Prayer, for the Christian, “is not an optional but a matter of life and death. Only those who pray, that is, those who entrust themselves to God with filial love, can enter into eternal life, which is God himself.”
Taking his cue from the Transfiguration, Benedict XVI chose to talk about prayer during the first Angelus following his Spiritual Exercises. He was addressing 30,000 people in St Peter’s Square on a day reminiscent of spring.
From the gospel passage from Luke, the pope noted how on Mount Tabor, “during the conversation of Jesus with Moses and Elijah, they appeared alongside Him transfigured. They ‘were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’ (9:31). Thus, Jesus listens to the Law and the prophets who talk to him about his death and resurrection. In his intimate dialogue with the Father, he does not exit from history; he does not escape the mission for which he came to the world, although he knows that to reach glory he will have to pass through the Cross. Rather, Christ enters more deeply into this mission, adhering with all his heart to the will of the Father and he shows us that true prayer consists precisely of uniting our will with that of God.”
“Consequently, for a Christian, praying is not evading reality and the responsibilities this entails, but taking them on completely, trusting in the faithful and endless love of the Lord. Thus, the verification of the transfiguration is, paradoxically, the agony of Gethsemane (cfr Lk 22:39-46).” From here comes the affirmation that prayer for the Christian “is not an optional but a matter of life and death. Only those who pray, that is, those who entrust themselves to God with filial love, can enter into eternal life, which is God himself.”
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