Publisher: Romain Lizé Editorial direction: David Gabillet Editors: Gabrielle Charaudeau and Claire Stacino Cover: Diane Denis Layout: Gauthier Delauné Proofreading: Samuel Wigutow Production: Juliette Darrière and Thierry Dubus Copyright © 2024 by Aleteia for the meditations. www.aleteia.org © 2024 by Magnificat Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in December 2023 by Graphycems, Spain. First edition: January 2024 Job number: MGN23L0729 ISBN: 978-1-63967-090-1 No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For more information, write to Magnificat, PO Box 834, Yonkers, NY 10702. www.magnificat.com Cover: The Virgin praying (1650), Sassoferrato (1609-1685), Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Roma. © akg-images / Pirozzi Magnificat® / Fr. Peter John Cameron, o.p.
6 7 Table of contents Preface. .....................................................................................................................................................................11 1. Prayer is rising up..........................................................................................................................14 2. Prayer is entrusting....................................................................................................................16 3. Why prayer can be “penance”.....................................................................................18 4. Prayer: An enchanted space where I can hear myself NOT think.......................................................................................21 5. Here’s the proof you’re truly trusting God............................................ 23 6. This is the prayer of the child of God. ........................................................... 28 7. Prayer is being gazed upon............................................................................................. 30 8. Putting others in the Presence of God......................................................... 32 9. How to hold an unyielding, intentional “no” to chaos and frenzy.............................................................. 35 10. This is what pleases Jesus best, according to Saint Faustina..................................................................................... 38 11. Why pray to Mary?. ................................................................................................................ 40 12. Shortest but most potent prayer........................................................................42 13. Prayer is praise: The way to never have a bad day............... 45 14. What is the desire of your heart? Prayer is desire.................47 15. Prayer is fruitful: It puts us in touch with the way things actually are........................................................................49 16. Prayer is worship: To be ourselves, we need it............................51 17. How to hold more of God’s grace. ..................................................................... 53 18. God puts Mary in our lives to help us pray...................................... 54 19. When we are undone, frazzled: Prayer is re-creation..........57 20. Why perfection seemed simple to Saint Thérèse and how we get it all wrong.......................................................................................59 21. Cutting off what cuts us off from God...................................................... 63 22. A flash of prayer and forcing Jesus to aid you. ............................67 23. How to find the miracle of right now. ........................................................69 Table of contents
8 9 24. How to overcome our false selves deep down............................. 72 25. Three reasons we desperately need Mary as our Mother. ..............................................................................................................74 26. Following is prayer and life is something we learn............ 79 27. Do you want delight and wonder in prayer? Try this. .......81 28. This may be the hardest prayer. ........................................................................ 83 29. Prayer as meditation............................................................................................................ 84 30. Unheeded, unheard: Is this prayer?........................................................... 87 31. When you’re lonely, this is the devotion you most need............................................................... 90 32. Prayer is unhiddenness. ................................................................................................. 93 33. Prayer is response. But if I can’t hear him?.................................... 95 34. Can ordinary people reach prayer of contemplation?.... 97 35. The holiest, most necessary spiritual practice.......................... 99 36. Prayer is Jesus: Simple. Effective................................................................101 37. Prayer is a kiss: What we learn from the Latin roots of “adore”........................................................................103 38. The prayer that will make us cling to God. ...................................105 39. Prayer is protection. But from what?. ....................................................107 40. Prayer is Eucharistic....................................................................................................... 109 Table of contents A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER
11 Whenever I teach a lesson about prayer to someone just starting out, I usually use this example. Let’s say you wake up one morning shocked to find yourself in a prison cell. You’re there locked behind bars, and there is no one and nothing in the cell with you except for a tin cup. What do you do? The way out of solitary confinement Most people say that they would pick up the tin cup and start banging on the prison bars. I ask them Why would you do that particular thing? And often they reply: So that someone will hear and come and let me out. In its way, that response is analogous to prayer. Even though we are not locked in a prison cell, we experience in life many constraints, many obstacles, burdens, and snares. They make us aware of just how powerless we are left to ourselves. But no matter how daunting the trial or problem we face, it makes us recognize that there is someone other than ourselves who is out there, who can hear our pleas for help, who will come to us where we are, and who wants to help us get out of our confinement. All we have to do is call upon that person. Prayer is that appealing. Living a memory Once that other arrives at our prison cell and intervenes to get the door unlocked and open, our release from that prison cell is not the end of our relationship with the
12 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER other—it is just the beginning. Because the compassion, the generosity, the self-gift, the sacrifice of the other on our behalf fills us with gratitude, humility, joy, wonder, and awe without limit. We cannot be thankful enough to this one who came to rescue us when we were most powerless and trapped. In fact, in many ways our life is really defined by this moment of liberation, and we continuously return to the memory of it so that we will never lose sight of just how deeply we have been cared for and watched over, and so that we might never become ungrateful. So, too, prayer is the way that we live in the memory of the saving events of our life. This One who comes to save us from our imprisonment is the One who has always wanted us to exist, who loved us into existence, who sustains us in our being, and who rejoices to be our Lord and Redeemer. Our friend. The most reasonable, the most human thing we can do as we face the challenges of our day-to-day existence is to call upon this One in prayer. Prayer generates us. It is a prayer that expresses our profound thankfulness, that offers our praise and adoration, that begs for forgiveness for our forgetfulness and failings, and that petitions in faith and trust for the help we need. A primer on prayer This little book aims to offer insight and encouragement for those longing to go deeper into prayer. The theme that recurs throughout these pages is simply this: Prayer is a response to the love of God who delights to dialogue with us. Prayer is both communication with 13 the Lord and the means to deeper communion with him. He loves for us to spend time with him, to silence all our distractions so that we can hear his voice, to find consolation in his Presence. Prayer is the greatest realism. Life is filled with non-stop struggles, with injustices, with sadness and loss, with suffering and pain. The weight of it can appear overwhelming. Until we enter into prayer with our Savior. United with Jesus Christ in the tender stillness of prayer, we are strengthened, lifted up, illuminated, and made happy and blessed with a resilience to face life’s surprises. Time spent in prayer is never time wasted. Every time we go to prayer, we come away closer to God and to his saints. We become more ourselves. The encounter of prayer is the best way to prepare for the eternity of heaven. We pray to savor the mercy that has come to rescue us in our distress. Mercy opens our prison doors and beckons us forth to flourish in faith, hope, and love. To pray is to embrace the freedom that has come to set us free. To pray is to be caught up in the gaze of Jesus Christ so that we can become Christ’s face to others. Fr. Peter John Cameron, o.p. Preface
14 Prayer is rising up We’re convinced we need something that goes beyond what the world and all things finite can provide. And prayer is the most reasonable way to come face to face with that mystery... The saints speak of prayer as “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God” (Saint John Damascene, † 749; CCC 2590). Saint Thomas Aquinas († 1274) understands prayer as “a raising of the soul to God” in four ways: the elevation of faith by adoring God’s greatness; the elevation of hope by our endeavoring for holiness; the elevation of charity through intimate encounter with God; and the elevation of justice by imitating God’s justice in our own actions. Prayer and hope We might reflect on the hope part. Dominican Father Jean-Pierre Torrell, commenting on the teaching of Saint Thomas, notes how Aquinas refers to prayer as “the interpreter of hope” or “the interpreter of desire.” Hope itself “presupposes desire.” We live expecting something… awaiting something in life that exceeds our capacity either to understand or to bring about. But we know that Something is real and meant for us. 1. Prayer is rising up 15 Saint Paul outlines a dilemma we all face: Hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance. The Spirit too helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech. (Rom 8:25-26) Intimacy with God The Holy Spirit, the author of prayer, interprets our hopes, our desires, in moving us to pray in a way worthy of God. We bring to God our longings, our aspirations, our yearning, whatever weighs us down so that, in prayer, it can be lifted up. We’re convinced we need something that goes beyond what the world and all things finite can provide. And prayer is the most reasonable way to come face to face with that mystery, and to be ready for an answer. As Simone Weil († 1943) says, “If we look to heaven long-term, God descends and lifts us up.” Saint Thomas Aquinas encourages us: “When we pray to God, the very prayer we send forth makes us intimate with him, inasmuch as our soul is raised up to God, converses with him in spiritual affection, and adores him in spirit and truth.”
