PARAGRAPH 2.     THE  CHURCH  -  PEOPLE  OF  GOD,  BODY 

                                    OF  CHRIST,  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HOLY SPIRIT

I.  - THE CHURCH - PEOPLE OF GOD - "At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to Him. He has, however, willed to make men/women holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge Him and serve Him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be His own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people... All these things, however, happened as a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ Jesus... the New Covenant in his blood; He called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit." - LG 9; cf. Acts 10:35; 1 Corinthians 11:25 - CCC 781 -

Characteristics of the People of God - The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political or cultural groups found in history: 

- It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But He acquired a people for Himself from those who previously were not a people: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." - 1 Peter 2:9 - 

- One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being "born anew," a birth "of water and the Spirit," - John 3:3-5 - that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.

- This People has for its head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is "the messianic people."

- "The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in the temple."

- "Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us." - Cf. John 13:34 - This is the "new" law of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:25 -

- Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world. - Cf. Matthew 5:13-16 - This people is "a most sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race."

- Its destiny, finally, "is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by Him at the end of time." - LG 9;2 - CCC 782 -

- A priestly, prophetic and royal people - 

Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them. - Cf. John Paul II, RH 18-21 - CCC 783 -

On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people 'a kingdom of priests to God, his Father'. The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood." - LG 10; cf. Hebrews 5:1-5; Revelation 1:6 - CCC 784 -

"The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith... once for all delivered to the saints," - LG 12; cf. Jude 3... - and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world. - CCC 785 -

Finally, the People of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercise his kingship by drawing all men/women to Himself through his death and and Resurrection. - Cf. John 12:32 - Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Matthew 20:28 - For the Christian, "to reign is to serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder." - LG 8; cf.36 - The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.

The sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them as priests, so that, apart from the particular service of our ministry, all spiritual and rational Christians are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's priestly office. What, indeed, is as royal for a soul as to govern the body in obedience to God? And what is a priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart? - St. Leo the Great, Sermo 4,1:PL 54, 149 - CCC 786 -

II.  - THE CHURCH - BODY OF CHRIST - 

The Church is communion with Jesus - From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them and gave them a share in his mission, joy and sufferings. - Cf. Mark 1:16-20; 3:13-19; Matthew 13:10-17; Luke 10:17-20; 22:28-30 - Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow Him; "Abide in me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches." - John 15:4-5 - And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." - John 6:56 - CCC 787 -

When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciple orphans. Jesus promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. - Cf. John 14:18; 20:22; Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:33... - As a result communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: "By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation." - LG 7 - CCC 788 -

The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ. - CCC 789 -

"One Body" - Believers who respond to God's word and become members of Christ's Body, become intimately united in Him: "In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification." - LG 7 - This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ's death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the Lord... we are taken up into communion with Him and with one another.' - LG 7; cf. Romans 6:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13 - CCC 790 -

The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church." - LG 7;3 - The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity among the faithful: "From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is honoured, all the members together rejoice." - LG 7;3; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26 - Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all human divisions: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:27-28 - CCC 791 -

"Christ is the Head of this Body" - Christ "is the head of the body, the Church. - Colossians 1:18 - He is the principal of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father's glory, "in everything he [is] preeminent, - Colossians 1:18 - especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. - CCC 792 -

Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, "until Christ be formed" in them. - Galatians 4:19 - "For this reason we...are taken up into the mysteries of his life,... associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified." - LG 7;4; cf. Philippians 3:21; Romans 8:17 - CCC 793 -

Christ provides for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head, - Cf. Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:11-16 - he provides his Body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation. - CCC 794 -

Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity: - CCC 795 -

Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the whole man... The fullness of Christ then is the head and the members. But what does "head and members" means? Christ and the Church. - St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 21, 8:PL 35, 1568. - 

Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church whom he has taken to himself. - Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job. praef., 14:PL 75, 525A. - 

Head and members form as if were one and the same mystical person. - St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,48,2. -

A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they are just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter." - Acts of the Trail of Joan of Arc. -

The Church is the Bride of Christ - The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. - John 3:29 - The Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." - Mark 2:19 - The Apostle speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. - Cf. Matthew 22:1-14; 25:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:15-17; 2 Corinthians 11:2 - The Church is the spotless Lamb. - Cf. Revelation 22:17; Ephesians 1:4; 5:27 - Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her." - Ephesians 5:25-26 - he has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant, and never stops caring for her as for his own body: - Cf. Ephesians 5:29 - This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many... whether the head or member speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the Church." - Ephesians 5:31-32 - And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one flesh." - Matthew 19:6 - They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union...as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride." - St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 74:4: PL 36, 48-949 - CCC 796 -

