Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 471 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 471 - Part I. Why is Abraham a model of prayer?

(Youcat answer) Abraham listened to God. He was willing to set out for wherever God commanded and to do what God willed. By his listening and his readiness to make a new start, he is a model for our prayer.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2592) The prayer of Abraham and Jacob is presented as a battle of faith marked by trust in God's faithfulness and by certitude in the victory promised to perseverance. (CCC 2569 b) This kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religions. In his indefectible covenant with every living creature (Gen 9:8-16). God has always called people to prayer. But it is above all beginning with our father Abraham that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament.    

  Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Not many prayers of Abraham have been handed down. But wherever he went, he set up altars, places of prayer, to God. And so along the journey of his life he had many sorts of experiences with God, including some that tried and unsettled him. When Abraham saw that God was going to destroy the sinful city of Sodom, he pleaded for it. He even wrestled stubbornly with God. His plea for Sodom is the first great intercessory prayer in the history of the People of God.

 (CCC Comment)

(CCC 2569 a) Prayer is lived in the first place beginning with the realities of creation. The first nine chapters of Genesis describe this relationship with God as an offering of the first-born of Abel's flock, as the invocation of the divine name at the time of Enosh, and as “walking with God” (Cf. Gen 4:4, 26; Gen 5:24). Noah's offering is pleasing to God, who blesses him and through him all creation, because his heart was upright and undivided; Noah, like Enoch before him, "walks with God" (Gen 6:9; 8:20- 9:17).     

(This question: Why is Abraham a model of prayer? is continued)