What is the greatest Christian prayer?
Isn’t it the prayer that Christ himself addresses to his own Father? Isn’t it when Christ takes his Father’s will, makes it his own, and then offers it in prayer back to his Father? When does Jesus pray like this? Does he invite Christians to join him?
The individual members of the Church are joined with Christ, our head. What he does, we do. He gave us a sacrament so that when he prays, we pray. This happens in the Mass, most especially in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. That is when Christ gives glory and thanks to the Father and prays that Father keeps us in Christ, makes us one, keeps us from the evil one, consecrates us in the truth, and that we may be where Christ himself is. The minister, in the person of Jesus and on behalf of the Church, prays for every grace and heavenly blessing that will fulfill the prayer of Jesus for us.
In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God:
The Roman Canon
command that these gifts be borne
by the hands of your holy Angel
to your altar on high
in the sight of your divine majesty,
so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar
receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,
may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.
We should all want to be part of that prayer and be thankful that we can be!
We participate, not as individuals, but as the Body of Christ. Our head is in heaven, seated at his Father’s right hand, and offering his prayer.
“Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:24
Jesus knew that his Church would need a way to truly and really pray with him. He gave ministers with the power to act and to pray in his person. They also administer his sacraments in his name.
Thanks to the Eucharist, we are really and truly with Christ at the Mass, attentively listening, and quietly praying, as he ceaselessly offers up his prayer to God.
The entire liturgy invites us to participate in Christ’s prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through the liturgy, the inner man is grounded in “the great love with which [the Father] loved us” in his beloved Son. It is the same “marvelous work of God” that is lived and internalized by all prayer “at all times in the Spirit.” (Catechism, 1073)
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