HOLY YEAR PREPARATION: POPE FRANCIS ON PRAYER

HOLY YEAR PREPARATION: PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION

The prayer of supplication reflects our human vulnerability and need for help. With this type of prayer, we present our personal needs, deepest desires, and most urgent concerns to God. We are encouraged to present our requests to God with confidence and perseverance, remembering that He is always ready to listen to our hearts: «He asks us for constancy, He asks us to be determined, without shame. Why? Because I am knocking on my friend’s door. God is a friend, and with a friend I can do this. A constant, intrusive prayer» (Morning Meditation Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, October 11, 2018). Supplication, then, becomes a time of intimate communion with God, where our vulnerability meets His infinite mercy and love: through it, we learn to trust God more deeply, entrusting Him with our whole life, our concerns, our hopes, and desires.

HOLY YEAR PREPARATION: INTERCESSORY PRAYER

Intercession: Intercessory prayer is the prayer that best expresses the Communion of Saints; in it we pray for the needs of others showing solidarity, understanding and compassion. It is good to emphasize the importance of this form of prayer as an act of Christian love and solidarity, which unites us with others and makes us sharers in their sufferings and in their hopes. Intercessory prayer is a powerful tool of communion, through which we can bring before God the needs of the world and the needs of our brothers

and sisters. In this way, intercessory prayer becomes a bridge connecting the faithful and their intentions, transcending the boundaries of space and time, to share each other’s joys and sufferings before God. In the context of the Jubilee, the grace of a plenary indulgence to be applied to a deceased believer is also an expression of the intercessory prayer that unites us with all our deceased loved ones, with whom we may one day enjoy heavenly riches.

Praise and Thanksgiving: The prayer of praise and thanksgiving is an expression of joy and gratitude to God for His countless gifts and blessings. In praise, we celebrate God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness, acknowledging His living and life-giving Presence in our lives and in the world around us. We respond in thanksgiving, expressing gratitude for the smallest to the greatest works of God, knowing that every blessing we receive is a sign of His infinite goodness. This form of prayer helps us cultivate an attitude of gratefulness, capable of shaping our outlook toward our brothers and sisters as a sign and witness of the charity with which God loves us.

Adoration: Adoration is an act of humility and reverence before the greatness of God. In his reflections, the Pope often reminds us that in adoration we acknowledge God’s sovereignty and our total dependence on Him. This form of prayer opens us to a deeper sense of wonder and awe before God’s omnipotence and goodness, strengthening our faith and trust in Him. It is an act of recognizing God’s majesty, not only as Creator but also as the Living Source of infinite love and mercy. In adoration, the Christian is called to reveal himself to God with a pure and humble heart, acknowledging his own smallness in the presence of divine grandeur. This kind of prayer does not require pleas or petitions, but is a pure expression of the soul turning to God in gratitude and reverence, as before the Uncreated Mystery.

The Holy Father has repeatedly emphasized that prayer is not just a devout practice, but rather is like the «breathing of the soul»; it is the expression of a deep and natural need of every human being. Prayer, according to Pope Francis, is a true dialogue with God, a «face to face with Him» (Morning Meditation, Chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae, March 15, 2018), a time of listening and responding, where the believer opens him or herself to the Lord’s will and guidance. In this sense, the disciples’ plea shows us that prayer is not an automatic formula of communication. On the contrary, it demands teaching and discipline - the ways that only a Master can point out. Just as the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, we too, should not be afraid to ask for help to enter a more intimate and personal relationship with God, first from the Master and, then, from those who, as spiritual guides, have been walking in the Lord’s presence for a longer time and have already learned to recognize His footsteps and way.

“Jesus not only wants us to pray as he prays, but assures us that, even if our attempts at prayer are completely vain and ineffective, we can always count on his prayer. We must be aware of this: Jesus prays for me” (General Audience, June 2, 2021).

“Everything in the Church originates in prayer and everything grows thanks to prayer. When the Enemy, the Evil One, wants to fight the Church, he does so first by trying to drain her fonts, preventing them from praying. […] Prayer is what opens the door to the Holy Spirit, who inspires progress. Changes in the Church without prayer are not changes made by the Church. They are changes made by groups.” (General Audience, April 14, 2021).

“Through prayer a new incarnation of the Word takes place, and we are the “tabernacles” where the words of God seek to be welcomed and preserved, so that they may visit the world […]. Through prayer, the Word of God comes to abide in us and we abide in it. The Word inspires good intentions and sustains action; it gives us strength and serenity, and even when it challenges us, it gives us peace” (General Audience, 27 January, 2021).

“Jesus’ prayer is the place where we perceive that everything comes from God and returns to him. Sometimes we human beings believe that we are the masters of everything, or on the contrary, we lose all self-esteem, we go from one side to the other. Prayer helps us to find the right dimension in our relationship with God, our Father, and with all creation” (General Audience, November 4, 2020).

“Prayer is the first strength of hope. You pray and hope grows, it moves forward. I would say that prayer opens the door to hope. There is hope but I open the door with my prayer” (General Audience, May 20, 2020).

‘Mary teach us to say Yes to the Lord every moment of our lives.
Mary teach us to say Thanks to the Lord every moment of our lives.’