In the previous reflection, we considered the collects of the Roman Rite and how they are structured to express the four parts of prayer. Now, we can speak briefly about the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours. We can first note how the closing prayer of each hour is the same as the collect for the Mass of the day, such that the four parts of prayer often form an explicit aspect of the recitation of the Hours. However, we can go beyond the collects and think about the defining characteristic of the Hours: psalmody.
The recitation of the Psalms throughout the day (and the traditional practice of chanting all the psalms in a week) not only links us with the Jewish faith into which Christ, his Mother, and the Apostles were born; it moreover gets us thinking about why the Church continues to make the psalms a central part of her daily prayer. But whether we pray the Psalms according to the four-week cycle of the modern Liturgy of the Hours, or if we follow the ancient one-week cycle of the old Divine Office, it remains true that the Psalms govern the daily rhythm of the Church’s life. It is a timeless and in inexhaustible source of inspiration for all Christians. While countless books have already been written on this matter, here we can only make a brief indication.
There is no human emotion that isn’t addressed by a psalm. From joy in victory, exaltation in God’s glory, gratitude, and praising the beauty of the natural world, to dejection in defeat, depression, abandonment, and rage, and the psalms run through the full spectrum of human affectivity. So central were the psalms to the daily life of Christ and the Apostles that they often cite the psalms to make a point. Upon seeing the Lord drive the moneychangers from the Temple, Saint Peter paraphrased Psalm 69: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” When the chief priests and scribes were indignant at the praises of children on Palm Sunday (who themselves were echoing the cries of “Hosannah” from Psalms 118 and 148), Christ rebuked them for not knowing the meaning of Psalm 8: “From the mouths of children and suckling babes you have ordained praise, on account of your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger.” Finally, on the cross, one of the Lord’s final words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” comes from the beginning of Psalm 22 which, although beginning with a cry of dereliction, ends with a statement of invincible hope and confidence in God’s power.
In this Year of Prayer, let us rediscover the glory of the psalms, to which the Church returns week after week, month after month, to address the breadth of human experience as we encounter the joys and sorrows which mark our earthly life.
Collects and Liturgical Prayer - Year of Prayer 2024
By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.)
The four parts of prayer can be seen not only in the Lord’s Prayer, as we saw in the previous reflection, but also throughout the Church’s liturgy. Indeed, Saint Thomas Aquinas himself noted how “we may notice these four things many of the Church’s collects.” The “collect” of Mass, often called the “Opening Prayer” is conisdered the principal prayer for the Mass of the day and is even repeated throughout the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours of the same day. The Prayer Over the Gifts and the Postcommunion are also prayers which are molded on the collect. The collects of the Roman Rite, many of which are of ancient origin, follow a certain polished structural and rhetorical pattern that is characteristic of Christian Latin, and this structure manifests the four parts of prayer. To illustrate, Saint Thomas uses the example of the Collect for Trinity Sunday:
Almighty sempiternal God, you who in the confession of the true faith granted to your servants to know the glory of the eternal Trinity, grant, we pray, that in the same firmness of faith, we may always be protected from our enemies. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns, etc.
Let’s break this down according to the four parts of prayer.
Oration: “Almighty sempiternal God…” Here, the priest cries out to God the Father.
Thanksgiving: “…you who in the confession of the true faith granted to your servants to know the glory of the eternal Trinity…” The past deeds of God are recalled.
Petition: “…grant, we pray, that… we may always be protected…” A specific request is made to the Father.
Intercession: “Through our Lord Jesus Christ…” Our prayer is both Trinitarian and Christological, invoking all three Persons, but principally addressing the Father through the intercession of the eternal Son.
This same structure is seen in so many prayers which use the basic the structure of the Roman collect. See, for example, the prayer before meals:
Bless us [petition], O Lord [oration], and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty [thanksgiving]. Through Christ our Lord [intercession].
Let’s use another example: the postcommunion prayer of the fourth Sunday of Advent, which is also used on the Feast of the Annunciation and at the end of the Angelus:
Pour forth, we beseech thee [petition] O Lord [oration], thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an angel [thanksgiving], may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of the resurrection [specific petition]. Through Christ our Lord [intercession].
Whenever the priest prays the collects on our behalf at Mass, let us listen with attention, uniting ourselves with the priest’s words as he “collects” or “gathers” our oration, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession at the altar of God.