16 Prayer is entrusting “Have no fear of either your misery or your powerlessness, for I know well how to vanquish them.” When we’re hampered by our limitations, our inability, our weakness and lack, we’re tempted to quit—to just give up. But if we keep going, it’s owing to one reason: because we dare to trust. And prayer is an act of trust. Saint ThomasAquinas tells us that “theword trust means primarily that hope which a person conceives when they rely upon the words of another whose help has been promised to them.” And Jesus does promise that help to us! We need to trust that… and we trust by actually entrusting ourselves to Someone. One concrete way to do this is to pray. “This means total confidence even in front of all of one’s own weaknesses,” says Servant of God Luigi Giussani († 2005). If I recognize that my strength is in Him, none of my weaknesses can stop me. Trust is the certainty that Another will realize the ideal. It isn’t necessary to cultivate plans of perfection, but to look Christ in the face. Don’t daydream and aim for perfection, but look Christ in the face: If one looks Christ in the face, if one looks 2. Prayer is entrusting 17 someone one loves in the face, everything is straightened out, everything falls into place. Happiness is to follow Another. Trust is the opposite of being suspended over a vacuum: Trust is being suspended over a fullness. These are Jesus’ words of help that we can rely on: “Have no fear of either your misery or your powerlessness, for I know well how to vanquish them. Even when all seems lost, yet have no fear, for I know well how to choose among the many the one path, secret and unknown to you, which, in spite of all, shall lead you to the dazzling peak of love’s transformation.” (Father Paul de Jaegher, s.j., † 1958) The prayer of trust is every prayer in which we declare, I will rely on your strength—not on my own. Lord Jesus Christ, you are my strength!
18 Why prayer can be “penance” After confessing our sins, we are often given prayer as penance. Here’s how that works. Once we have finished confessing our sins in Confession (the sacrament of Penance), the priest-confessor assigns us a specific penance. As Dominic Prümmer, o.p. († 1931), states, “all good works may be given as penances,” including “works of piety, charity, [and] mortification.” But especially prayers. Set on the path to holiness Saint John Paul II († 2005) reminds us that the penances believers receive in Confession “are the sign of the personal commitment that the Christian has made to God, in the Sacrament, to begin a new life.” For this reason, “they should not be reduced to mere formulas to be recited, but should consist of acts of worship, charity, mercy, or reparation” (Reconciliation and Penance 31). In other words, we should carry out the penance assigned reverently and in a spirit of fervent prayer. For the performance of penance is a purposeful break with evil. By doing our penance, we actively turn our back on sin and place ourselves on the path to holiness. Christ pays the price But sometimes the penance we receive can seem almost too simple. Dominican Father Romanus Cessario, in 19 his beautiful new book The Seven Sacraments, helps us with this: “Oftentimes, the penance given in the confessional by the Catholic priest consists of the recitation of certain familiar prayers—for example, to say the Hail Mary so many times. This nominal penance achieves a meritorious status beyond what its simple execution may merit by reason of the superabundant meritoriousness of Christ’s saving sacrifice that the sacrament of Penance communicates to the performance of a prescribed penance.” (225) We pray our penance in a disposition of heartfelt humility, thankfulness, and awe. By the penance you do, you are not buying yourself back into God’s good graces. It is not you who are paying for the absolution you received. Jesus Christ himself paid that price when he died for us on the cross. “The satisfaction that we make for our sins is not so much ours, as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of ‘him who strengths’ us.” (CCC 1460) Penance is a cure The penance we receive is a privilege. Penance helps configure us to Christ: “The pardoned sinner is able to join their own physical and spiritual mortification to the Passion of Jesus who has obtained the forgiveness for them” (RP 31). Through the gift of sacramental penance, a person can “start out on the road of return to the Father” (RP 13). 3. Why payer can be “penance”
20 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER For the penance is meant to be not only a punishment but also a cure. “Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health” (CCC 1459). By performing our penance, we repair the harm caused by sin, but we also “re-establish habits befitting a disciple of Christ” (CCC 1494). “Doing penance is directed towards a continuous striving for what is better” (RP 4). And God is eager to accept our completed penance as a fitting means of regaining intimate friendship with him. 21 Prayer: An enchanted space where I can hear myself NOT think Such a place is something to work for.... Without the practice of silence in daily prayer, we impede our own access to God’s Presence. Essayist Pico Iyer speaks about “working for silence” so as “to make it not an absence but a presence; not emptiness but repletion. Silence is something more than just a pause; it is that enchanted place where space is cleared and time is stayed and the horizon itself expands. In silence, we often say, we can hear ourselves think; but what is truer to say is that in silence we can hear ourselves not think, and so sink below ourselves into a place far deeper than mere thought allows. In silence, we might better say, we can hear someone else think.” Quiet and disquiet We need quality quiet in order to deal effectively with our own disquiet. Saint John of the Cross († 1591) wisely instructs us: “The spiritual person should learn to remain in God’s presence with a loving attention and a tranquil in-
