Catechism of the Catholic Church

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2717 Contemplative prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come" 12 or "silent love." 13 Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER

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SECTION ONE: PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

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CHAPTER THREE: THE LIFE OF PRAYER

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ARTICLE 1: EXPRESSIONS OF PRAYER

Notes for the above paragraph:

12 Cf. St. Isaac of Nineveh, Tract. myst. 66.

13 St. John of the Cross, Maxims and Counsels, 53 in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh, OCD, and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979), 678.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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