A look at the Vatican’s 1st Year of Prayer resource: 8 quotes

For the Year of Prayer 2024, in preparation for the Jubilee 2025, the organizers of the Vatican event are publishing eight volumes in a series called “Notes on prayer.” Italian Cardinal Angelo Comastri, President Emeritus of the Fabric of St. Peter wrote the first one, which was published in Italian on January 9, 2024, and titled “Praying today: A challenge to be won.” 

The next seven books will be released in the following months, with the last one coming out in April.

The English, Spanish and Portuguese versions should also be available soon, according to the Jubilee 2025’s website.

In this first text, Cardinal Comastri underlines how humility is essential in order to pray. He also emphasizes that prayer is the direct connection to experiencing God’s love. “Prayer is the breath of faith; it is its most proper expression,” the Pope wrote in his preface to the text.

Aleteia proposes its own translation of some essential quotes from the first book in order to help prepare for the Year of Prayer ahead. 

1
The Father is close

“Christian prayer is the ever-new amazement of one who has learned that God has indeed torn open the heavens and made himself close to each of us. Christian prayer is the excited weeping of the son who, burdened with guilt, returns toward the Father’s house; and before the Father, he looks up and does not find wrath, but sees the smile and feels the infinite tenderness of the Father’s heart. Christian prayer begins like this.”

2
Poverty meets richness

“Christian prayer docks at this ocean: at the very love of God! There is no Christian prayer unless we make contact between our poverty and the infinite richness of God’s charity. But, when prayer is true, a river of love enters our hearts and we become filled with the Holy Spirit: filled with God’s love!”

3
Decision-making

“How much, today, is our gaze on the Lord? How much does His life inspire our lives? […] It is painful to have to admit that so many of our decisions are not born of prayer: They are born of intelligence, but is intelligence enough? They are born from study, but is study enough? They are born from research, but is research enough? They are born from sociology, but is sociology enough? They are born from cunning, but is cunning enough?”

4
Pride test

“If misunderstandings and trials leave me serene, I have the certainty of resting totally on Jesus: and Jesus is faithful and, therefore, my heart will always dwell in ‘perfect joy.’ If, on the other hand, misunderstanding or humiliation puts me in crisis, it means that my pride is still fully in control of my life: I will never know ‘perfect joy.'”

5
Caress of the infinite

“Without humility, one cannot get to God: only if man serenely accepts his littleness as the point of truth and the starting point of the path of his restless intelligence, will he come to feel the steps of the eternal and the caress of the infinite.”

6
Jesus’ only strength

“Is it ever possible that Jesus, at the most dramatic moment of His life when His own body was reacting by sweating blood, saw prayer as His only strength and resource? […] If this was Jesus’ life, if this was His apostolate, can we live a different life or think differently about our apostolate?”

7
Free

“Drop your pride, pray with much faith and humility, and the masterpiece that God has carved within you will come out.” 

8
A different look

“Pray and you will have a different look and a different heart. I tell you this with intimate conviction and with the desire to see reflected in your eyes the light of God that you have welcomed into your hearts.”