22 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER tellect, even though he seems to himself to be idle. For little by little and very soon the divine calm and peace, with a wondrous, sublime knowledge of God, enveloped in divine love, will be infused into the person’s soul. Otherwise his soul will be disquieted and drawn out of its peaceful contentment to distaste and repugnance. And if scruples about his inactivity arise, he should remember that pacification of soul (making it calm and peaceful, inactive and desireless) is no small accomplishment.” Tranquil abiding Saint Teresa of Ávila († 1582) speaks of the “prayer of quiet.” Such prayerful silence enhances our ability and eagerness to listen to our Beloved. The more we direct our sight, our energy, and our attention to Jesus, the less preoccupied we become with ourselves and our own self-centered concerns. In this silence, the one in love remains perfectly content just to behold the Beloved, gazing upon him in a state of holy and tranquil abiding. Silence speaks to silence. “The silence of the presence of God,” wrote Jesuit Father Alfred Delp († 1945), “is never indifference, but rather it is a sign of his gratuitousness and of his freedom because he does not allow himself to be encapsulated by our images or our conceptions.” In the words of a spiritual author: “My God, your silence replies better than the many fervors of my love for you.” 23 Here’s the proof you’re truly trusting God The devil is very good at destroying trust in the Father. The season of Lent begins every year with the Gospel about Jesus being tempted in the desert: At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). What is the devil’s intention in tempting Jesus? What is he trying to achieve? Here’s the answer: The devil wants to damage Jesus’ relationship with the Father so that Jesus will cease to love and trust him with Son-like affection. It’s a ploy to get Jesus to treat the Father like a functionary, a force to be contended with—to frustrate and deprecate their relationship. Mistaken about temptation The problem is that the devil is very good at this. Think about how you yourself feel when unnerved by temptation. Most likely you presume: (a) that you have done something wrong; (b) that God is punishing and rejecting you; and (c) that God will not be happy until you prove to him that you are deserving of his love. If you succumb to all that claptrap, the devil has already won. Which is extremely sad. Tragic.
24 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER But reconsider all this in the light of Jesus’ temptations. In his case, who does the devil go after: someone who is bad… or someone who is good? The answer, obviously, is someone who is good. And that is why the devil goes after you with temptations. The devil doesn’t need to waste his time tempting people who are bad—they are totally adept at finding and giving into temptations on their own. No, the devil sets his sights on people who are holy, because if he can manage to be victorious in getting them to fall, then he has a trophy to wave maliciously in the face of Jesus. The saints confirm this. Saint Ambrose († 397) says that “the devil always envies those who strive for better things.” So too Saint Hilary of Poitiers († 367): “The devil tempts those who are sanctified, for he desires above all to overcome the holy.” How to think about temptations A chief priority, then, is changing the way we think about temptations, especially in three ways. First of all, our response to temptation should be gratitude. We should be grateful when temptations come our way because their presence is a confirmation of our virtuous spiritual condition which the Evil One reckons to be a real threat. Hence his attack. Secondly, we should be deeply appreciative of the supreme help temptations lend to our spiritual life. So often in our desire to grow in holiness, we don’t have the faintest idea about where to begin. However, you can be sure that the temptations which the devil sends target that specific area of our life where we are weakest and 25 most in need of growth. Would we ever have identified that on our own without the tussle with temptation? And third, the time to worry is not when we are tempted but rather when we are NOT struggling with temptation—because that means the devil regards us as not worth going after, probably because we are doing a yeoman’s job of wrecking our relationship with God on our own. The connection between temptations and sanctification How is it that we even know about Jesus’ temptations? The only answer that makes sense is that Jesus himself told his disciples about them. And he did so deliberately to exemplify how crucial temptations are for growing in the love of the Father. Jesus did not leave that desert the same way he entered it. He emerged with an even more intensive love for his Father… with a more profound certainty and conviction to do the Father’s will and to live his mission with freedom set on fire. Through his temptations he learned obedience from what he suffered (Heb 5:8). Jesus models for us that temptations are a crucial part of sanctification. The experience of temptation is a kind of school in holiness. The reason why God allows temptations to happen in our life is to teach us just howuntrustingwe are of him. What would you say is the human being’s greatest temptation? Don’t say cheesecake. It’s the temptation to think we are autonomous: that we are the makers of our own destiny… that we can do everything on our own… that the most successful people are the most self-reliant. The 5. Here’s the proof you’re truly trusting God
26 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER devil wants us to wallow in those delusions. Temptation is a graced occasion to become stronger by relying on God’s strength. The goal of temptation is to be open to receiving God’s love right in the midst of the upheaval of temptation. Temptations convince us that we have nothing to hope for in ourselves, and therefore it is a waste of time to try to be “self-sufficient.” Do you know what the proof is that you are truly trusting God in your life? It is that you go to him immediately when temptation strikes… not letting shame or being humiliated or feeling disappointed in yourself get in the way. The devil is overcome when he knows that he cannot keep us from Jesus. So in your temptations, just get to Jesus. It’s not about “overcoming” temptations; it’s about letting Jesus’ love for you dissolve them. And we can do so serenely and with such great confidence because God keeps his promise. He will not let you be tested beyond your strength (1 Cor 10:13). No matter how ferocious the temptation, it cannot outdistance God’s divine providence holding you close and cheering you on. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in many ways, the most important moment of your life is the second after temptation strikes. What do you do? Do you anguish about why you are being tempted and try to fight it off with your willpower (= disaster)? Or do you surrender yourself into the arms of Jesus? Let’s do that… and all this Lent let’s really mean it when we pray in the Our Father, lead us not into temptation. What we’re saying is: 27 I know I need temptations in order for you to purify and perfect me. But when they come, don’t let them lead me to discouragement or delusion. Let them lead me to a greater love of you! 5. Here’s the proof you’re truly trusting God