III.  - THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - 

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER - Creation - source of prayer - Prayer is lived in the first place beginning with the realities of creation. The first nine chapters of Genesis describe this relationship with God as an offering of the first-born of Abel's flock, as the invocation of the divine name at the time of Enosh, and as "walking with God." Noah's offering is pleasing to God, who blesses him and through him all creation, because his heart was upright and undivided: Noah, like Enoch before him, "walks with God." "As an offering for Yahweh, Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. Yahweh looked with favour on Abel and his offering." - Genesis 4:4 - "Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, 'because God has granted me other offspring' she said 'in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him (Abel).' A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. This man was the first to invoke the name of Yahweh." - Genesis 4:25-26 - "In all, Enoch lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God. Then he vanished because God took him." - Genesis 5:23-24 -

Noah's offering is pleasing to God, who blesses him and through him all creation, because his heart was upright and undivided; Noah, like Enoch before him, "walks with God." "Noah was a good man, a man of integrity among his contemporaries, and he walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth." - Genesis 6:9-10 - "Noah built an altar for Yahweh, and choosing from all the clean animals and all the clean birds he offered burnt offerings on the altar. Yahweh smelt the appeasing fragrance and said to himself. 'Never again will I curse the earth because of man, because his heart contrives evil from his infancy. Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. 'As long as the earth lasts, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall cease no more.' - Genesis 8:20-22 -

The new world order - God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Be the terror and the dread of all the wild beasts and all the sea; they are handed to you. Every living and crawling thing shall provide food for you, no less than the foliage of plants. I gave you everything, with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it. I will demand an account of your life-blood. I will demand an account from every beast and from man. I will demand an account of every man's life from his fellow men. "He who sheds man's blood, shall have his blood shed by man, for in the image of God man was made." 

'As for you, be fruitful, multiply, teem over the earth and be lord of it.' God spoke to Noah and his son. 'See, I establish my Covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, also with every living creature to be found with you, birds, cattle and every wild beast with you: everything that came out of the ark, everything that lives on the earth. I establish my Covenant with you: no thing of flesh shall be swept away again by the waters of the flood. There shall be no flood to destroy the earth again.'

God said, 'Here is the sign of the Covenant I make myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the Covenant between myself and you and every living creature of every kind. And so the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all things of flesh. When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the lasting Covenant between God and every kind that is found on the earth.'

God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the Covenant I have established between myself and every living thing that is found on the earth.' - Genesis 9:1-17 - This kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religion. In his indefectible covenant with every living creature, God has always called people to prayer. But it is above all beginning with our father Abraham that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament. - C C C 2569 -

"THE  SUMMARY  OF  THE  WHOLE  GOSPEL" - The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel." - Tertullian De orat. 1:PL 1, 1155 - Since the Lord... after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his/her circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires." - Tertullian De orat. 10:PL 1, 1165; Cf. Luke 11:9-13; C C C 2761 - 'So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always received; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him/her. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him/her a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him/her a scorpion if he/she asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!' - Cf. Luke 11:9-13 -

-  AT THE CENTER OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE / HOLY BIBLE  -

After showing how the psalms are the principal food of Christian prayer and flow together in the petitions of the One Father. Saint Augustine of Hippo concludes: Run through all the words of the holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find anything in them that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer. - St. Augustine, Ep. 130, 12, 22:PL 33. 503 - C C C 2762 - 

All the Scriptures - the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms - are fulfilled in Christ. - "Then Jesus told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, has to be fulfilled.'" - Cf. Luke 22:44 - The Gospel is this "Good News." Its first proclamation is summarized by Saint Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount; - "Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them." - Matthew 5:7 - the prayer to our Father is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each petition bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated: "The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers...In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them." - St. Thomas Aquinas, Ep. 130, 12, 22, PL. 33, 503 - C C C 2763 - 

The Sermon on the Mount is teaching for life, the Our Father is a prayer; but in both the one and the other the Spirit of the Lord gives new form to our desires, those inner movements that animate our lives. Jesus teaches us this new life by his words; he teaches us to ask for it by our prayer. The rightness of our life in him will depend on the rightness of our prayer. - C C C 2764 -

"THE  LORD'S  PRAYER"

The traditional expression "the Lord's Prayer" - oratio Dominica - means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique: it is "of the lord." On the one hand, in the words of this prayer the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him: "Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them" - John 17:7 - he is the master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the model of our prayer. - C C C 2765 -

