The spiritual life is rich, beautiful and complex. Nothing can exhaust the spiritual treasure of the Church or of the soul which seeks union with God. Nothing can quench the desire of the human heart, once it is awakened to meet God and share in His communion.

When the soul is awake, it wants to be in the company of God and know His nearness. Such a soul is like a person lost in the desert and desperately seeking an oasis.

In response to such thirst, the Church provides certain oases, certain springs. Such springs are believed to be aid and rejuvenation to a thirsty soul.

The first source listed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the Word of God, and soon after, the Church highlights its sacred liturgy.

The Eucharistic sacrifice is “the summit and source” of all Christian life. Everything we do in following Jesus Christ draws its life from the Mass and simultaneously returns us to the Mass. The new Passover, the Holy Sacrifice, is the continuing unfolding of God’s saving action among us until the Lord returns in glory.

In the Mass, the one who prays encounters and experiences in a continuous and new way the redemptive presence of Jesus Christ. In the Mass and after it, the heart that prays carries forward the mystery of faith.

THE Catechism explains: “In the sacramental liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit announces, makes present and communicates the mystery of salvation, which continues in the heart that prays. »

By directing us to the heart that has the desire and discipline of prayer, the Church shows us its importance. THE Catechism comments: “Spiritual writers sometimes compare the heart to an altar. »

We cannot grow in the interior life if our heart does not accept and assimilate the paschal and eucharistic mystery of the Lord. In this way, the heart itself becomes a kind of altar in which we follow the Lord as he lives, dies, and lives again.

Through this dynamic, the Eucharistic sacrifice resonates in the person who prays because the sacrifice on the altar is also the sacrifice in their heart. The person can look and say, “Yes, I know this crucified and resurrected Lord. I experience his passion, death and resurrection every day in my own life.

The Eucharistic sacrifice therefore becomes familiar and tenable. It’s something that is lived and lived every day. It is not a cold, withdrawn ritual, but it is the living, vibrant source and pinnacle of our prayer life and our entire life. In this way, Mass is an event that connects us to the Lord Jesus and to each other. It is a sacred action of communion, relationship, alliance, worship and instruction. The Mass is the place where our prayer finds its origin, its structure and its fulfillment. The Eucharistic sacrifice truly becomes the culmination of prayer and a life fully lived in the Lord Jesus and his paschal mystery.

THE Catechism teaches us: “Prayer internalizes and assimilates the liturgy during and after its celebration. Even when it is lived “in secret,” prayer is always the prayer of the Church; it is a communion with the Holy Trinity.

Flowing from the sacred liturgy, our prayer continues to wonder and dwell on the sacred mysteries it contains. Our prayer is ordered and guided by the sacred liturgy itself. In this way our prayer matures, grows and develops in the movements and flows of the sacred words and actions of the Church’s worship.

In particular, by introducing our prayer life into the paschal mystery made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, our prayer becomes more Trinitarian. A prayer that was once addressed simply to “God” is led by the sacred liturgy to use the intimate term “Father”. The sacred liturgy also gives us an approach to the three divine persons. Our prayer is now directed to the Father, in the Son and through the Spirit. What was once a distant salutation to a generic God, now becomes a family affair and a son or daughter’s salutation to their Heavenly Father, their divine elder brother and their eternal advocate and guide. In this way, our prayer has been enriched and integrated into the revealed mystery of the identity and presence of God.

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