In the next reflection, we will look at another form of the liturgy: the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.
In the past four reflections, we reviewed the four parts of prayer as understood by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Now, in light of those reflections, we will look briefly at the prayer taught by Christ himself, the Lord’s Prayer, showing how the four parts are present, whether implicitly or explicitly, in this most fundamental of Christian prayers.
Oration: “Our Father…” The opening cry of the prayer immediately places the man Jesus (and with him, all of us), in the status of children before God. This is a first and general expression of our humility and our complete dependency on the Father and Creator of all things.
Thanksgiving: “…who art in heaven.” Here we further recognize God’s greatness by specifically acknowledging his place above us in heaven.
Intercession: the notion of intercession is perhaps not as explicit as the others, but is nevertheless present in the fact that this prayer is always made in the second person plural: “Our Father.” Thus we are meant to pray this together, as a unified Christian community for ourselves and for one another.
Petition: The Lord’s Prayer is famously marked by a series of seven petitions, in which we ask God for the most basic of temporal needs as well as the needs of our eternal soul.
As we can see, all four parts are contained in a nutshell in the very words of Christ. Thus when we pray with all four parts in mind, we are continuing our imitation of the Lord Jesus himself, who taught us how pray with these very words.
Since petition is indeed the most central aspect of prayer, a further look into each the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer will help us appreciate this most archetypal of Christian prayers.
“Hallowed be thy name”: Just as the first two of the Ten Commandments are tied to the glory of God and his name, here we ask not so much that God add greatness to his name, for nothing more can be added to the infinite God. Rather we ask that his name might be magnified ever more in human hearts. This petition is, essentially, a request for the diffusion of the Gospel message to all, and a preparatory step for the next petition.
“Thy kingdom come”: Here we express an eschatological hope in the final consummation of all creation into the original order and harmony intended by the Creator.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”: Building more upon the previous petition, we ask not only for harmony within creation or in the natural order. We also ask for the participative conformity of the order of nature with the order of grace.
“Give us this day our daily bread”: In the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase “daily” is actually rendered with an interesting term which is unique in the entire Bible. The bread is described with the Greek term epiousion, in Latin supersubstantialem: this bread is “super-substantial.” More than our regular requirement for sustenance, Matthew is pointing us to a bread whose substance is higher than the mere bread we need for bodily survival. Indeed, the Eucharistic echo of this word rings clear in Matthew’s Greek, and it is therefore fitting that we pray the Lord’s Prayer before receiving the true supersubstantial bread at Holy Communion.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”: If the previous petition points us to the Holy Eucharist, this one points us to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As the Lord says in another place, “if you are presenting your sacrifice at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your sacrifce there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your sacrifice” (Matthew 5:23-24). If we must be reconciled to one another before completing our offering, how much more should we be reconciled with God before receiving Him in the Blessed Sacrament?
“Lead us not into temptation”: This petition can sound strange to our ears. Is not God the one “who can neither deceive nor be deceived,” as the First Vatican Council reminds us? Is not Satan the one whose name means “tempter”? The notion that God might lead into something bad, as implied by this verse, is so difficult that even Pope Francis ordered a new Italian translation of the Our Father which reads “do not abandon us to temptation.” Yet even this rendering is not free of problems. Is not God, as the Psalmist tells us, the one who will not abandon us even if our parents leave us orphaned (Psalm 27:10)? The full meaning of this petition is only understood in concert with the seventh and final petition.
“Deliver us from evil”: This petition is linked to the previous one by a parallelism characteristic of biblical rhetoric. Verses like “The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12) or “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it” (Song of Songs 8:7) contain two phrases whose meanings run together but are expressed in different ways. When God delivers us from evil, he is at the same time keeping us free from temptation. So it is less a question of God potentially acting in a way that directly places temptation before us; rather, we acknowledge that when we actively experience his saving power, temptations naturally stand powerless.
With all these things in mind, we see how the Lord’s Prayer expresses a breadth and profundity which can be masked by its brevity. Its short phrases and seven petitions are a key into the inexhaustible riches of the mind of Christ, who left it to us as the prime example of prayer.
Saint Thomas Aquinas on "Intercession" - Year of Prayer 2024
By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.)
