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

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

(Youcat answer - repeated) 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 2570 a) When God calls him, Abraham goes forth "as the Lord had told him" (Gen 12:4); Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the Word and so he obeys. Such attentiveness of the heart, whose decisions are made according to God's will, is essential to prayer, while the words used count only in relation to it.   

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 2570 b) Abraham's prayer is expressed first by deeds: a man of silence, he constructs an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. Only later does Abraham's first prayer in words appear: a veiled complaint reminding God of his promises which seem unfulfilled (Cf. Gen 15:2 f). Thus one aspect of the drama of prayer appears from the beginning: the test of faith in the fidelity of God.  

(The next question is:  How did Moses pray?)