BACKGROUND SUMMARY

Oremus- a Latin word which means, “Let us pray”. Prayer is our authentic
conversation with God and that is what matters most that is why we are praying.
When we say prayer, it is our path to spirituality as it is the foundation of a
healthy spiritual life. As Baptized Christian, we are ought to become one with
God, united by Christ, through prayer. Although each one of us sees prayer
differently: Some sees it as a luxury or a kind of work; some also perceives
prayer as a source of frustration especially at times when we feel that God is not
listening to our prayers particularly when we are asking for something. However,
these difficulties in praying which we encounter will also be overcome by prayer
and it will make praying easier. It is our genuine and heartily conversation with
God which matters most when we pray.
There are 3 sources of the definition of prayer such as: in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (CCC); in the Old Testament; and in the New Testament.
According to CCC, prayer is defined in 3 categories as follows: Prayer as God’s
Gift; Prayer as a Covenant; and Prayer as a Communion. Why Prayer is
considered to be God’s gift? it is because prayer is the surge of the heart. It is a
kind of racing of one’s mind and heart to God. When we pray, we are humbling
ourselves with contrite heart to the Father. That is why prayer is God’s gift as it
teaches us humility and when we say humility, it is the foundation of prayer.
Since in humility, we are opening our hearts to God, that becomes our own
response of faith and love to Jesus Christ, the mediator between men and the
Father and who gives us our Salvation. Thus, prayer is called God’s gift because
we are praying for the Salvation that has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ, with a
humble heart; Prayer is a Covenant because we all know that even in the Old
Testament, there is already an agreement between God and Abraham. It is a
covenant as it strengthens the relationship between men and God with Christ as
the mediator and the Holy Spirit as the giver of life. Perhaps, we all know that it is
in our heart where God resides that is why heart is our hidden center and our
dwelling place. Through our heart, men build a strong covenant with God and
through it, we can communicate with God; Prayer is a Communion as we
become in union with the Trion God. By praying and joining the Liturgical
Assembly, we acquire the grace, which is needed in order to be in communion
with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Prayer according to the Old Testament tackles about some of the
significant people, who expresses their strong faith in God by obedience to God’s
will and they exemplify the acts of prayers, these are: Noah, who taught us that
prayer is walking with God; Abraham, who had shown to us that prayer is an act
of obedience and of sacrifice; Moses, who taught us that prayer is intercessional
and contemplative by praying in the high mountains in order to meditate and
communicate sincerely to God; David, who taught us that prayer is a kind of
submission, a kind of praise and repentance; and Elijah, who taught us that
prayer is an act of righteousness, and to be righteous, one must be merciful.
Prayer according to the New Testament emphasizes to us the definition of
prayer during Christ’s ministry. We can fully understand what prayer is when we
allow Jesus to enter our hearts and when we proclaim the Holy Gospel. We often
hear during the Angelus and Hail Mary, the conversation of Angel Gabriel to the
Blessed Mary. These prayers revealed to us that it is Jesus Christ who is the
word who became flesh and He dwells on each one of us that is why we do not
need to be frustrated that God doesn’t listen to our prayers but, we should allow
Him to touch our hearts by praying in order for Him to hear us. Every time Jesus
Christ offers a prayer to the Father, He always begin with Thanksgiving. God
sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and was incarnated through the power
of the Holy Spirit and that is the reason why The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit cannot be separated as they are one God. Every time Jesus Christ is
praying, God the Father can hear it and the Holy Spirit turns it into reality.
Jesus taught us how to pray that is rooted from the Old Testament and it
is being renewed in order for us to have a better view on the Salvation, which
was revealed to us by Jesus Christ, leads us to Kingdom of God. Jesus revealed
the Kingdom of God through the Parables. We are ought to follow the theological
path, which is the path towards our faith to God and charity towards Him in order
to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are also ought to have a conversion of
heart. Conversion of heart requires filial conversion, which is loving everyone
even your enemies as the filial conversion is directed entirely to God the Father.
When we already attain the Conversion of heart, our heart will learn how to pray
in faith. Praying in faith is what Jesus Christ is teaching us. It is by praying in
faith, we disposed our hearts to do the will of the Father.
Truly, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