The fourth part of prayer according to Saint Thomas Aquinas is intercession. This first of all acknowledges that prayer cannot be a singular conversation between me and God, rooted in a mere “personal relationship” with the Lord and divorced from the community of believers. Rather, intercession acknowledges the shared fraternity of the entire people of God. Christ’s command to the disciples to love one another is to be taken seriously, and this mandate is fulfilled every time we pray with and for one another. Thus the petitions which we mentioned in the previous reflection cannot only express personal desires; they must be ultimately be directed to the good of our family, our friends, and the whole Christian community at large.
Moreover, this notion of community extends beyond the Church here on earth; it also extends to the Holy Souls in purgatory, as well as to the angels and saints in heaven. Thus we are called to pray for the faithful departed, that their temporary purgation might soon end; then, with the saints and angels, they will be able to go directly before the Lord’s presence and intercede for us here on earth. This is why the Church has always promoted the veneration of saints, knowing that their prayers rise with great efficacy before the throne of God, because their merits—which are the merits of Christ—redound to our benefit here on earth. Prayer cannot be merely personal, but must participate in the unified cry of praise to the God who made all things.
This is illustrated concretely through the chanting of the Litany of the Saints in the Church’s most solemn occasions. At baptisms, at ordinations, at the Easter Vigil, at the transfer of a deceased pope’s body to Saint Peter’s Basilica, at his funeral, and at the Installation Mass of his successor, the Litany of the Saints summons the entire host of heaven to the Church’s aid. In moments of joy and in moments of morning, we beg the saints for their prayers, knowing that they who now live in perfect communion with Christ are heard by him. Thus, as we say in every Mass, with the angels, saints, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, “we join in their unending hymn of praise,” “for the praise and glory of God’s name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas on "Petition" - Year of Prayer 2024
By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.)
The second part of the Catechism’s definition of prayer, “the requesting of good things from God,” is exactly what petition means. Indeed, for Saint Thomas Aquinas, petition is the very essence of prayer. While all four parts of prayer make our address to God whole and complete, petition takes the former two parts (oration and thanksgiving) and makes our cry truly unique and particular by placing a concrete request before God. For Saint Thomas, a true prayer “implores a superior” and is directed toward “determinate things,” such as “earthly benefits” for oneself and for others. More than just calling out to God and giving thanks for past deeds, a true prayer from the heart looks ahead, confidently trusting that the Lord who provided in the past will continue to provide for present and future needs.
Thus, prayer does not only involve a general reaching out to God, nor a mere commemoration of past events, but must be embodied in the present moment by asking something of the Lord. Thus, the contingency of our very existence, which is more implicit in oration, is made clear and exact when we formulate a petition. It grounds and radicalizes the humility expressed in our first cry to God, for through our petitions, we acknowledge our specific needs in the here and now.
One of the most notable aspects of the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council is the reintroduction of collective petitions in the Mass. Such petitions had always been part of Mass, but in the course of history their usage came to be confined to the liturgy of Good Friday. Now, at each Mass, we bring our concrete needs collectively to God in the form of the Prayers of the Faithful or bidding prayers, so that the fruits of the Mass might be extended to our families, our communities, to the whole Church, and to the world at large.
Yet, as just as petition forms the essence of prayer in general, it is also central to the Mass itself, our highest prayer. Let us take the Roman Canon, or Eucharistic Prayer 1 as an example. Before the consecration, the priest says, “Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect; make it spiritual and acceptable, so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.” And again after the consecration, “In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.” Thus the very words of Christ which effect his sacramental presence are “clothed,” as it were, with our own petitions.
In the next reflection, we consider the final part of prayer: intercession.
The coming months will lead us to the opening of the Holy Door, with which we will begin the Jubilee. I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live well this event of grace, and to experience the strength of God’s hope. Therefore, today we begin the Year of Prayer; that is, a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world. We will also be helped by the resources that the Dicastery for Evangelization will make available.
In these days, let us pray especially for Christian unity, and let us never tire of invoking the Lord for peace in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, and in many other parts of the world: it is always the weakest who suffer the lack of it. I am thinking of the little ones, of the many injured and killed children, of those deprived of affection, deprived of dreams and of a future. Let us feel the responsibility to pray and build peace for them!
In the previous reflection, we considered the first part of prayer, oration, as a posture of humility before the God to whom we raise our minds and hearts. In this refleciton, we consider a second part of prayer according to the division of Saint Thomas Aquinas: thanksgiving.
