We all want to live a good life and, as Catholics, an essential part of that is becoming friends of God. The Christian does this through prayer. As the Catechism tells us:
“Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilisation of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ.” (CCC 2708)
Far beyond the agnostic who merely admits the possibility of God's existence, Christians are pursued by a Lord who longs to be known. So great was His desire that He first came to know us by becoming man. The fact that Jesus himself prays to the Father expresses the profound paradox of the Incarnation. Nowhere is this more striking than in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ not only prays to the Father but freely submits his human will to the Father's will. Few passages reveal more clearly that prayer lies at the heart of the Christian life and of taking up one's cross daily.
