CHAPTER ONE
THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE UNIVERSAL CALL
TO PRAYER
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Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness
into existence. "Crowned with glory and honor," man is, after the
angels, capable of acknowledging "how majestic is the name of the Lord in
all the earth."1 Even after losing through his sin his likeness to
God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one
who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential
search for God.2
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God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he
may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living
and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as
prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first;
our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and
reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama.
Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout
the whole history of salvation.
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