HERMENEUTICS

Praying requires nothing but self-offering to God. God only wants us to let
Him enter and dwell in our hearts. People often times delay praying as they
consider it as a waste of time and because there are things which they prioritized
first rather than praying. In fact, prayer eases everything. It overcomes and
eliminates all challenges we are facing by strengthening our faith and bond with
God that we can face all difficulties and battles with a strong mind and heart.
In life, when we are in our ups, we must not forget to be humble and offer
our prayer of thanksgiving to God. We must still be merciful like what Elijah
exemplified to us. When we are in our downs, we must not forget that God
resides in us and He is with us in every battle that we are encountering that is
why we need to pray in order to overcome these difficulties. Praying gives us
grace to be one with God. We become in communion with the Trion God if we
will keep our spiritual life healthy through prayer. It is not simply doing the sign of
the cross in order to express our prayer, but it is by our conversation with God
through our hearts and that is an authentic conversation with God, which is the
true essence of prayer.
When we pray let us not forget to use Jesus’ name as it creates miracle.
We must not forget that it is Him who connects us with the Father and through
Him, the Holy Spirit can make every impossible to possible just like how the
Virgin Mary conceived Jesus and how Elizabeth became a mother in her old age.
Jesus Christ taught us how pray for us to inherit the Kingdom of God. By praying,
we can attain the Conversion of heart and by this, we become pure that we can
learn how to love even our enemies and those people who persecute us. We are
change and we will attain the renewed life, we are aiming for. Through the
conversion of heart, we will learn how to pray with faith and in humility. Praying
with faith helps us do the will of the Father without experiencing any difficulties
and strengthens our well-being to fight against temptations. Indeed, there are lots
of things and good consequences a prayer is offering to us. Let us not forget
about the grace, which we receive if we have a healthy spiritual life through
praying. This grace brings us closer to God that we become in communion with
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Being connected to the Trion God
doesn’t need a lot of fortune nor wealth. Only the life of prayer with faith leads us
to the Kingdom of God.
The Latin word Oremus, which means “Let us Pray”, reminds us to pray as
one community, as a Church, by joining the Eucharistic Celebration where we
receive Jesus Christ and recalls His passion, death, and resurrection. We must
join in this Eucharistic Celebration as it is the highest form of worship. We
worship and give thanks to God with humble heart by attending the Holy Mass. It
is even written in the 10 commandments, rooted from the Old Testament, that we
should commemorate the Lord’s day.
RELEVANCE AND PRAXIS

Our ultimate goal as human being is to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

This goal is achievable only if we will seek for it. God has given offer everything
for us, even His Only Begotten Son was being sent for our salvation, all we have
to do is to recognize it, but how? It is by praying.
When we pray wholeheartedly, we can be able to feel the presence of
God within and among us. I think most of us already encountered
discouragement to God because we thought that God forgotten us. I, myself, had
experienced being discouraged and even think about the authenticity of God.
But, how did I overcome it? It is because of my family’s faith in God. God helps
me to come back in His loving embrace again by sending me a trial and because
of prayer, I had passed it. During the first month of community quarantine, I begin
to feel anxious that it took 2 months of sleepless nights even at day time. I
realized that before it started, I was used to disregard God and even when we
are praying the Holy Rosary every night, my mind wanders everywhere. Because
of that realization, I started to become so prayerful that I even cried because of
praying sincerely. Until now, I am still keeping on my side the rosary that helps
me to be reminded of God’s love for me. Prayer really works if you believe in it.
Indeed, prayer is not about only communication with mere words or simply
recitation of the ‘Our father’, but it needs faith to create an authentic conversation
with God. Having faith is everything. Faith is acquired when we truly believe in
God, and when we feel His presence, so to grow our faith, we must always pray
and be humble all the time.
God wants us to be with Him, in His Kingdom, that is why we must do His
will and follow what Jesus Christ has taught us: “Love one another as I have
Loved you.” This new commandment which Jesus left us is attainable if our
spirituality is healthy. Keeping spirituality healthy, needs prayer. Thus, when we
pray, we become closer to God. More so, we must go to Church every Sunday to
hear the Gospel and receive the body and blood of Christ. In fact, in this time of
pandemic, there are many ways where we can listen and preach God’s word.
First, there are virtual Eucharistic celebration every Sunday where we can listen
seriously. Second, as a Christian, we have our Holy Bible with us. This is the
time where we can read and reflect on the Gospels. Third, as we are now in the
21st Century, I know most of us has our own social media accounts. We can
preach the word of God and we can encourage everyone to pray by posting
and/or sharing posts about God and His words.
Without a doubt, the Kingdom of God is at hand.