The Holy Spirit and Prayer

1
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• "Great is the mystery of the faith!"
• The Church professes this mystery in the
  Apostles' Creed and celebrates it in the
  sacramental liturgy, so that the life of the
  faithful may be
• conformed to Christ
• in the Holy Spirit
• to the glory of God
• the Father.
• This mystery, then, requires that the faithful
• believe in it, that they celebrate it,
• and that they live from it
• in a vital and personal relationship with the
  living and true God.
• This relationship is prayer.
• (ccc 2558)

2

• "I Believe in the Holy Spirit"
• General audience of April 26, 1989

3
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• In the battle of prayer, we must face in
  ourselves and around us erroneous notions of
  prayer.
• Some people view prayer as a simple psychological
  activity
• Others as an effort of concentration to reach a
  mental void.
• Still others reduce prayer to ritual words and
  postures.
• Many Christians unconsciously regard prayer as an
  occupation that is incompatible with all the
  other things they have to do
• they "don't have the time."
• Those who seek God by prayer are quickly
  discouraged because they do not know that prayer
  comes also from the Holy Spirit and not from
  themselves alone.
• (ccc 2726)

4
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• Prayer is primarily addressed to the Father
• it can also be directed toward Jesus,
  particularly by the invocation of his holy name
• "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us
  sinners.
• but
• "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord',
• except by the Holy Spirit"
• (1 Cor 123).
• The Church invites us to invoke the Holy Spirit
  as the interior Teacher of Christian prayer.
• (ccc 2680-2681)

5
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous
  outpouring of interior impulse
• in order to pray, one must have the will to pray.
• Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures
  reveal about prayer
• one must also learn how to pray.
• Through a living transmission
• (Sacred Tradition)
• Within "the believing and praying Church,
• the Holy Spirit teaches
• the children of God how to pray.
• (ccc2650)

6
The Holy Spirit and 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."
• 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!'"
• 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." The prayer
  to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious
  mission of the Son and of the and of the Spirit

7
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• The Holy Spirit is
• 'the Spirit of prayer'.
• He is definitely called by this name in
• Zechariah 12, 10
• The spirit of grace and of supplications.
• Twice in Paul's epistles there is a remarkable
  reference to him in the matter of prayer.
• Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby
  we cry, Abba, Father
• (Rom. 8.15).
• God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
  your hearts, crying, Abba, Father
• (Gal. 4.6).

8
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the
  Promise was poured out on the disciples, gathered
  "together in one place."
• While awaiting the Spirit, "all these with one
  accord devoted themselves to prayer.
• The Spirit who teaches the Church and
• recalls for her everything that Jesus said was
  also to form her in the life of prayer.
• (ccc 2623)

9
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• The Holy Spirit who teaches the Church and
  recalls to her all that Jesus said also instructs
  her in the life of prayer,
• inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms
  of prayer
• blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving,
  and praise.
• (CCC 2644)

10
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• Have you ever meditated on these words
• 'Abba, Father'?
• In that name our Savior offered his greatest
  prayer to the Father, accompanied by the entire
  surrender and sacrifice of his life and love.
• The Holy Spirit is given for the express purpose
  of teaching us,
• from the very beginning of our Christian life
  onward,
• to utter that word in childlike trust and
  surrender.

11
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• In one of these passages we read
• 'We cry' in the other 'He cries.'
• What a wonderful blending of the divine and human
  cooperation in prayer.
• What a proof that God has done his utmost to make
  prayer as natural and effectual as though it were
  the cry of a child to an earthly Father, as he
  says
• 'Abba, Father'.

12
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• Is it not a proof that the Holy Spirit is to a
  great extent a stranger in the Church,
• when prayer,
• for which God has made such provisions,
• is regarded as a task and a burden?
• And does not this teach us to seek for the deep
  root of prayerlessness in our ignorance of, and
  disobedience to, the divine instructor whom the
  Father has commissioned to teach us to pray?

13
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• If we desire to understand this truth still more
  clearly we must notice what is written in
• Romans 8.26, 27
• Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
  infirmities for we know not what we should pray
  for as we ought but the Spirit himself maketh
  intercession for us with groanings which cannot
  be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
  knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because
  he maketh intercession for the saints according
  to the will of God.'
• Is it not clear from this that the Christian if
  left to himself does not know how to pray or how
  he ought to pray and that God has stooped to
  meet us in this helplessness of ours by giving us
  the Holy Spirit himself to pray for us and that
  his operation is deeper than our thought or
  feeling, but is noticed and answered by God?

14
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• Our first work, therefore, ought to be to come
  into God's presence not with our ignorant
  prayers, not with many words and thoughts, but in
  the confidence that the divine work of the Holy
  Spirit is being carried on within us.
• This confidence will encourage reverence and
  quietness, and will also enable us, in dependence
  on the help which the Spirit gives, to lay our
  desires and heart-needs before God.

15
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• The great lesson for every prayer is
• see to it, first of all, that you commit yourself
  to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and with
  entire dependence on him, give him the first
  place
• for through him your prayer will have a value you
  cannot imagine, and through him also you will
  learn to speak out your desires in the name of
  Christ.

16
The Holy Spirit and Prayer

• What a protection this faith would be against
  deadness and despondency in the inner chamber!
• Only think of it!
• In every prayer the triune God takes a part
• the Father who hears
• the Son in whose name we pray
• the Spirit who prays for us and in us.
• How important it is that we should be in right
  relationship to the Holy Spirit and understand
  his work!

17
The following points demand serious consideration.

• First Let us firmly believe, as a divine
  reality, that the Spirit of God's Son, the Holy
  Spirit, is in us.
• Do not imagine that you know this and have no
  need to consider it.
• It is a thought so great and divine that it can
  gain an entrance to our hearts and be retained
  there only by the Holy Spirit himself.
• 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
  -spirit' (Rom. 8.16).
• Our position ought to be that of reckoning with
  full assurance of faith that our heart is his
  temple, yes, that he dwells within us and rules
  soul and body.

18
The following points demand serious consideration.

• Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray,
  that we have his Spirit in us to teach us to
  pray.
• Thanksgiving will draw our hearts out to God and
  keep us engaged with him it will take our
  attention from ourselves and give the Spirit room
  in our hearts.
• Oh, it is no wonder that we have been prayerless,
  and have felt this work too heavy for us, if we
  have sought to hold fellowship with the eternal
  God apart from his Spirit, who reveals the Father
  and the Son.

19
The following points demand serious consideration.

• Second In the practice of this faith in the
  certainty that the Spirit dwells and works in us,
  there must also be the understanding of all that
  he desires to accomplish in us.
• His work in prayer is closely connected with his
  other work.
• His first and greatest work is to reveal Christ
  in his omnipresent love and power.
• So the Holy Spirit will in prayer constantly
  remind us of Christ, of his blood and name, as
  the sure ground of our being heard.

20
The following points demand serious consideration.

• He will, further, as 'the Spirit of holiness',
  teach us to recognize, and hate, and have done
  with sin.
• He is 'the Spirit of light and wisdom' who leads
  us into the heavenly secret of God's overflowing
  grace.
• He is 'the Spirit of love and power' who teaches
  us to witness for Christ and to labor for souls
  with tender pity.
• The more closely I associate all these blessings
  with the Spirit, the more shall I be convinced of
  his deity and shall be the more ready to commit
  myself to his guidance, as I give myself to
  prayer.
• What a different life mine would be if I knew the
  Spirit as the Spirit of prayer!

21
The following points demand serious consideration.

• Third There is still another thing which I need
  constantly to learn afresh, that
• The Spirit desires to have full possession of my
  life.
• We pray for more of the Spirit,
• and we pray well,
• if alongside this prayer we set the truth that
  the Spirit wants more of me.
• The Spirit would possess me entirely.

22
The following points demand serious consideration.

• Just as my soul has my whole body for its
  dwelling-place and service,
• so the Holy Spirit would have my body and soul as
  his dwelling-place,
• entirely under his control.
• No one can continue long and earnestly in prayer
  without beginning to perceive that the Spirit is
  gently leading to an entirely new consecration,
  of which previously he knew nothing.