But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. "In your prayer do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. - Matthew 6:7 - "Call on the name of your god but light no fire. They took the bull and prepared it, and from morning to midday they called on the name of Baal. 'O Baal, answer us!' they cried, but there was no voice, no answer, as they performed their hobbling dance round the altar they had made. Midday came, and Elijah mocked them. 'Call louder,' he said 'for he is a god: he is preoccupied or he is busy, or he has gone on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and will wake up.' So they shouted louder and gashed themselves, as their custom was, with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them. Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no attention given to them." - 1 Kings 18:26-29 -

As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer, at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these words become in us "spirit and life." - "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." - John 6:63 - Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father "sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"" "The proof that you are sons and daughters is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, 'Abba, Father', and it is this that makes you a son and daughter" - Galatians 4:6 - Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, "he who searches the hearts of men," who "knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." "God who knows everything in our hearts know perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God." - Romans 8:27 - The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit. - C C C 2766 -

                                 THE  LORD'S  PRAYER: "OUR  FATHER!"

Jesus "was praying at a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples'." - Luke 11:1 - In response to this request the Lord entrusts to his disciples and to his Church the fundamental Christian prayer. Saint Luke presents a brief text of five petitions, - Luke 11:2-4 - while Saint Matthew gives a more developed version of seven petitions. - Matthew 6:9-13 - The liturgical tradition of the Church has retained Saint Matthew's text:

             Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 

             Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, 

              and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, 

              and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. - C C C 2759 -  

Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the glory for ever. The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the kingdom," and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer.' The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." The Roman Missal develops the last petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our blessed hope" and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then comes the assembly's acclamation, or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions. - C C C 2760 -

              - THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  ONE,  HOLY,  CATHOLIC  AND  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH - 

This indivisible gift of the lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the heaven of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the lord's Prayer three times a day, - Cf. Didache 8, 3:SCh 248, 174 - in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety. - C C C 2767 -

According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer: [The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say "my Father" who art in heaven, but "our" Father, offering petitions for the common Body. - St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Matthew 19, 4:PG 57, 278 - In all the liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office. In the three sacraments of Christian initiation its ecclesial character is especially in evidence: - C C C 2768 - In Baptism and Confirmation and In the Eucharistic liturgy the Lord's Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy... - C C C 2769, 2770, 2771, 2772, 2773, 2774, 2775, 2776 -

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

The Mystery of Talking with God - CONSIDERING OF THE TRINITY makes us reflect not only on the three divine Persons but also on the universality of the Church. Sometimes I ask people, "To whom do you pray?", and often enough the answer is, "To God." Behind that word "God" is, of course, the figure of the Father or Jesus himself. But there are also people who pray to God as if they were praying to the divine essence. This is not prayer. The prayer of Christians is unavoidably personal. It is person-to-person: we pray to the Father or to the Son or to the Holy Spirit. What is more, each one of the divine Person relates to us differently when we pray.

First of all, we do well to keep in mind that it is God himself who inspires our prayers; it is the Holy Spirit who suggests to us what the Father wants to hear. The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness, suggesting the things we should ask for according to the divine designs (cf. Romans 8:26-27). By making us aware that we are truly children of God, the Holy Spirit frees us from fear and anxiety: it endows us with the boldness (parrhesia) we need to call on God with the name of Father, as Jesus taught us to do and as he did himself (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15). Praying in the Spirit means becoming fully aware both of our neediness and of the power of this divine presence within us. The precarious nature of our Christian existence makes us realize that we need to ask help, and so we are given the Holy Spirit to guide us in our petition, adoration, thanksgiving, and contemplation.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27).

In the Gospels, Jesus says that the sin against the Holy Spirit is so serious as to be unforgiveable (Matthew 12:31). Why is this? It would seem to be the case that there is pardon for the sin against the Father (think of the parable of the Prodigal Son), and there is the forgiveness pronounced by Jesus on the cross (and the pardon of Peter's betrayal, etc.). Why, then, is the sin against the Holy Spirit unforgiveable?

In searching for an answer, we might be helped by a passage in Luke where Jesus speaks of the need to persevere in prayer: "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:9-13). The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and the Son, promised and sent to the community that constantly devotes itself to prayer (Acts 1:14). To sin against the Holy Spirit means to sin against the gift of the Father and the Son, against the gift par excellence. It means sinning against the infinite generosity of God's love, revealed as a Person. It means rejecting the need for the very love that enables us to exist; it means believing that we can obtain what we need by ourselves; it means daring to ask to be justified by God because "we are not sinners like those publicans." It means seeking to live without prayer or else to make prayer a form of commerce with God, just one more business transaction in our lives. What we are talking about is basically blasphemy, because what we are saying to the Father and the Son is this: "Thanks for creating me, and thanks for redeeming me, but now I'm on my own. With this stock of capital I've received, I now address you as equals - because I can do so." Herein lies the blasphemy because, as Paul tells us, "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).

