Catechism of the Catholic Church

616 Part Four C hapter O ne T he R evelation of P rayer THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER 2566 Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. “Crowned with glory and honor,” man is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging “how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth.” 1 Even after losing through his sin his likeness to God, man remains an image of his Cre- ator, and retains the desire for the onewho calls him into existence.All religions bear witness to men’s essential search for God. 2 2567 God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation. A rticle 1 IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 2568 In the Old Testament, the revelation of prayer comes be- tween the fall and the restoration of man, that is, between God’s sorrowful call to his first children: “Where are you? . . . What is this that you have done?” 3 and the response of God’s only Son on coming into the world: “Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.” 4 Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events. 1 Ps 8:5; 8:1. 2 Cf. Acts 17:27. 3 Gen 3:9, 13. 4 Heb 10:5-7. 296 35528 30 142 410 1736 2738