112 113 Index of Authors - A - Ambrose (Saint).....................................................................................................................................24, 31, 43 Amadeus of Lausanne (Saint)................................................................................................................. 56 Aristotle..................................................................................................................................................................................... 81 Augustine (Saint)................................................................................................................. 47, 87, 88, 106 - B - Basil the Great (Saint)......................................................................................................................................... 65 Benedict XVI (Pope)..........................................................................................................55, 78, 86, 91 Benson, Robert Hugh (Monsignor). .............................................................................................. 91 Bernanos, Georges. ..................................................................................................................................48, 105 Bernard of Clairvaux (Saint).........................................................................................................41, 85 Bernardine of Siena (Saint).................................................................................................................... 102 Bro, Bernard (Father o.p.)............................................................................................................................. 34 Burrows, Ruth................................................................................................................................................................. 95 - C - Camisasca, Massimo (Bishop)............................................................................................................... 43 Cantalamessa, Raniero (Cardinal).................................35, 42, 46, 73, 76, 102 Catherine of Siena (Saint)................................................................................................................. 32, 47 de Caussade, Jean-Pierre (Father s.j.).............................................................. 69, 70, 71 Cessario, Romanus (Father o.p.). ........................................................................................................19 Charles de Foucauld (Saint)....................................................................................................................... 64 Claudel, Paul...........................................................................................................................................................48, 60 Cyprian (Saint)...............................................................................................................................................................48 - D - Delp, Alfred (Father s.j.).........................................................................................22, 46, 51, 104 Dostoyevsky, Fyodor.............................................................................................................................................77 - E - Elizabeth of the Trinity (Saint)............................................................................................................. 58 Evagrius of Pontus.................................................................................................................................................... 87 - F - Faustina Kowalska (Saint). .......................................................................................................................... 38 Francis (Pope).......................................................................................................................................... 30, 75, 91 - G - Giussani, Luigi (Servant of God)........................................................................................... 16, 85 Gregory the Great (Saint). .........................................................................................28, 29, 72, 82 Gregory of Narek (Saint)................................................................................................................................. 89 Gregory Nazianzen (Saint).......................................................................................................................... 39 Guardini, Romano (Servant of God)....................................................................................... 107 Guerric of Igny (Blessed)................................................................................................................................ 76 - H - Halík, Tomáš (Father)......................................................................................................................................... 93 Herbert, George............................................................................................................................................................ 57 Hilary of Poitiers (Saint)..................................................................................................................................24 Houselander, Caryll................................................................................................................................................ 53 - I - Isaias the Hermit (Saint)................................................................................................................................ 85 Iyer, Pico................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 - J - de Jaegher, Paul (Father s.j.).....................................................................................................................17 Jarrett, Bede (Father o.p.)..................................................................................................................97, 98 John Climacus (Saint)......................................................................................................................................... 50 John of the Cross (Saint). ................................................................................................................... 21, 33 John Damascene (Saint). .................................................................................................................................14 Index. Authors
114 A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER 115 John Paul II (Saint). .....................................................................18, 31, 39, 52, 75, 76, 107 Jourdain, Raymond................................................................................................................................................ 80 Julian of Norwich (Blessed).......................................................................................................................41 - L - Lawrence of the Resurrection (Brother). .......................................67, 96, 99, 100 Leo the Great (Saint)............................................................................................................................................. 38 Leseur, Elisabeth (Servant of God). .............................................................................................. 86 Lewis, C.S.. ............................................................................................................................................................................ 47 Louis of Granada (Venerable)......................................................................................................37, 88 Louis de Montfort (Saint)..................................................................................................................40, 55 - M - Martin, Francis (Father)................................................................................................................................. 43 Martínez, Luis María (Servant of God Archbishop)............................................31 Mauriac, François...................................................................................................................................................110 Maximilian Kolbe (Saint).............................................................................................................................. 73 Maximus the Confessor (Saint). .......................................................................................................... 36 Methodius (Saint).......................................................................................................................................................41 Miller, Alice. .........................................................................................................................................................................74 - N - Newman, John Henry (Saint)................................................................................................................. 73 - P - Paul VI (Saint). ............................................................................................................................................................ 104 Peter of Damascus (Saint). ...........................................................................................................................64 Peter Damian (Saint)............................................................................................................................................ 90 Pieper, Josef............................................................................................................................................................ 28, 81 Prümmer, Dominic (Father o.p.)........................................................................................................ 18 - R - Ratzinger, Joseph/Pope Benedict XVI. .........38, 46, 52, 54, 80, 90, 103 Rilke, Rainer Maria................................................................................................................................ 66, 105 Royo Marín, Antonio............................................................................................................................................ 59 - S - Semenenko, Peter (Servant of God Father)....................................................................... 60 Sertillanges, Antonin-Dalmace (Father o.p.). .....................................................39, 49 Sokolowski, Robert (Msgr.)........................................................................................................................ 54 - T - Tanquerey, Adolphe (Father)........................................................................................................ 29, 82 Tauler, John (Father o.p.). .................................................................................................................. 45, 63 Teresa of Ávila (Saint). ............................................................................................................................22, 28 Thérèse of Lisieux (Saint)...................................................................................................................61, 68 Thomas Aquinas (Saint)................................... 14, 15, 17, 29, 30, 46, 48, 50, 61 Thomas à Kempis....................................................................................................................................................... 30 Tolkien, J.R.R.................................................................................................................................................................. 52 Torrell, Jean-Pierre (Father o.p.). .......................................................................................................14 Tugwell, Simon (Father o.p.). ........................................................................................................ 39, 68 - U - Urs von Balthasar, Hans..................................................................................................................................74 - W - Weil, Simone. ..........................................................................................................................................................15, 31 Index. Authors
The Apostles’ Creed I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 118 119 The Apostles’ Creed A BRIEF PRIMER ON PRAYER
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