Pope Francis: True prayer is a silent dialogue with love at its core

Source: Vatican Media

In his ongoing catechesis on the 'Our Father' today, Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI hall for the General Audience that "true prayer is made in the intimate depths of a heart visible only to God.

"It is a silent dialogue", he said, with love at its core. "To look at God and to let oneself be looked at by God is to pray."

The Pope commented that in this way, the Christian does not forget the world, but rather brings its people and its needs into prayer. He continued by saying, that the person who prays, tells God about the pain of someone he or she met that day.

"If you don't realize that there's so many people who suffer," the Pontiff stressed, then that means one's heart is withered. "Feeling compassion" is "one of the key verbs of the Gospel."

"Let us ask ourselves - when I pray, do I open myself to the cry of so many people near and far? Or do I think of prayer as to some kind of anesthesia so you can relax?"

He stressed that "Jesus doesn't want hypocrisy. "True prayer is that which is accomplished in the secret of conscience, of the heart: inscrutable, visible only to God... It avoids falsehood: with God it is impossible to pretend". Before God, he said, tricks have no power.

Pope Francis noted that in the Our Father there is the absence of the word I. Jesus, he explained teaches us instead to pray: "your kingdom come, your will be done". "This use of the plural, he added, shows us that Christian prayer never asks bread for just one person, but always on behalf of others." There is no room for individualism in dialogue with God."

Jesus makes us pray, the Pope emphasized, even for those "who apparently do not seek God", because God seeks these people "more than anyone else."

The official English-language summary is below:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our ongoing catechesis on the "Our Father", let us continue to learn from Jesus how to pray as he taught. True prayer is made in the intimate depths of a heart visible only to God. It is a silent dialogue, like the glance between two people in love. Yet in this way the Christian does not forget the world, but rather brings its people and its needs into prayer. We notice the absence of the word "I" in the "Our Father". Jesus teaches us instead to pray: "your kingdom come, your will be done". The second half of the prayer then moves from "your" to "our": "give us our daily bread; forgive us our trespasses". This use of the plural shows that Christian prayer never asks bread for just one person, but always on behalf of others. In our prayer, then, do we open our hearts to the cry of others? We are all children of God, and at the end of our lives we will be judged on how we have loved. Not a sentimental love but one that is concrete and compassionate, as seen in God's word: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40).

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today's Audience, especially those from Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the Lord's blessings of joy and peace. God bless you!