Prayer Opens the Way for God's Plan of Love

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI continued his ongoing series of catecheses on the subject of prayer in the Letters of St. Paul during his general audience held this morning in the Paul VI Hall.

"Our prayers are often a request for help in our hour of need", he said. "That is natural because we need help, the help of other people and of God. We must also bear in mind that the prayer Christ taught us, the Our Father, is just such a petition. With that prayer the Lord teaches us our priorities. Yet, although it is natural to ask for things in prayer, that is not the only reason to pray. There is also cause to give thanks, ... because we receive so many good things from God. Thus prayer should also be praise and, if we open our hearts, we come to realise that, despite all problems, creation is beautiful and good".

In chapter one of his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul praises God "because 'he has made known to us the mystery of his will'. ... For believers 'mystery' does not so much mean the unknown as the merciful will of God, His plan of love which was fully revealed in Jesus Christ and offers us the chance 'to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth ... and depth' of that love". The unknown mystery of God has been revealed and it is that God, ever since the beginning and for all eternity, loves us....

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/prayer-opens-the-way-to-the-mystery-of-gods-plan

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The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith

"New methods and new forms of expression are needed to convey to the people of today the perennial truth of Jesus Christ, forever new and the source of all newness... This renewed dynamism in the Christian community will lead to renewed missionary activity (missio ad gentes), now more urgent than ever, given the large number of people who do not know Jesus Christ in not only far-off countries, but also those already evangelized." This is what His Excellency Mgr. Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops writes in the Preface to the Instrumentum Laboris of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme: "The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith" (7 - 28 October, 2012).

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-the-new-evangelization-is-the-call-of-the

For the Instrumentum Laboris of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, please visit:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20120619_instrumentum-xiii_en.html

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 “May we grow in the love of God, opening the door for the Blessed Trinity to come and dwell among us, bringing us light and warmth and guiding our lives.”

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