“What is prayer?” Most Christians are more likely to mention solitude than solidarity:
“You put everything aside, find a quiet church or corner, and speak one-on-one with
the Lord.” Okay, that’s fine, but what about being a team player?
Continuing his teaching on prayer, the Holy Father
highlighted the community as found in the Acts of the Apostles and
the letters of Paul: the early Christians prayed together, united as one
body and one soul around Mary.
This is the first image we have of Christian
prayer after the death of Christ: Mary and the disciples, in the same Upper Room
used for the Last Supper, unite in prayer and pray for
the grace of spiritual strength after the Lord’s Ascension. Their prayer is
answered in a powerful way as the Spirit descends on them like tongues of fire,
strengthening them to go out and preach the Good News.
Prayer in community takes nothing away from the
personal aspect of prayer. When a Christian says “I believe”, he also confesses
the “we believe” of the entire Church. My Catholic faith is exactly the same as
the faith of a Catholic in Asia, Africa or anywhere else, though expressed in a
particular way. That is why the Church is truly Catholic - a Greek expression meaning “for all” - and that is why there is no personal faith without
community faith, and vice versa.
A prayer group is a common way to live this
spirit of community prayer, but there are many others. Our greatest opportunity
is often what John Paul II called “the little Church”: the family. Saying grace
before meals, the rosary and bedtime prayer as a family are little ways
to be part of the bigger picture of community prayer. And let's not forget the greatest
community prayer of them all: the Mass!
Praying as a part of the universal Church isn’t a sign of
weakness; it’s rather a sign of strength, since the whole Church prays with you and for you.
By Colin Gore
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