553. What are the different forms of the prayer of petition? (part 1)
(Comp 553) It can be a petition for
pardon or also a humble and trusting petition for all our needs either
spiritual or material. The first thing to ask for, however, is the coming of
the Kingdom.
“In brief”
(CCC 2646) Forgiveness, the quest for the Kingdom, and every
true need are objects of the prayer of petition.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2629) The vocabulary of supplication in the New
Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat,
cry out, even "struggle in prayer" (Cf. Rom 15:30; Col 4:12). Its
most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is petition: by prayer of
petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures
who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last
end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our
Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.
Reflection
(CCC 2630) The New Testament contains scarcely any prayers
of lamentation, so frequent in the Old Testament. In the risen Christ the
Church's petition is buoyed by hope, even if we still wait in a state of
expectation and must be converted anew every day. Christian petition, what St.
Paul calls "groaning," arises from another depth, that of creation
"in labor pains" and that of ourselves "as we wait for the
redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved" (Rom 8:22-24).
In the end, however, "with sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit
"helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but
the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" (Rom
8:26). [IT CONTINUES]
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