Praying in the Spirit, therefore, means being fully convinced that prayer is a great gift given by the Father. We are able to pray only by opening ourselves up to that gift, like children on Christmas morning: the children's hearts are open to receiving gifts because they know little they have and they know what they will be given much. Praying in the Spirit means believing that God will pour his Spirit out upon all flesh (cf. Acts 2:17).

                                    In the last days, God says,

                                    I will pour out my Spirit on all people,

                                   Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

                                   your young men will see visions,

                                   your old men will dream dreams. (Acts 2:17) 

That is why we pray to the Father, by the Son, in the Holy Spirit. In all his letters (except perhaps in 2 Cor. 3:7-8 and Eph. 5:18-20), Paul addresses his prayers ultimately to the Father, while giving Christ an essential place in the prayer as mediator. Praying "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col. 3:17; Eph. 5:20) is more than commending ourselves to Jesus or invoking his name. It means praying with Jesus, as sons and daughters in the Son, lovers of the one and only Beloved. This is what Jesus means when he tells us to pray in his name (cf. John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:14-26). Such prayer assumes a real connection with Jesus, a connection that is not just notional or sentimental but life-giving, like the branch on the vine (cf. John 15:1-8). Praying in Jesus' name implies our participation in the life of Jesus, a participation that is realized concretely in mutual love (John 15:16). We are called to be united with Christ and to be like Christ, knowing that we are loved by the Father as the Son is loved (John 16:26-27). While the force and the potential of all prayer lies precisely in letting ourselves be assisted by the Spirit, the concrete setting of prayer is this identification with Christ Jesus. In him we have access to the Father, and we call to the Father as Jesus did: "Father, Abba" (Mark 14:33-36). Thus, Christian prayer can only be filial prayer, our flesh, now identified with the flesh of the Word and moved by the Spirit, experiences nostalgia for the Father, for he is the mystery that is revealed in prayer. Only in prayer is revealed the mystery that promises us unique communion with the Father in the Spirit and by the Son, the mystery that makes us share in that marvelous exchange by which the Son takes on our flesh and we receive his Spirit.

Through his communion in prayer, we are released from all servitude and liberated from all fear. We are free, and our liberty inspires us to return home from our exile. We return in freedom because we have understood the strength of God's word. We realize that even though we "have sinned against heaven and before you" (Luke 15:18, 21). God still organizes for us a putty. Beneath our wounded flesh, the Father beholds his Son, who was wounded for our sake. The reach of this freedom of ours extends even farther, for once we realize that we have been "accepted," we grant even more space to the Spirit. In turn, the Spirit inspires in us the intercessory prayer that shows that we are truly free children of God, rightful heirs of his kingdom. We cannot be fully aware of this intimate relation we have with the Father (being part of his family and his household) unless we pray frequently as intercessors.

All the great men and women of God have been intercessors. Intercession has the character of yeast, and that is why Jesus asks us to be like yeast in the midst of the world (Luke 13:20-21). Intercession is like yeast in the bosom of the Trinity. Abraham interceded for Sodom: dust and ashes coming face-to-face with the Rock - and they conversed (Gen. 18:23-32)! Only faith makes it possible for humans to converse with God with such insistence and familiarity. Moses prayed the same way. Recall the times when he prayed with his hands raised during the victory over the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-13) and the times when he interceded for the sin of his people in the desert and begged for pardon (Exodus 32:11-14, 30-34; Num. 14:10-20; 16:22; 21:17). Moses' intercession in Exodus 32 was especially dramatic; it was almost a wrestling match between God and the prophet. Moses used classical arguments to "convince" God to be merciful; he appealed to God's love (this nation is your people), to God's fidelity (remember your promises), and to God's glory (what will other nations say if you abandon this people that belongs to you?). In the end, Moses' prayer won the day: "the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people" (Exodus 32:14). Here I would like to repeat what I said before: it is not God who changes his mind, it is human beings who change their understanding. By prayer they come to realize that God is not a God of wrath but a God of forgiveness. Moses has discovered the true face of God, which is fidelity and forgiveness, and he has learned how to understand his people's sin in just measure. Intercession opens the way for the revelation of God's face, the true face he wants us to seek out.

By intercession, we gain access to the Father and discover new facets in concrete situations that allow us to change them. We can truly say in human terms that "God's heart is moved by intercession," but in reality he is always far ahead of us in movements of the heart, for "he has loved us first." What our intercession makes possible is greater clarity of revelation: God's power, love, loyalty and fidelity can never change, since he is always faithful - but they can become more creatively manifest to us in our world.

