�� Just Teach Sheet – August Week 1 (Deep Formation Edition)
Theme: Prayer & Personal Relationship with God
Topic: “Prayer is the response of faith to the thirst of God.” (CCC 2560)
Aim: To explore the foundations of Christian prayer as a theological reality, a spiritual discipline, and an interpersonal communion with the Trinity.
�� Structure
Each day includes:
Doctrinal teaching
Scripture meditation
Catechism reference
Guided reflection
Suggested interior practice
��️ Daily Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man,
teach me to pray—not just with words, but with my whole life.
Draw me into the silence where You are present,
that I may encounter the Father in the Spirit You send.
Amen.
��️ Day 1 – Prayer Begins with God’s Initiative
�� Scripture: John 4:7–10
“Give me a drink… If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
�� Teaching:
Prayer is not primarily our effort to reach God. It is God’s thirst for us.
In the encounter with the Samaritan woman, Christ reveals God’s initiative in prayer: He speaks first.
The Catechism says clearly:
“Whether we realise it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours.” (CCC 2560)
This challenges a purely functional or mechanical view of prayer.
❖ Christian prayer is not self-help, mindfulness, or religious duty.
❖ It is a living response to a Divine Person who calls us into covenant communion.
�� Catechism:
CCC 2558–2565
CCC 2560: “Jesus thirsts; His asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us.”
�� Reflection:
Do I approach prayer as something I “initiate,” or as a response to God’s invitation?
Where in my life is Christ already asking, “Give me a drink”?
�� Practice:
Repeat slowly: “If you knew the gift of God…”
Let this be your interior breath prayer today.
Every thirst (emotional, spiritual, relational) can become a gateway to God.
��️ Day 2 – The Human Heart is the Place of Prayer
�� Scripture: Psalm 139:1–3
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me… You discern my thoughts from afar.”
�� Teaching:
According to the Catechism, the heart is the place where prayer occurs:
“The heart is the dwelling place where I am, where I live… It is the place of decision.” (CCC 2563)
The modern world often confines religion to emotion or external ritual.
But Scripture and Tradition teach that the interior life is the battleground of grace.
The heart, not the lips alone, must pray.
�� Catechism:
CCC 2562–2563
CCC 2700–2719 (on the expressions of prayer)
�� Reflection:
What is the state of my heart when I attempt to pray—restless, distracted, resistant, longing?
Do I pray from the heart, or merely with words?
�� Practice:
Before prayer, pause and place your hand over your chest.
Say quietly: “Lord, I bring You my heart as it is—no mask.”
Let this become the doorway to sincerity in prayer.
��️ Day 3 – Silence and Listening: Foundations of Contemplative Prayer
�� Scripture: 1 Kings 19:11–13
“After the fire came a still small voice.
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak.”
�� Teaching:
In the Carmelite and Benedictine traditions, silence is not emptiness but receptivity.
God speaks most profoundly in the silence of the heart.
Modern life forms us for noise, reaction, and self-expression—contemplative prayer unforms and reforms us.
�� Catechism:
CCC 2709–2719 (on contemplative prayer)
CCC 2726–2728 (on the battle of prayer)
❖ “Contemplative prayer is silence, the ‘symbol of the world to come’ or ‘silent love.’” (CCC 2717)
�� Reflection:
Am I willing to accept silence as part of prayer?
What is my internal reaction to stillness—fear, boredom, resistance?
�� Practice:
Begin your prayer time today with 5 minutes of silence.
Simply say: “Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening.”
When distracted, return gently to that phrase.
��️ Day 4 – Dryness, Consolation, and Spiritual Maturity
�� Scripture: Psalm 42:3
“My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’”
�� Teaching:
A maturing prayer life will pass through aridity and dryness.
This is not failure—it is a necessary purifying stage.
The Fathers and Saints speak of this as a form of spiritual detachment and a growth in faith over feeling.
St. John of the Cross distinguishes darkness due to sin from the dark night of purification.
Do not confuse boredom with the absence of God—often, He is nearer than you feel.
�� Catechism:
CCC 2731: “Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer… if the heart is detached, it may lead to conversion.”
CCC 2729–2733 (on difficulties in prayer)
�� Reflection:
Have I experienced prayer as trial? As silence? As discouragement?
Am I tempted to give up when I don’t feel anything?
�� Practice:
During dryness, say with the psalmist: “Why are you cast down, my soul? Hope in God.” (Psalm 42:11)
Return to this prayer throughout the day.
Let dryness deepen your desire.
��️ Day 5 – Trinitarian Structure of Christian Prayer
�� Scripture: Romans 8:26–27
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness… the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.”
�� Teaching:
Christian prayer is essentially Trinitarian:
To the Father
Through the Son
In the Holy Spirit
This is not a formula but a living mystery.
We enter into the Son’s relationship with the Father by the power of the Spirit.
This is what it means to pray in Christ.
�� Catechism:
CCC 2614: “In Jesus, the prayer of the children of God is learned and lived.”
CCC 2670: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”
❖ Prayer is not just communication. It is communion with the Triune God.
�� Reflection:
Is my prayer distinctly Christian—or vaguely spiritual?
Do I invoke the Holy Spirit in my prayer life?
�� Practice:
Pray slowly and consciously:
“Father, I come to You through Jesus, in the Holy Spirit.”
Then sit in silence for 5 minutes.
Let your prayer begin and end in the Trinity.
�� End of Week Deep Reflection
Suggested journaling or group prompts:
What assumptions about prayer were challenged or deepened this week?
In what areas do I desire growth: honesty, silence, consistency, trust?
What distractions dominate my interior life—and how can I reorder my attention?
What practical structure (rule of prayer, spiritual reading, confession, Eucharistic devotion) can I establish to support growth in prayer?
�� Further Reading & Formation
For continued growth, consider:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Four: Christian Prayer (CCC 2558–2865)
Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales (esp. Part II)
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 