Devotion to Jesus: his teaching on prayer
JESUS COMMANDED TO PRAY TO DEFEND US FROM EVIL
Jesus said:
"Pray not to enter into temptation." (Lk. XXII, 40)
Christ therefore tells us that at certain intersections of life we must pray, slo prayer saves us from falling. Unfortunately there are people who don't understand it until it is smashed; not even the twelve understood it and fell asleep instead of praying.
If Christ commanded to pray, it is a sign that prayer is indispensable to man. We cannot live without prayer: there are situations in which man's strength is no longer enough, his good will does not hold. There are moments in life when man, if he wants to survive, needs direct encounter with the strength of God.
JESUS HAS GIVEN A MODEL OF PRAYER: OUR FATHER
He thus gave us the valid scheme for all times to pray as he wishes.
The "Our Father" is in itself a complete tool for learning to pray. It is the prayer most used by Christians: 700 million Catholics, 300 million Protestants, 250 million Orthodox say this prayer almost every day.
It is the best known and most widespread prayer, but unfortunately it is a mistreated prayer, because it does not happen very often. It is an interweaving of Judaisms that should be better explained and translated. But it is an admirable prayer. It is the masterpiece of all prayers. It is not a prayer to be recited, it is a prayer to be meditated. Indeed, rather than a prayer, it should be a trace for prayer.
If Jesus wanted to expressly teach how to pray, if he made available to us a prayer made up of him for us, it is a very sure sign that prayer is an important thing.
Yes, it appears from the Gospel that Jesus taught "our Father" because he was stimulated by some disciples who perhaps had been struck by the time that Christ dedicated to prayer or by the intensity of his own prayer.
Luke's text says:
One day Jesus was in a place to pray and, when he was finished, one of the disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them: when you pray, say 'Father ...' ". (Lk. XI, 1)
JESUS SPENDED THE NIGHTS IN PRAYER
Jesus gave much time to prayer. And there was the work that pressed around him! Crowds hungry for education, sick, poor, people who besieged him from all over Palestine, but Jesus also escapes charity for prayer.
He retired to a deserted place and prayed there ... ". (Mk I, 35)
And he also spent the nights in prayer:
Jesus went to the mountain to pray and spent the night in prayer. " (Lk. VI, 12)
For him, prayer was so important that he carefully chose the place, the most suitable time, detaching himself from any other commitment. … Went up to the mountain to pray “. (Mk VI, 46)
… He took Pietro, Giovanni and Giacomo with him and went up to the mountain to pray “. (Lk. IX, 28)
•. . in the morning he got up when it was still dark, retired to a deserted place and prayed there. " (Mk I, 35)
But the most moving show of Jesus in prayer is at Gethsemane. In the moment of struggle, Jesus invites everyone to prayer and throws himself into a heartfelt prayer:
and advancing a little, he prostrated himself with his face on the ground and prayed. " (Mt. XXVI, 39)
"And again he went away praying .., and returned again he found his sleeping people .., and left them he went away again and prayed for the third time". (Mt. XXVI, 42)
Jesus prays on the cross. Pray for others in the desolation of the cross: "Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing". (Lk. XXIII, 34)
Pray in despair. The cry of Christ: my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? “Is Psalm 22, the prayer that the pious Israelite pronounced in difficult times.
Jesus dies praying:
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit “, is Psalm 31. With these examples of Christ, is it possible to take prayer lightly? Is it possible for a Christian to overlook it? Is it possible to live without praying?