Pope explains Christ's key to prayer

December 07, 2011

At his weekly public audience on December 7, Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of talks on the prayer life of Jesus, offering his reflections on the Christ’s “cry of exultation” that is recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. (Mt 11:25-30; Lk 10:21-22)

The Holy Father told the crowd in the Paul VI auditorium that this prayer illustrates “Jesus’ profound and intimate communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit, and his divine filiation clearly emerges.”

Jesus begins by calling on God as his Father, and follows by identifying the Father as “Lord of heaven and earth.” Thus Jesus follows an expression of intimacy with a majestic title. This, the Pope remarked, helps us to see that see that Christ opens our path to the omnipotent God, and to “recognize how in Jesus, the one who reveals the Father, the possibility of access to God is opened to humanity.”

Continuing his prayer, Jesus thanks the God who has “hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.” Pope Benedict explained:

Divine revelation does not occur within earthly logic, according to which humans are the wise and powerful who posses important knowledge and transmit it to those who are more simple. ... God's style is another: His communication is addressed precisely to the childlike.

The Pope concluded that the faithful “can address God with the confidence of sons and daughters.” But in order to do so, he added, “we have to keep the heart of a child.”

 

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Further information:

• Divine Revelation Does Not Follow Earthly Logic (VIS)
• With the heart of little children (L'Osservatore Romano)