23
The following points demand serious consideration.

• 'I seek Thee with my whole heart.'
• The Spirit will make such words more and more the
  motto of our lives.
• He will cause us to recognize that what remains
  in us of double-mindedness is truly sinful.
• He will reveal Christ as the almighty deliverer
  from all sin, who is always near to defend us.
• He will lead us in this way in prayer, to forget
  ourselves and make us willing to offer ourselves
  for training as intercessors, to whom God can
  entrust the carrying out of his plans, and who
  day and night cry to him to avenge his church of
  her adversary.
• God help us to know the Spirit and to reverence
  him as the Spirit of prayer!

24
The following points demand serious consideration.

1. "Pray constantly . . . always and for everything
   giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus
   Christ to God the Father."St. Paul adds, "Pray at
   all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and
   supplication. To that end keep alert with all
   perseverance making supplication for all the
   saints. For "we have not been commanded to
   work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but
   it has been laid down that we are to pray without
   ceasing." This tireless fervor can come only from
   love. Against our dullness and laziness, the
   battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, and
   persevering love. This love opens our hearts to
   three enlightening and life-giving facts of faith
   about prayer. It is always possible to pray The
   time of the Christian is that of the risen Christ
   who is with us always, no matter what tempests
   may arise.36 Our time is in the hands of God It
   is possible to offer fervent prayer even while
   walking in public or strolling alone, or seated
   in your shop, . . . While buying or selling, . .
   . or even while cooking. Prayer is a vital
   necessity. Proof from the contrary is no less
   convincing if we do not allow the Spirit to lead
   us, we fall back into the slavery of sin.38 How
   can the Holy Spirit be our life if our heart is
   far from him? Nothing is equal to prayer for
   what is impossible it makes possible, what is
   difficult, easy. . . . For it is impossible,
   utterly impossible, for the man who prays eagerly
   and invokes God ceaselessly ever to sin. Those
   who pray are certainly saved those who do not
   pray are certainly damned.
2. Prayer and Christian life are inseparable, for
   they concern the same love and the same
   renunciation, proceeding from love the same
   filial and loving conformity with the Father's
   plan of love the same transforming union in the
   Holy Spirit who conforms us more and more to
   Christ Jesus the same love for all men, the love
   with which Jesus has loved us. "Whatever you ask
   the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
   This I command you, to love one another. He
   "prays without ceasing" who unites prayer to
   works and good works to prayer. Only in this way
   can we consider as realizable the principle of
   praying without ceasing.

25
The following points demand serious consideration.

• "Come, Holy Spirit"
• "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the
  Holy
• Spirit." Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it
  is The Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of
  prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches
  us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not
  pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church
  invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every
  day, especially at the beginning and the end of
  every important action. If the Spirit should not
  be worshiped, how can he divinize me through
  Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not
  be the object of adoration? The traditional form
  of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the
  Father through Christ our Lord to give us the
  Consoler Spirit. Jesus insists on this petition
  to be made in his name at the very moment when he
  promises the gift of the Spirit of Truth. But the
  simplest and most direct prayer is also
  traditional, "Come, Holy Spirit," and every
  liturgical tradition has developed it in
  antiphons and hymns.
• Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your
  faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your
  love. Heavenly King, Consoler Spirit, Spirit of
  Truth, present everywhere and filling all things,
  treasure of all good and source of all life, come
  dwell in us, cleanse and save us, you who are
  All-Good. The Holy Spirit, whose anointing
  permeates our whole being, is the interior Master
  of Christian prayer. He is the artisan of the
  living tradition of prayer. To be sure, there are
  as many paths of prayer as there are persons who
  pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and
  with all. It is in the communion of the Holy
  Spirit that Christian prayer is prayer in the
  Church. In communion with the holy Mother of God
  In prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the person
  of the only Son, in his glorified humanity,
  through which and in which our filial prayer
  unites us in the Church with the Mother of Jesus.