Whereas oration signifies a general calling on the name of the Lord, thanksgiving gives more concreteness and specification to our cry. We explicitly acknowledge God’s greatness by recalling the many wonderful things he has done for his people throughout the ages. Thanksgiving is thus tied to memory, and our cry to God is always accompanied by memorializing something real which God has accomplished for us. From childhood we are taught to thank people for what they have done for us, no matter how big or small the deed; how much more should we express our thanks to the God who holds us and all creation in being at every instant?
The notion of thanksgiving is so central to Christian prayer that it gives its name to the very sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood. Our word “Eucharist,” derived from the Greek eucharistia, means “thanksgiving.” At each Mass, we are reminded that Christ “gave thanks” before blessing the bread and wine; and this is again linked to the notion of memory, for Christ commanded the Apostles and all future priests to “do this” in his remembrance. Memory and thanksgiving make the presence of the Lord real.
Saint Thomas Aquinas on "Oration" - Year of Prayer 2024
By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.)
Saint Thomas Aquinas OP (1225-1274) is one of the Doctors of the Church. His teaching has been especially promoted by the Church as an exemplar of philosophical clarity and theological orthodoxy. In his great systematic work called the Summa Theologiae (a “summary” or “manual” of theology), he treats of nearly all aspects of Christian doctrine, from the doctrines of God as Creator, as Triune, and as Incarnate, to rigorous reflections on the sacraments and the so-called Four Last Things (judgment, hell, purgatory, and heaven). In the Summa, he also considers the nature of prayer, bringing to bear the reflections of Scripture and the saints who came before him. This reflection is the first of four in which we look at Saint Thomas’s treatment of the four parts of prayer, namely: oration, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession. As we progress through this Year of Prayer, we will return to these basic themes presented by Saint Thomas, showing how his fundamental insights are shared by saints and holy figures from throughout the Church’s history
Saint Thomas did not invent this fourfold division. Although it was first codified in a systematic way by the monk Saint John Cassian (360-435), the roots of this division comes from Saint Paul himself in 1 Timothy 2:1: “I urge… that petitions, orations, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people.” In this reflection we will consider oration.
Oration is derived from the Latin oratio, which can be translated simply into English as “prayer,” but the theological tradition has given it a more specific meaning. Related to the noun os (oris), meaning “mouth,” an oration is something spoken aloud toward someone or something. It pertains to the first part of the definition of prayer given in the Catechism, “the raising of one’s heart and and mind to God,” but this ascent is done by explicitly calling out to God.
But who is the source of this calling out? Does it come merely from ourselves? Or is it already a participation with God’s own action? Indeed, we are only able to call out to God because God has called us first. Indeed, as the Creator who is the source of all things, our call to God can only be a response to the one who gives us our being as the very first gift. When we raise our hearts and minds to God and call upon his Name, we are in a sense returning ourselves to the source of our being, acknowledging his greatness and our humility before him. This humility is the basic posture of prayer: we place ourselves before God and call out to the one who made all things visible and invisible. All prayer, all oration, starts from God and returns to him.
When God became man, He humbled Himself by taking on a nature (that of the human being) within which change is necessary. He put aside the glory of His eternal perfection, and entered a state that, whilst natural to us, is not natural to God; a state in which He had to grow, progress in maturity and wisdom, and toil towards the accomplishment of a goal.
Every human being shares the common experience of existing in this mode of continual change and development, with its accompanying toil and strife. Christians though, are united by their striving, their willingness to undergo change, for eternal life. A Christian’s earthly life is one of actively working towards eternal life: the destiny that the Lord desires for every person, whether they realise it or not.
The possibility of our achieving eternal life was bought with Christ’s death. Christ’s very goal in taking on a human nature was the extreme suffering and tortuous death of crucifixion. In this sense, Christ can be said to be the only person who was born in order to die.
Lent, as it leads us towards the celebration of this great Mystery of our Redemption, is therefore especially a time for change. It is a time for proving our desire for Heaven by taking stock of our interior state and our exterior habits, and implementing practices that can help us to effect the changes that are needed.
The Church’s wisdom identifies three essential practices for spiritual growth: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Their principle aims are to increase our awareness of and desire for God, to help us gain greater mastery over ourselves, and to increase our detachment to material things. As such, Lenten practices most importantly are practices whose effects we should feel: practices that make a certain demand on us and so help us to achieve growth.
In the words of Pope St Clement I: “Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognise how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world… let us hasten towards the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings.”
