Prayer of the Holy Father During Night-Time Worship (31 October 1982)

On Sunday, 31 October 1982, the Holy Father offered this prayer during night-time worship in Madrid.

Signore Jesus! We come before you, knowing that you call us and love us just as we are. “You have words of eternal life; we have believed and known that you are the Holy One of God" (Jn6, 69). Your presence in the Eucharist began with the sacrifice of the Last Supper and continues as communion and donation of all that you are. Increase our faith.

Through you and in the Holy Spirit that you communicate to us, we want to reach the Father to tell him our "yes" united with yours. With you we can now say: "Our Father". Following you, "way, truth and life", we wish to penetrate the apparent "silence" and "absence" of God, breaking the cloud of Tabor, to listen to the voice of the Father who says: "This is my beloved Son, in which I was pleased with. Listen to him” ( Mt 17, 5). With this faith made of contemplative listening, we will be able to illuminate our personal situations, as well as the different sectors of family and social life.

You are our hope , our peace, our Mediator, brother and friend. Our heart is filled with joy and hope in knowing that you are "always alive to make intercession for us" ( Heb 7, 25). Our hope translates into trust, Easter joy and a rapid journey with you towards the Father.

We want to have the same feelings as you and see things the way you do. Because you are the center, the beginning and the end of everything. Supported by this hope, we want to instill in the world this hierarchy of evangelical values, whereby God and his saving gifts occupy first place in the heart and in the actions of concrete life.

We want to love like you , who give life and communicate yourself with all that you are. We would like to be able to say like Saint Paul: "For me to live is Christ" ( Phil 1, 21). Our life is meaningless without you. We want to learn to "be with someone who we know loves us", because "with such a good friend present, we can bear anything". In you we learn to unite ourselves with the will of the Father, because, in prayer, "it is love that speaks" (Sancta Teresia).

By entering into your intimacy, we want to take on the important determinations and attitudes, the lasting decisions, the fundamental choices in conformity with our own Christian vocation.

Believing, hoping and loving, we adore you with a simple attitude of presence, silence and waiting, which also wants to be reparation, in response to your words: "Stay here and watch with me" ( Mt 26, 38).

You overcome the poverty of our thoughts, feelings and words; for this reason we want to learn to adore by admiring your mystery, loving it as it is and remaining silent with the silence of a friend and with a presence of donation. The Holy Spirit, who you have infused into our hearts, helps us to express these "inexpressible groans" ( Rm 8, 26), which translate into a simple and grateful disposition, and in the filial gesture of one who is satisfied with your alone presence, your love and your word. In our physical and moral nights, if you are present, you love us and talk to us, that is enough for us, even though, many times, we will not feel the consolation. By learning this dimension of worship, we will stay in your intimacy or “mystery”; then our prayer will be converted into respect for the "mystery" of every brother and every event to introduce us into our family and social environment, and build history with this active and fruitful silence that arises from contemplation. Thanks to you, our capacity for silence and adoration will be converted into the capacity to love and serve.

You have given us your Mother as ours, so that she teaches us to meditate and adore in the heart. She, by welcoming the Word and putting it into practice, made herself the most perfect Mother. Help us to be your missionary Church that knows how to meditate, adoring and loving your Word, to transform it into life and communicate it to all our brothers. Amen.

© Copyright 1982 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana