Catechism index

2626 I. Blessing and Adoration Blessing expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between God and man. In blessing, God's gift and man's acceptance of it are united in dialogue with each other. …
2627 I. Blessing and Adoration TWO fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father - we bless him for having blessed us; 97 it implores the grace of …
2628 I. Blessing and Adoration Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us 99 and the almighty power of …
2629 II. Prayer of Petition The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in prayer." 102 Its most usual form, because the …
2630 II. Prayer of Petition The New Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by hope, even if we still wait in …
2631 II. Prayer of Petition The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" 105 It is a prerequisite for righteous …
2632 II. Prayer of Petition Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. 107 There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first …
2633 II. Prayer of Petition When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object of petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is glorified by …
2634 III. Prayer of Intercession Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. 112 He is …
2635 III. Prayer of Intercession Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an …
2636 III. Prayer of Intercession The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely. 116 Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel 117 but also intercedes for them. …
2637 IV. Prayer of Thanksgiving Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin …
2638 IV. Prayer of Thanksgiving As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. the letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is …
2639 V. Prayer of Praise Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply …
2640 V. Prayer of Praise St. Luke in his gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ and in his Acts of the Apostles stresses them as actions of the Holy Spirit: the community …
2641 V. Prayer of Praise "[Address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." 124 Like the inspired writers of the New Testament, the first …
2642 V. Prayer of Praise The Revelation of "what must soon take place," the Apocalypse, is borne along by the songs of the heavenly liturgy 127 but also by the intercession of the "witnesses" (martyrs). 128 The …
2643 V. Prayer of Praise The Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer: it is "the pure offering" of the whole Body of Christ to the glory of God's name 131 and, according to the traditions …
2644 IN BRIEF The Holy Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls to her all that Jesus said also instructs her in the life of prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms of …
2645 IN BRIEF Because God blesses the human heart, it can in return bless him who is the source of every blessing.