on human beings, who feel the need to find a light to answer the questions regarding the profound meaning of reality; an answer that we cannot find in ourselves, in progress, or in empirical science.

"We know that we cannot respond alone to our basic need to understand. For however much we think we are self-sufficient, we experience that we do not suffice. We need to open ourselves to something else, something or someone, that can give us what is missing. We must go out of ourselves and go toward the One who is capable of satisfying the width and breadth of our desire."

The Pope explained that "humanity bears within it a thirst for the infinite, a yearning for eternity, a search for beauty, a desire for love, a need for light and truth, which impel us toward the Absolute. We carry within us the desire for God.  In some way, we know that we can turn to God, that we can pray to Him. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of history, defined prayer as 'the expression of humanity's desire for God.'"

What Is Prayer?

Pope Benedict noted that prayer "is an inner attitude before being a series of practices or formulas; it is a manner of being in God's presence before the carrying out of acts of worship or speaking words. Prayer has its center and sinks its roots in the depth of the person. That is why it is not easily decipherable and, for the same reason, why it can be the object of misunderstanding and manipulation. . . . The experience of prayer is a challenge for all, a 'grace' that must be invoked, a gift of the One to whom we address ourselves.

"In prayer, . . . human beings experience themselves as creatures in need of help, incapable of attaining the fulfillment of their existence or their hopes alone. . . . In the experience of prayer we orient our very souls to that Mystery from which we look for the fulfillment of our deepest desires and help to overcome the poverty of our lives. In looking to the Other, in directing ourselves 'beyond,' is found the essence of prayer, the experience of a reality that goes beyond the apparent and the contingent."

St. Therese of Lisieux described prayer this way: "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."

The Catechism of The Catholic Church reminds us of the incomparable wonder interwoven into the mystery of prayer: "'If you knew the gift of God!' (Jn 4:10). The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him (No. 2560). Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God" (No. 2561).

The Catechism also speaks of Christian prayer as a covenantal "relationship between God and man in Christ." Yet prayer does not originate with only ourselves. "It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man" (No. 2564).

It is impossible to pray in the absence of God's grace. Therefore we should recognize that the urge to pray is found within us as a result of the divine impulses of the Holy Spirit who seeks to draw us into a lasting embrace for all of eternity. Yet it is necessary to respond to this grace and follow Christ as a true disciple, living the Gospel life in its fullness to the best of our ability. Hence, we do not pray with words alone, but rather with our entire self: our attitudes, remarks, actions and desires all reflect something of our sincerity or lack of it.

The Necessity of Focusing on The Reality of Our Existence

That God is Creator really says it all. The Catechism explains that "if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator" (No. 27).

However, we often lose sight of reality: we forget that there is nothing we possess which has not been given to us, not our life nor anything else. God has set before us the reality of our human existence, has given us the gifts of creation, and has showered upon us countless graces of friendship and love -- even though we often set ourselves in opposition to him. Due to the consequences of Original Sin, it is rather easy to engage in an attempt to exalt ourselves to an impossible level, one in which we become forgetful of our Creator -- or even despise him through actions of blatant disobedience -- and the reality of our finitude and creatureliness. Consequently, some strive after a self-imposed, false reality that, if stubbornly pursued to its end, results in pain and disaster.

Yet the desire for God never ceases within the human heart, even though we may not recognize it as such, because man is created by God and for God. Our Father tirelessly and with love constantly draws man to himself. Only in union with God, the well-spring of life, will we find the truth and happiness for which we continually yearn (cf. CCC No. 27). It is through prayer, directed at God with love and adoration, that we begin to understand the desire of our hearts. It is prayer that nourishes and quenches an eternal thirst that God himself has placed within us for our own good.

Pope Benedict affirmed that "even though human beings are forgetful of their Creator, the true and living God never stops calling humanity first to the mysterious encounter of prayer.

"We must learn to spend more time in front of God, before the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ; we must learn to recognize in silence, within our very selves, his voice that calls us and leads us to the depth of our existence, to the fount of life and the source of salvation, so that we might overcome the limit of our lives and open ourselves to the measure of God, the relationship with He who is Infinite Love."

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F. K. Bartels is a Catholic writer who knows his Catholic Faith is one of the greatest gifts a man could ever have. He is a contributing writer for Catholic Online. Visit him also at catholicpathways.com

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