2. 5. Consecrated life “living memory” of the praying Christ

         As we have seen, Christ is the consecrated One, the obedient One, the chaste One and the poor

One, par excellence. Still, we cannot forget that he is also the supreme praying one and the supreme missionary. If we ignore any one of these defining elements, we betray the harmony and beauty of the Gospel figure.  There exists, in fact, a strong unity among the different aspects of Christ’s identity.

         It is not possible, for example, to describe adequately Christ’s lifestyle and apostolate without stressing the importance and fruitfulness of his prayer life. Precisely because he spoke often and intimately “with his Father”, he was able to speak fervently and profoundly “of the Father” to human persons.  In a certain sense, he can be considered the prototype of the spiritual and apostolic program of the “contemplata aliis tradere” (=to pass on to others what is contemplated).

            We must recognize that a characteristic trait of the Christ of the Gospel is this “praying”. During his public life, prayer was a habit for Jesus: “In the morning he arose when it was still dark and, leaving the house, he withdrew to a deserted place and there he prayed.” (Mk 1:35) “(Jesus) would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.” (Lk 5:16)

            Dialog with the Father, in prayer, was the way with which Jesus prepared himself for big choices: “Now it was about this time he went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’.” (Lk 6:12-13)

Jesus taught his disciples to pray especially with his example. It was precisely in the context of his practice of prayer that his concrete teaching on prayer, the “Our Father”, took place: “Now once he was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’  He said to them, ‘Say this when you pray: Father….’” (Lk 11:1-2)

Jesus exercised his ministry of the word in docility and in praise of the Father. (cf Mt 11: 25-26;  Lk 10:21)    Also blessings for persons were for him a form of prayer. (cf Mt 19: 13-15;  Mk 10: 13-16) He place also his healing activity under the sign of prayer. Before the tomb of Lazarus, for example: “Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: ‘Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. …’ When he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!” (Jn 11; 41-43)

The Gospel accounts on the paschal supper are a rich testimony to the praying Jesus. (cf Mk 14: 22-24) John, on his part, passed down to us Jesus’ solemn prayer during the last supper, (Jn 17: 1-26) a dense prayer of praise, oblation and intercession.

The most expressive and detailed picture of Jesus’ prayer is that of Gethsemane: “he knelt down” (Lk 22:41), he prayed intensely. Mark kept the original Aramaic of this repeated invocation: “Abbà, Father!” (Mk 14:36)

Then, on the cross, Jesus continues his experience and teaching on prayer. (Cf Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34;  Lk 23:34, 36)

Every baptized person finds a supreme and insuperable model of his prayer life in the praying Christ.  Every Christian must take inspiration from the example of Christ in prayer in order to remain faithful to his plan of holiness and baptismal mission.

Called to follow and imitate Christ in a special way, consecrated persons must imitate in a special way not only the consecrated and missionary Christ, but also the praying Christ. In the Church consecrated persons must be the living presence of Christ obedient, chaste and poor, and also the living presence of the praying Christ:  “Religious should carefully consider that through them, to believers and non-believers alike…they have the task of making present (cf LG 46; EN 69) the chaste, poor, obedient, praying and missionary Christ.” (Cf LG 44; 46)  (VC 77) 

The exercise of an assiduous, intense and well planned prayer according to the charism of the individual institutes (cf VC 9a; 32d) is an essential element in the framework of every form of consecrated life.

The time of novitiate is the most appropriate period for an intense formation on becoming conformed to the praying Christ.

For the special evangelical and Christological power of its testimony of prayer, consecrated life is a “living memory” of the praying Christ.