Continuing his catechesis on Christian prayer, Pope Francis reflects on why and how we should pray in all the events of daily life.
By Robin Gomes
At last week’s General Audience, Pope Francis spoke about how Christian prayer is “anchored” in the liturgy. In this week’s audience, broadcast live from the Library of the Apostolic Palace, he explains how prayer returns from the liturgy to the situations of everyday life, such as on the street, in offices and on public transport.
“Essentially, everything becomes part of this dialogue with God”, which is prayer. “Every joy becomes a cause for praise, every trial is an opportunity to ask for help,” he says. “Prayer,” according to the Pope, “is always alive in life, like a fire … Even when the mouth does not speak, the heart speaks”.
Every thought, even the apparently “profane”, can be permeated by prayer, “which illuminates the few steps that we have before us and then opens up to the whole reality that precedes and surpasses it”.
“Christian prayer instills an invincible hope in the human heart,” said the Pope, adding, “whatever experience we have on our path, God’s love can make it good.”
Praying in the present, today
In this regard, Pope Francis quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says: “We learn to pray at certain times, listening to the Word of the Lord and participating in his paschal mystery, but His Spirit is offered to us at all times, in the events of each day, to make prayer arise from us ”. “Time is in the Father’s hands”, says the Catechism, emphasizing: “It is in the present that we find Him, not yesterday or tomorrow, but today”.
The Pope notes that there are people who look to the future without understanding today as it comes. They live in a fantasy world and do not know how to live the concrete reality of today.
Prayer transforms us
The Pope says that it is prayer that transforms today that we live in grace – or rather, it transforms us.
Prayer “soothes anger, sustains love, multiplies joy and infuses the strength to forgive.” Grace lives and works in us; the problems we face no longer seem to be obstacles to our happiness, but appeals from God, opportunities to find him.
“When you have an angry or unhappy thought that brings bitterness,” urges the Pope, “you must stop and turn to God. The Lord, who is there, will give you the right word and advice to move forward without this negative bitterness. When someone is accompanied by the Lord, he or she feels more courageous, freer and also happier. “
Who to pray for?
The Holy Father invites Christians to pray always, not only for our loved ones, but for everyone, even those we don’t know. “Let us pray even for our enemies, as the Scriptures often invite us to do,” he says, adding: “prayer inclines us to abundant love.”
He invites us to pray for those who are sad and for those who cry in loneliness and despair, asking us if there is still someone who loves them. A Christian’s prayer, recalls Pope Francis, works miracles by making Christ’s compassion for the poor present.
Jesus, in fact, looked with great tenderness at the tired and lost crowd that was like sheep without a shepherd. Compassion, closeness and tenderness, he emphasizes, are the “style” of the Lord.
We are all sinners loved by God
Pope Francis also explains that prayer helps us to love others, despite their mistakes and sins, emphasizing that the person is always more important than their actions. And Jesus did just that. He did not judge the world, but he saved it.
The Holy Father wonders how bad and unhappy life must be for those who always judge and condemn others. Instead, open your hearts, forgive, justify others, be close to others, have compassion and tenderness like Jesus, he insists.
“We must love each person”, continues the Pope, and remember that we are all sinners and “at the same time individually loved by God”. In this way, “we will discover that each day and everything brings with it a fragment of the mystery of God”.
God’s Kingdom of Justice and Peace
The Catechism also stresses that “it is right and good to pray that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace will influence the march of history”. But, for this to happen, “it is important to take the help of prayer to the humble situations of everyday life; all forms of prayer can be the leaven with which the Lord compares the kingdom. “
In conclusion, Pope Francis notes that we are fragile beings, but we know how to pray, which is our greatest dignity and also our strength. “Pray in every moment and in every situation because the Lord is near,” he urges.
“And when a prayer is said after the heart of Jesus, that prayer works miracles.”