Prayer in home, groups, church, monasteries cultivates faith

Article 175 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series
Paragraphs 2683-2691 

Have you ever wondered who was ultimately responsible for setting you on the path of your Catholic faith? I don’t mean just your parents or even your grandparents. I am referring to that mysterious family member who first acquired the faith and passed it on. How many generations would you have to go back in order to find that first special person? How many people (with your DNA) lived sacrificial, holy lives so that you would be the person you are today with the beautiful faith in Jesus Christ that you have? 

It is that person, or those people, who (we pray) have gone to their heavenly award and stand guard as “witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom” (ccc 2683). As members of God’s heavenly household, “they contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth…Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world” (ccc 2683). 

Just as the heavenly witnesses provide a prayerful service in God’s plan, the servants of prayer here on earth include the Christian family, which is “the first place of education in prayer” (ccc 2683). Based on the holy Sacrament of Matrimony, “the family is the ‘domestic church’ where God’s children learn to pray ‘as the Church’ and to persevere in prayer” (ccc 2685).  

Priests and deacons “are also responsible for the formation in prayer of their brothers and sisters in Christ” (ccc 2686). Their function as ordained ministers is “to lead the People of God to the living waters of prayer: the Word of God, the liturgy, the theological life [the life of faith, hope, and charity], and the Today of God in concrete situations” (ccc 2686). Consecrated Religious (men and women) likewise assist in this great ministry of prayer. They “have devoted their time to praising God and interceding for his people” (ccc 2687). “Hermits, monks, and nuns” offer prayerful support to the People of God as “one of the living sources of contemplation and [in] the spiritual life of the Church” (ccc 2687). So, you see, whether you realize it or not, there is always someone praying for YOU! 

Regarding our intellectual and spiritual formation, the Catechism explains: religious instruction or “the catechesis of children, young people, and adults aims at teaching them to meditate on The Word of God in personal prayer, practicing it in liturgical prayer, and internalizing it at all times in order to bear fruit in a new life” (ccc 2688). This is why “the memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is [also] important to help learners savor their meaning” (ccc 2688). 

In addition, “prayer groups, indeed ‘schools of prayer,’ are today one of the signs and one of the driving forces of renewal of prayer in the Church” (ccc 2689). These come into existence through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who “gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer [spiritual direction]. Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer” (ccc 2690). Quoted in the Catechism from St. John of the Cross in “The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross,” “the person wishing to advance toward perfection should ‘take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son’” (ccc 2690). And further: “In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. …If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them” (ccc 2690). 

Besides the option of seeking a good Spiritual Director, the Catechism also provides us with guidance on places favorable for prayer. This always includes “the church, the house of God” which “is the proper place for the liturgical prayer of the parish community. It is also the privileged place for adoration of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament” (ccc 2691).  

A “‘prayer corner’ [in one’s home], with the Sacred Scriptures and icons, [is another desirable location]. In a Christian family, this kind of little oratory fosters prayer in common” (ccc 2691). 

Monasteries are also wonderful places “to further the participation of the faithful in the Liturgy of the Hours and to provide necessary solitude for more intense personal prayer” (ccc 2691). 

Finally, “pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward Heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer. For pilgrims seeking living water, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer ‘in Church’” (ccc 2691). 

Who was responsible for setting you on the path to your precious Catholic faith? Certainly, those who share your DNA, but there is another cloud of witnesses, as well. This would include (but is not limited to) priests, catechists, monks, nuns, consecrated religious and a multitude of others who have taught and influenced those who came before you. Whether it was your great-grandmother who converted to the Catholic faith or another faithful relative reaching back several generations who lived a holy life, consider for a moment the beautiful gift of your Catholic faith that was nurtured through a multitude of Christian witnesses, living as we do or living with God among the saints and angels in Heaven.

Father Hillier is director, diocesan Office of Pontifical Mission Societies, the Office for Persons with Disabilities and Censor Luborum