REED2: LITURGY AND SACRAMENTS

• what is prayer?


  prayer is speaking and listening to God and desiring to be united with God and to do his will
• Liturgy


  The participation of the People of God in the work of God
• Work of God


  The salvation of the human race
• God, through Jesus' passion, death, resurrection and ascension (often referred to as the paschal mystery), has achieved salvation for a sinful humanity
• Why do we pray to God?


  • We pray because he is God. It is therefore right to adore him, thank him and repent before him.
  • We also pray because he listens to our prayers and will act on our behalf when we pray
  • We also pray to come to know God personally and this is our greatest happiness.
• The principal activities of prayer


  • Adoration
  • Thanksgiving
  • Repentance
  • Petition
• Christian prayer involves one or more of the following actions before God: adoration, thanksgiving, repentance, petition
• Mistaken ideas about prayer


  • Prayer is not just in the mind
  • Prayer is not a mental exercise to empty the mind
  • Prayer is never a ritual technique like magic
• Prayer


  • A real and personal encounter with God
  • God acts when we pray and frequently causes miraculous changes in ourselves and in the world
  • Always has God and the things of God as its focus
  • Leads to the knowledge and love of God
• The Light of the World by Holman Hunt


  • Reminds us that prayer is a real and personal encounter with God
• Prayer is not a mental exercise to empty the mind, as in Zen Buddhism or yoga
• Prayer is never a ritual technique like magic, simply seeking power or other benefits
• Christian prayer leads to the knowledge and love of God
• Vocal prayer

  The mental activity of prayer joined to the physical one of words and gestures. Examples are the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Sign of the Cross, the Angelus and grace before meals.
• Meditative prayer


  Mental conversation with God often facilitated through Scripture, other holy writings and images that reveal him and his works.
• Liturgical prayer


  The official and public prayer of the Church, such as the Mass or the Divine Office. Liturgical prayer involves the Church as a whole rather than individual Christians alone.
• Contemplative prayer


  A simple and loving apprehension of God or divine things brought about by the Holy Spirit and the growth of his gifts in our souls.
• The Lord's Prayer


  Also called the Our Father, it is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him to teach them to pray
• The Lord's Prayer


  • The most perfect of prayers, because it comes to us from Jesus Christ, the model and master of prayer
  • It is the prayer of the whole Church and is an essential part of liturgical prayer
• The structure of the Lord's Prayer


  1. The opening invocation

  2. Petitions regarding God

  3. Petitions for the good things we need
• The opening invocation


  Our Father, who art in heaven
• Petitions regarding God


  • Hallowed be thy name
  • Thy kingdom come
  • Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven
• Petitions for the good things we need


  • 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
• We pray 'Our Father' because we have become children of God in Baptism
• Praying 'who art in heaven' helps to raise our minds to heavenly things
• Petitions

  Requests made to God
• The Icons in the Garden by Giovanni Bellini


  • Jesus kneels in agony prior to his Passion and death. He repeats one of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done.
  • The angel shown coming from heaven to give Jesus strength, which reminds us of how God comes to our aid when we enter into temptation.
  • The sleeping disciples
• Barren, rocky ground


  Symbolises the lack of consolation that can sometimes be experienced in prayer
• The Last Supper by Sassetta


  • We pray give us this day our daily bread to petition God for our natural needs
  • The original Greek word for 'daily' also means 'super-substantial' (as it is translated in the Latin Vulgate version of Mt 6:11). Since the word 'super substantial' implies the Eucharist, this petition can also be understood as a petition for the Eucharist, our supernatural food.
• Petitions regarding our work
• Jesus


  Kneels in agony prior to his Passion and death
• Jesus: 'The will be done.'
• Ground


  • Barren, rocky
  • In contrast to the garden of Gethsemane
• Angel


  Aids the sleeping disciples when we pray
• The sleeping disciples


  Are warned by Jesus with words that recall the penultimate line of the Lord's Prayer of the need to pray so as not to enter into temptation