The Heart of the Matter

Lesson # 5 On Prayer

The Lord Jesus taught us in the Gospels about the goodness of the Father.  In fact He taught us to address God as Father, as One in Whom we can put our complete trust because the Father is Goodness Itself.  And Jesus teaches us to approach the Father earnestly and frequently in prayer. 

All of this brings to mind a question: to whom do we address our prayer?  It seems sometimes we address the Father, and at other times we address the Son, and yet other times we address the Holy Spirit.  The classical understanding of the Church in this matter is that our prayer goes to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.  Better yet: the Father draws us to Himself through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.  If you notice, during Mass almost all the prayers are addressed in this Trinitarian way. 

Keep in mind that we do not believe in three Gods, but in one God.  Since Jesus is the human fullness of God in the flesh, we humans are invited to approach God through Jesus.  Since He was fully human, Jesus connects with us and we with Him.  Our direction, though, is towards union with the Father which happens as we learn to pray in the Holy Spirit.

Some people simplify the matter by addressing ourselves simply to “God” or “Lord.”  Fine.  But just remember, the deeper we go into prayer, the more we are drawn into the very mystery of who God really is.  And slowly we become more drawn into the inner life of God who is a community of Three Persons in Oneness.  Maybe this is too much for now, but at least it shows us the direction prayer brings us to: complete union with God in the Mystery of Who God really is.

By having this understanding in the back of our minds about prayer leading to the depths of the Mystery of Who God is, we can become freed from “prayer as naval gazing.”   Prayer is not about “me.”  If we spend time in what we think is prayer and just mull over “me and mine,” then we need to refocus and be more intent on coming to know the Lord more deeply, increasingly free from seeing oneself as the center of the world and seeing the Lord as the true center.  Yes, we bring to the Lord our concerns and our loved ones, but we allow ourselves to be brought into the bigger picture of the drama of God’s interaction with the human race. 

Lastly, be aware that neglect of prayer brings us to an indifference to prayer, so we need to pray unceasingly.  A Christian who does not pray regularly will care very little about the Trinity and the Inner Life of God and about being invited to enter therein.  A non-praying Christian will care very little about the Mass, or will “just not get it;” and will spend a lot of time mulling over things with unanswerable questions.

[Suggested Reading: “Through Him, With Him, In Him” by Ruth Burrows, 1987 Dimension Books]   

Another question from one wanting to be confirmed

Here is the teen's question: How can it be that we believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and still say we believe in one God?

 

And here's my response: How sharp you are to ask this question!

 

The great saint, Augustine, who died in in 430 AD, 

had the same question. One day he was walking along the beach and was thinking on how he could explain the Trinity. Suddenly he saw a boy with a bucket and a shovel.  He was digging a hole in the sand and then running back and forth to the sea, filling up his bucket and running to the hole to fill the hole with the sea water. Augustine stopped and asked the boy: What are you doing? The boy replied: I am going to fill that hole with the whole ocean!

   

Aha! Augustine saw the connection: how impossible it is for the tiny human mind to grasp the awesome mystery of God! Still, we need to try!  Let me put it this way: God gives Himself utterly and completely. That gift of Self is so complete that the Gift is another Person of the Trinity. Then the love between the Father and the Son is so perfect, so self-giving, that this Divine Love is another Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  

 

It takes lots of prayer and a willingness to enter into the mystery of God to even begin to have a grasp of this mystery. But those great saints who have done so assure us that God is a community: one God and yet a Trinity. And God is self-giving to the max, and so we should be as well.

 

I feel like I’ve only cracked open a door to this mystery. It will take eternity to delve into the mystery more and more.

 

A religious question like this, and other such questions or even doubts that come along in life, are put into our minds by the Lord to help us grow and look more deeply into the mysteries of our faith.  They are called mysteries because we can always learn more, and life is a journey of slowly seeing the truths of our faith with ever greater depth.