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Sometimes, we feel that we are wandering or losing our way. We need to get a better view of where we are and perhaps reorient the path. We need a light from God's Word.

Father Robert M.
O'Grady

The Gospels tell us that Jesus spent time in prayer. Usually, we hear this when something very significant in his life or ministry is going to happen.
He goes on a 40-day retreat into the desert. He goes up a mountain, the place where it is easier to talk to God. He goes away to pray before selecting the apostles. He invites his followers to "come aside and rest," where it seems the rest included silence and prayer.
If the Gospel writers noted these times, it is likely that there were many other times when he prayed that they did not report. Or maybe he prayed so much that the reports would take up too much space in the Gospels.
It is safe to state, "Jesus prayed."
Likewise, the long tradition following Jesus' example of prayer is that his followers pray as he did to his Father, whom he intimately addressed as "abba." It is to our "abba" that we pray with Jesus.
Jesus set this pattern for our joining him in his perfect prayer, the Our Father.
The text of the third booklet in the prayer series for the Holy Year is simply titled: "The Prayer of Jesus." The author, Juan Lopez Vergara, a Mexican Scripture scholar, offers 20 mini meditations based on events in Jesus' life and ministry, in which he invites us to imitate the prayer of Jesus. Each of the meditations placed in Jesus' lips begin with "abba."
Here are a few of them:
-- Your Word is a torch for my feet.

The power of God's Word is a guide for us; Jesus echoes it as light for his and our paths. Sometimes, we feel that we are wandering or losing our way. We need to get a better view of where we are and perhaps reorient the path. We need a light from God's Word.
-- Give courage and enthusiasm to my followers.
Jesus demonstrated incredible courage in the face of many obstacles, which are probably recorded in the Gospels to serve as an alert for his followers that the same could be in store for them. With courage, he asks for enthusiasm for us to show that, while it may be a struggle to be his follower, "being with him" is sufficient.
-- Your mission entrusted to me comes to life in prayer.
All the activity of Jesus' ministry, all his wanderings, which are all intentional, and all he does and says as the Gospels relate this to us; all come to life because of prayer.
-- I shared your joy with them.
Despite so much opposition, some treachery, many misunderstandings, and much denial, both from outside his own followers and often from among them, Jesus conveys to them the joy of his Father. This is more conveyed by being in his presence, by sensing his satisfaction that the message starts to get through, that he is seeing little seedlings of success in his mission.
-- I promised that sinners could be with me in your kingdom.
Do you recall the request of one of the men crucified with Jesus? "Remember me when you come into your kingdom?" Perhaps nowhere else do we see mercy more clearly incarnated than here. Even as he is in the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, he still has time to listen, to have compassion (suffering with), and to offer the Father's mercy to the condemned man.
Christian prayer is always "Trinitarian." You've heard and likely said it so frequently that you forget it is our pattern of prayer. Following Jesus' example, we customarily address all our prayers to his and our Father. We direct the prayer through Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.
In many prayers of the early church, there is an addition to the Trinitarian formula: "in your holy Church" is attached at the very end. Thus, making the prayer always the prayer of the church, even if only one of us is praying.
Almost echoing the pattern of Psalms, "You can pray for anything, you can say anything to God," Juan Lopez Vergara says as he leads us through Jesus' prayer and provides us with another pattern for our prayer.
The complete eight-part series of the "Notes on Prayer Series" issued by the Holy See for the Holy Year is now available in the U.S. from OSV at OrderOSV.com.



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