杏MAP导航

Reading: Luke 11,1-4

[1] He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, 鈥淟ord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.鈥� [2]He said to them, 鈥淲hen you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread [4] and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.鈥�

(Vatican Radio) At his General Audience on Wednesday, 杏MAP导航 Francis resumed his catechesis on the Holy Mass.

The Mass, the 杏MAP导航 said, is prayer 鈥� or rather, it is 鈥渢he prayer par excellence, the highest, the most sublime, and at the same time, the most 鈥榗oncrete鈥� 鈥� it is an encounter with the Lord.鈥�

鈥淏ut what is prayer, really?鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis asked. 鈥渋t is first of all dialogue, a relationship with God.鈥� Man, he continued, 鈥渨as created as a being in personal relationship with God, who finds his full realization only in the encounter with His Creator.鈥�

God 鈥� Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 鈥� is Himself 鈥渁 perfect relationship of love that is unity.鈥� Because we are created in 鈥渢he image and likeness of God,鈥� we too are called to enter into a perfect relationship of love. And it is the Mass, the Eucharist, that is 鈥渢he privileged moment to be with Christ, and, through Him, with God and with our brothers.鈥�

But dialogue also means knowing how to remain silent, in the presence of the other. The Holy Father emphasized the importance of moments of silence when we go to Mass 鈥� the liturgy, he said, is not a time for chatting, but a time to recollect ourselves, to prepare our hearts for the encounter with Jesus.

Jesus Himself often went off to 鈥渁 place apart鈥� in order to pray; and His disciples, seeing His intimate relationship with the Father, asked Him how to pray. 鈥淛esus says that the first thing necessary for prayer鈥� is to be able to call God 鈥淔ather.鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis said, 鈥淚f I cannot say 鈥楩ather鈥� to God, I can鈥檛 pray. We have to learn to say 鈥楩ather,鈥� that is, to put ourselves into His presence with filial confidence.鈥�

In this sense, he continued, we must be like children, able to entrust ourselves entirely to God, as children do with their parents. And, like children, we must also have a sense of wonder, we must 鈥渁llow ourselves to be surprised.鈥� When we speak to God in prayer, the 杏MAP导航 said, it is not talking to God 鈥渓ike parrots.鈥� Instead it means 鈥渆ntrusting ourselves and opening our hearts to allow ourselves to wonder.鈥� The encounter with God in Mass, he said, 鈥渋s always a living encounter, it is not a meeting in a museum.鈥�

杏MAP导航 Francis recalled the Gospel account of Nicodemus鈥� meeting with Jesus. In their encounter, Jesus spoke about the need to be born again. But how is this possible, the 杏MAP导航 asked? 鈥淭his is a fundamental question of our faith,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd this is the desire of every true believer: the desire to be reborn, the joy of beginning anew.鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis asked his audience, 鈥淒o we have this desire? Does each one of us have the desire to always be reborn in order to encounter the Lord? Do you have this desire?鈥�

In fact, the 杏MAP导航 concluded, 鈥渢he Lord surprises us by showing us that He loves us even in our weakness.鈥� In the Mass, in our encounter with Jesus, 鈥渢he Lord encounters our fragility in order to bring us back to our first calling: that of being in the image and likeness of God.鈥� This, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, 鈥渋s the environment of the Eucharist, this is the prayer.鈥