Day 330: The Revelation of Prayer

In the Old Testament, the revelation of prayer comes between 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?" [Gen 3:9-13] and the response of God's only Son on coming into the world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God" [Heb 10:5-7]. Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events. CCC 2568

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the revelation of prayer. We seem to have an innate sense of needing God, even when we insist we blame Him, hate Him, or reject Him for some perceived fault, or turn to false gods and idols. Yet God still calls all of us, and if we respond to His call, it is through prayer, both in our actions and our words (CCC 2567). The Catechism traces the slow revelation of prayer as shown in Scripture, from Abel (Gen 4:4) all the way to when Jacob "wrestles with all night with a mysterious figure" (Gen 32:24-30; CCC 2573). It is Abraham, the model of prayer for us, where the focus is on today (CCC 2570-72). 

The Catechism Compendium summarizes why there is a universal call to prayer:

Because through creation, God first calls every being from nothingness. Even after the Fall, man continues to be capable of recognizing his Creator and retains a desire for the One who has called him into existence. All religions, and the whole history of salvation in particular, bear witness to this human desire for God. It is God, first of all, however, who ceaselessly draws every person to the mysterious encounter known as prayer. (#535)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

People have an inborn yearning to follow God, and God wants all people to follow him. God "desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4). God has always wanted people to pray... The more we get to know the Lord, the more we are supposed to become like him and to show justice, love, and mercy as we live them out in relation to God. We either have to decide to trust in God or we find ourselves trusting in other things. God gradually increases our faith, bringing us through things that give us the opportunity to trust him in new and deeper ways. (p. 176)

Pictured here is Abraham with the three divine visitors described in Genesis 18. The Catechism tells us, "It is above all beginning with our father Abraham that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament" (CCC 2569). (p. 177)