introduction

The disciples knew Our Lord Jesus Christ very well in this detail: that he prayed often in their midst or alone. Moved by Our Lord’s dedication to prayer, they asked him once: “Lord, teach us to pray.” In answer, Our Lord gave them the model of all prayer: “When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven...” Buoyed by this confidence, we pray. We begin with the prayers we learned in childhood. They are very much a part of Christian tradition.

Through our vocal prayers, we learn the life of Jesus Christ and we gain his confidence in talking to our Father God. Then our conversations with God become sincere and true, face to face, heart to heart.

This is the way Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer taught and lived throughout his life, a life of prayer. “Let us begin to do the same with God; we can be quite sure he listens to us and answers us. Let us pay attention to him and open up our soul in humble conversation, telling him in confidence everything that is in our heart: our joys, sorrows, hopes, annoyances, successes, failures, even the most trivial happenings in our day. We will discover that our heavenly father is interested in everything about us.”

“The year 2000 marks a kind of challenge. We must look at the immensity of good that has sprung from the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and, at the same time, not lose sight of the mystery of sin, which is continually expanding. Saint Paul writes that ‘where sin increased’ (‘ubi abundavit peccatum’, ‘grace overflows all the more’ (‘superabundavit gratia’; cf. Rom 5:20).

This profound truth presents a perennial challenge for prayer. It shows how necessary prayer is for the world and for the Church, because in the end it constitutes the easiest way of making God and His redeeming love present in the world. God entrusted to men their own salvation; He entrusted to them the Church and, in the Church, the redeeming work of Christ. God entrusted this to all, both to individuals and to humanity as a whole. He entrusted all to one and one to all. The prayer of the Church, and especially the prayer of the Pope, must constantly reflect this awareness.”

Through vocal prayers, we begin this conversation with God. “Prayer is a search for God, but it is also a revelation of God. Through prayer God reveals Himself as Creator and Father, as Redeemer and Savior, as the Spirit who ‘scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God’ (1 Cor 2:10) and above all ‘the secrets of human hearts’ (cf. Ps 43[44]:22). Through prayer God reveals Himself above all as Mercy—that is, Love that goes out to those who are suffering, Love that sustains, uplifts, and invites us to trust. The victory of good in the world is united organically with this truth. A person who prays professes such a truth and in a certain sense makes God, who is merciful Love, present in the world.”

Hence, this Handbook is a compilation of the prayers that will help us talk to God in a confident and intimate way. Most of these prayers are traditional and are thus grounded in the piety of the Communion of Saints. Some are fruit of the meditations of Saint Josemaría Escrivá from his book, The Way of the Cross, and from his various homilies that deal with devotion to St. Joseph and to Mary, the Mother of God.

We entrust this Treasury of Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. May she, who needed only to embrace her Son to make her prayer heard, teach us to pray as she prays—with the utmost confidence not because of our own worth, merit or devotion, but solely because of the Love and Mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

1John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, New York: Knopf, 1994, p. 23-24. (=CTH)

2Ibidem p.26.