That is why intercession assumes familiarity with God and the ability to address God with that bold discourse (parrhesia) of which we spoke before. Moses spoke to God "as though he saw him who is invisible" (Hebrew 11:27). And in reality he did see him: God spoke to him face to face as a friend, as a confidant (Numbers 12:5-8; Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:10-11). Someone wrote that "prayer is being present to God so as to discover the profound sources of love, even in situations where the logic of his working." Jesus himself gives us many examples of intercession: he intercedes for Peter so that his faith will not fail (Luke 22:31-32); he intercedes so that the Father will send the Spirit (John 14:16); he intercedes for those who have crucified him (Luke 23:33-34). And he insists that it is only by intercessory prayer that we are able to free persons of evil spirits (Mark 9:25-29).

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exod. 33:11)

In Russian icons, intercession is called "supplication" (Greek deesis), and it is represented in the figure of Mary (the Church) standing with her head slightly bent before the lordship of Christ Pantocrator, who holds a book open. She hold her hands out, open to God's gift, asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The touchstone for proving the authenticity of intercession is praise, for intercession takes place through praise. When praise is lacking, we need to fear that our "requests" may not truly be intercession; behind our petitions may be lurking a type of hypocrisy that seeks to conceal insatiable greed with lengthy prayers (Mark 11:24-25). Praise is a way of guaranteeing the gratuitous nature of our intercession. It is the air that we must breathe so that with childlike confidence we can approach the Father in the Spirit and through the Son.

"So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."                             

"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 11:24-25)

There are two canticles of Isaiah (42:10-17;45:20-25) that can help us enter into the spirit of praise. Since authentic praise is marked by an awareness of gift, it includes a contemplative dimension, as does all prayer. In the psalms of praise, nothing is requested; rather, the psalmist expresses joy, surrender to God, and thanksgiving for the mere fact of existing. God is the Creator who made human beings and all that exists (Psalms 8 and 114). God watches over his faithful ones (Psalms 33 and 92). God cares for his flock (psalms 23); he defends his people (Psalms 27); he does justice (psalms 77); he constantly reveals his love for human beings (Psalms 103). Praise inspires us to imitate the gratuitous generosity of God. That is why praise makes our flesh grow lighter and rise higher; it become more contemplative and less utilitarian - it simply sings. That it why Paul begins most of his letters with a profound hymn of praise, for praise is the basis of all that follows; it creates the atmosphere that Christians breathe.

The greater praise we can give the Father is the offering of the passion of his Son. Our sinful, exiled flesh offers God the wounded flesh of the Word so that our praise takes the form of blessing (in Greek, eulogia) and Eucharist (cf. Mark 6:41; 14:23). In blessing, we acknowledge the gift and give thanks for it. The blessing is born of the conviction that everything is a gift from God, and it leads us to affirm our solidarity as fellow believers. By pronouncing a blessing, we renounce propriety rights over the things that surround us. We relinquish exclusive possession of property because the true proprietor is God: "I thank you (exhomologoumai soi), Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants" (Luke 10:21; Matt 11:25-26). The Greek word exhomologein means acknowledgment, thanksgiving, amazement, joy, praise. Jesus is rejected by the wise and the prudent, but he is accepted by the simple folk. As he did when he raised Lazarus (John 11:41-42), Jesus praises rises only in those who know how to discern, in their very own history, the presence of God who works wonders. 

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. (Mark 6:41)

Access to the Father is wide open. Our flesh, justified by the passion of Christ and buoyed by the Spirit, enters with great confidence (with parrhesia) into the sanctuary. Now the veil has been drawn back; everything is open to view. What happens with prayer is similar to what happens with conversion. I recall Paul Claudel's words: Je vois l'Eglise ouverte, il faut entrer - "I see the Church open: I must enter in." The letter to the Hebrews especially helps us to understand better the real meaning of this free access of all flesh to the Father.

                                                             For Prayer and Reflection

"Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the tops of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands. The Lord goes forth like a soldier, like a warrior he stirs up his fury; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes... I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:10-13,16)

- Prayer - Word of God, eternal light divine, eternal source of all pure truth, glory of God that illumines the cosmos, bright burning torch in darkest night. Word eternally pronounced in the Father's mind, what joy that in our history he was born a child from the bosom of the Virgin. Do not cease to shine, heavenly beacons, with the rays of light that God sends forth; faithfully guide our friends, our peoples; proclaim the truth on every path. Amen.

BY  HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  FRANCIS / JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO

Open Mind,  Faithful Heart - Reflections on Following Jesus - Translated by Joseph V. Owens, 

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -