Catechism of the Catholic Church

Christian Prayer 641 whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him. 17 2667 This simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. The most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.” It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light. 18 By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior’s mercy. 2668 The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases, 19 but holds fast to the word and “brings forth fruit with patience.” 20 This prayer is possible “at all times” because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus. 2669 The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior’s steps. The stations from the Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy Cross has redeemed the world. “Come, Holy Spirit” 2670 “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” 21 Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action. If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoration? 22 2671 The traditional form of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit. 23 Jesus insists on this petition to bemade in his name at the verymoment 17 Rom 10:13; Acts 2:21; 3:15-16; Gal 2:20. 18 Cf. Mk 10:46-52; Lk 18:13. 19 Cf. Mt 6:7. 20 Cf. Lk 8:15. 21 1 Cor 12:3. 22 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio, 31, 28: PG 36, 165. 23 Cf. Lk 11:13. 2616 435 478 1674 683 2001 1310