This document provides an overview of Christian prayer from both a biblical and theological perspective. It discusses how prayer is a relationship with God expressed through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It examines prayers in the Old and New Testaments, including the prayers of Jesus and Mary. It also explores the types of prayer like adoration, petition, thanksgiving, and contrition. The document concludes by analyzing the Lord's Prayer in detail.

1. PRAYER

3. • The mystery of our faith, which is professed in
the Creed, celebrated in the liturgy, and lived
out in our lives, places each of us in a vital
personal relationship with God.
• This relationship is expressed through prayer

4. • Christian prayer is a covenant relationship
between God and people in Christ
• Prayer is the living relationship of the children of
God with their Father who is good beyond
measure, with His Son Jesus Christ, and with the
Holy Spirit
• Prayer is the habit of being in the presence of God
and in communion with Him

5. • The universal call to prayer goes back to the Old
Testament
• Abraham and Jacob – prayers of trust in God’s
faithfulness
• Moses – responds to God’s initiative for the
salvation of his people
• The Israelites – flourished in God’s presence
• The prophets summoned the people to conversion
of heart and interceded for them

6. • The Psalms constitute the master work of prayer
in the Old Testament

7. • The Son of God, who became the Son of Mary,
prayed often
• He learned to pray from His mother (Magnificat)
• He prayed in the words of His people, in the
synagogue at Nazareth and the temple in
Jerusalem
• By the time he was 12, Jesus’ prayer became filial
– from a son to a Father (“I must be in my
Father’s house”)

8. • Jesus prayed in solitude as well as with his friends
• In the gospels, the evangelists preserved the
constant attitude of thanksgiving in Jesus’ prayers
- He began many prayers by giving thanks to the
Father
- He preceded miracles by giving thanks

9. • In His adult life and ministry, Jesus relied on the Holy
Spirit, praying before important moments:
~ His baptism by John
~ the selection of the Twelve Apostles
~ Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah
~ His Transfiguration
• When His “hour came”, Jesus prayed to the Father
• Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely
• His prayer, like His sacrifice, extends until the end of
time

10. • Jesus’ seven last words (His last spoken phrases) on
the Cross were prayer:
1. Father forgive them, for they know not what they
do
2. Today you will be with me in paradise
3. Woman behold your son
4. I thirst
5. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
6. It is finished
7. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit

12. • In teaching us to pray, Jesus:
- insists on a conversion of heart
- teaches us filial boldness, giving thanks before
we receive His gifts
- calls us to watchfulness
- Calls us to urgent prayer (Lk.11:5-13)
-Calls us to patience (Lk. 18:1-8)
-Calls us to humility (Lk. 18:9-14)

13. • By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus
we can accept from within the prayer He teaches
us, the Our Father (The Lord’s Prayer)*

15. The Prayers of Mary:
• At the Annunciation – “I am the handmaid of the
Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
• Fiat – Her wholehearted “yes” to God; to be wholly
God’s because He is wholly ours
• At the Annunciation – her Magnificat,
or canticle of praise
• At Cana, speaking directly to her Son
• At the foot of the Cross

16. • The Holy Spirit instructs the Church in the life of
prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same
basic forms of prayer: Adoration, Petition,
Thanksgiving and Contrition

17. • Prayers of adoration, blessing and praise
- The form of prayer which recognizes most
completely that God is God, giving Him glory
simply because HE IS. 

18. • Petition and Intercession
- In the New Testament, words of supplication
acknowledge that we need God above all
• Contrition
- the first movement in prayers of petition is
asking for forgiveness

19. • Thanksgiving
- an attitude of gratefulness characterizes the
constant prayer of the Church
- Our central act of worship is receiving the
Eucharist, a word that means thanksgiving
- Every prayer and act can be an offering of thanks

20. * Challenges to prayer:
- temptation not to pray
- distractions
- lack of faith
- discouragement when we
feel our prayer
is not answered

21. • According to Matthew 6:9-13, a disciple said to
Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his
disciples.”
• In response, Jesus entrusted to his disciples, and
to the Church, the fundamental Christian prayer,
the Lord’s Prayer

22. • OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN
- We can invoke God as our father because the
Son of God made man has revealed Him to us.
- In His Son, through baptism, we are children of
God
- “Who art in heaven” does not refer to a place,
but to God’s majesty and presence in the hearts
of the faithful.

24. • The Seven Petitions refers to the requests made
to God the Father in the Lord's Prayer
• The first set of petitions carries us toward God
(Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will…)
- “hallowed be thy name” – we enter God’s plan,
the blessing of His name by all
- “Thy kingdom come” – the Church looks to
Christ’s return and prays for growth of the
kingdom of God in the ‘today’ of our own lives

25. - By asking “Thy will be done”, we ask God to
unite our will to that of his Son, to fulfill His plan
of salvation

26. • The second set of petitions present our concerns to
God (give us… forgive us… lead us… deliver us…)
- In saying “our daily bread” we refer to the earthly
nourishment needed as well as to the Bread of Life,
the Word of God, the Body of Christ
- In saying “forgive us” we beg God’s mercy for our
offenses, mercy which can enter our hearts only if
we have learned to forgive others, with the example
and help of Christ

27. - When we say “lead us not into temptation” we
are asking God not to allow us to take the path
that leads to sin
- When we say “but deliver us from evil”
Christians pray to God with the Church to show
the victory, already won by Christ, over the evil
that manifests itself in this world.

28. • AMEN – So be it – we end this and all prayer
with this affirmation, ratifying what is
contained in this prayer that God taught us.