杏MAP导航 at Audience: Prayer opens us to the Trinity
By Christopher Wells
鈥淚t is Jesus who opened up Heaven to us and projected us into a relationship with God,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis said at Wednesday鈥檚 General Audience. 鈥淛esus has revealed to us the identity, this identity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.鈥�
The Holy Father continued his ongoing catechesis on prayer, focusing this week, and next, on the relationship between prayer and the Trinity. It is thanks to Jesus Christ, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渢hat prayer opens us up to the immense sea of God as love.鈥�
Our poverty before God
The 杏MAP导航 noted that not all prayers are equal, and suggests that 鈥減erhaps God at times is not content with our prayers, and we are not even aware of it.鈥� He cites the words of St Francis of Assisi, in the Canticle of the Sun: 鈥淣o man is worthy to mention Your Name鈥�; as well as the words of the centurion from the Gospel, 鈥淟ord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,鈥� which we repeat at every Mass.
鈥淭here are no obvious reasons鈥� why 鈥渉umanity should be so loved by God,鈥� or why He should hear our prayers, the 杏MAP导航 said. He noted that throughout history, people have seen gods or divinities as distant and uncaring, unconcerned about human affairs. 鈥淚f anything,鈥� he said, 鈥淚t is we who try to convince the deity and to be pleasing to his eyes.鈥�
鈥淎 God that loves humanity鈥�
It is only through Jesus that we have the 鈥渃ourage鈥� to believe in a God that loves humanity, the 杏MAP导航 said. We see the love of God in the parables of the merciful father and of the shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep.
But, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, 鈥淲e would not have been able to conceive or even comprehend such stories if we had not met Jesus.鈥�
It is through His life, and His willingness to die for us, that Jesus shows us 鈥渢he extent to which God is our Father鈥� the paternity that is closeness, compassion, and tenderness.鈥�
We cannot comprehend the mutual love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, and without Jesus, we would not have been able to begin to understand 鈥渢hat this divine love would expand, landing on our human shore.鈥�
Quoting the , 杏MAP导航 Francis explained, 鈥淭he sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father.鈥� This, he said in conclusion, 鈥渋s the grace of our faith. We truly could not have hoped for a higher vocation: the humanity of Jesus is made available to us the very life of the Trinity.鈥�
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