These words are highlighting the dignity of the people of God, and expressing the priesthood that God has given to all baptized. Only within this “royal priesthood, holy nation, a people of his own” may we understand the meaning of the special priesthood of those who administer the word and the sacraments in order to lead people towards the full friendship with God in Jesus Christ. One of the basic expressions of the “royal priesthood” of all the faithful and of those the Lord has chosen for the ministerial priesthood is prayer. Saint Peter gives us all an extraordinary spiritual task: “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). There is no “royal priesthood” of the faithful without prayer; and there is no ministerial priesthood that is not exercised in prayer. On this common ground we are answering the challenge of Jesus that we should “watch and pray” (Mark 14:38).

2.         I still remember how important the prayer example of others was for my own religious and priestly vocation. I cannot forget my mother who taught me the first prayers, and whom I saw very often pray for the intentions of the Church and in a particular way for the vocations of priests and religious. The same is true for the parish priest I had during my childhood. He taught us the catechism, explained and celebrated the sacraments, and helped us altar servers to love the liturgy; but there was something else that was very important to us: we also saw him regularly praying in the church and in the garden of the parish house. The example of my parents and of our parish priest at home remind me still how important our own prayer example is for young people who one day may discover themselves the special call of the Lord. There is no doubt that the first prayer experience I had started in my family. With this pastoral letter I want you to renew your own dignity of the “royal priesthood” through a deeper understanding and practice of prayer, a dignity you share with all those who are called to the ministerial priesthood in the Church.

Jesus the model of prayer

3.         Jesus, the living Son of God, “a man like us in all things but sin” (Eucharistic Prayer IV), grew up similar to us. Jesus learnt in the Holy Family the prayers of the Jewish people, particularly the Psalms. Most probably he knew them by heart. This fact gives us already an idea about how important the regular prayer in our own family is, and how important it is especially for difficult times to know a certain number of prayers by heart. Jesus is the best example of this. In the New Testament Jesus is shown very often as the one who lives an intimate relationship with his Father through prayer. The four Gospels show us in one way or another Jesus as the man in prayer. Nothing important is done unless Jesus spends time in prayer. At the beginning of his messianic mission we read in Luke’s Gospel: “While Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son; today have I fathered you” (Luke 3:21-22). The choice of the Twelve is introduced as following: “In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). The Transfiguration is a turning point in Jesus’ life: before his journey to Jerusalem, where he would offer his life on the cross, “he took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white” (Luke 9:2-29).

4.         The fact that the disciples have witnessed Jesus in prayer made them ask the Lord to teach them to pray: “He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1-2). In reply to this request he introduced them to the “Our Father”. Finally, we find Jesus praying at the beginning of his Passion when he went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives: “When he arrived at the place he said to them: Pray that you may not undergo the test. After withdrawing about a stone's throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying: Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done. When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them: Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test!” (Luke 22:40-42.45-46). In prayer Jesus made his will conform to the will of his Father, and invites us to do the same.

5.         Jesus’ own practice of prayer reveals the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, and is given to us as a model. I said earlier that Jesus as an exemplary Jew must have known the Psalms by heart. It is therefore not by chance that the New Testament shows us Jesus in important moments of his life praying in the words of the Psalms. The letter of the Hebrews says about the Son of God entering human existence: “When he came into the world, he said: sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God’” (Hebrews 10:5-7 = Psalm 40:6-8). The last words of Jesus on the cross are taken from the Psalms. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark Jesus “cried out in a loud voice” the words of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46). According to the Gospel of Luke Jesus dies with Psalm 31 on his lips: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit“ (Luke 23:46). Finally, in John’s Gospel, Jesus breathes out his human life with Psalm 69: “I thirst” (John 19:28). These prayers reveal not only the way how the early Church understood the death of Jesus but also the fact that Jesus in the extreme test of his sacrifice on the cross cried to the Father in the prayer tradition of his people. Thus he put into practice the obedience he had promised entering the world: “Behold, I come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). Jesus is the living example of the prayer he has taught his disciples: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

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