Even Christ
needed to pray
By
Fr. ROY CIMAGALA,
roycimagala@gmail.com
August 2, 2022
“JESUS made the disciples
get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while
he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain
by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.” (Mt
14,22-23)
As can be clearly seen in
this gospel passage, even Christ had need to pray. As God, we can
say that he had no need to pray. As man, of course, he had to. But
Christ is one divine person. When he prayed, we have to understand
that he prayed both as God and man.
This consideration can
only mean that prayer is an essential and indispensable element in
God and man who has been created in God’s image and likeness. We
need to realize that prayer is an essential and indispensable
element in our life. Without prayer, we would actually violate our
humanity.
We need to understand that
we need prayer more than we need air or water or food. Prayer is
what connects us and likens us to God. Prayer is what makes our life
a life with God as it should be. We should, therefore, cultivate a
life of prayer, making prayer like an instinct, such that whatever
we are doing, whatever situation we may be in, we should be praying.
To be sure, prayer can be
done anytime, anywhere. Praying is not simply a matter of reciting
some vocal prayers or participating in liturgical prayers. It is not
only a matter of meditating on some truths of our faith. All of
these are very important, of course, and highly recommended. They
are the basics to learn if we wish to develop a working life of
prayer.
The ultimate prayer is
when our very consciousness always has God in Christ through the
Holy Spirit as its core. This may be described as contemplative
prayer which will have its definitive state in heaven when we see
God face to face and when our identification with him becomes
perfect. This is when we will have the beatific vision.
We have to understand that
it’s when we pray, that is, when we truly pray and not just going
through the motions of praying, that we would be engaging ourselves
with the most important person in our life, God himself. He is
absolutely our everything, without whom nothing and no one has any
importance.
It’s when we pray that we
manage to relate who we are, what we have, what we do, etc. to our
ultimate end which, to be sure, is not something only natural but is
also supernatural. Nothing therefore can rival the importance of
prayer. In other words, prayer is irreplaceable, unsubstitutable,
indispensable. It’s never optional, though it has to be done freely
if we want our prayer to be real prayer.
The absolutely important
thing that makes prayer real prayer is when we manage to give all
our mind and heart to God in whatever thing we do or in whatever
situation we may find ourselves in. That’s why St. Paul once said,
“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thes 5,17) That’s simply because our
whole life has to be a prayer, since it is meant to be in constant
and intimate relationship with God.
So, even our work and all
our earthly concerns can be made into prayer as long as we have the
proper motive and frame of mind.