San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Mar 17, 2018 / 06:33 am
On Saturday Pope Francis asked Catholics if they try to pray as Jesus did – out of love for God – or if they only pray when they need something from God or want a 'shot' of stress relief.
"Prayer can be born as a request, even as a prompt intervention, but matures in praise and adoration. Then it becomes truly personal, as it was for Jesus," the Pope said March 17.
"We ask ourselves: do our prayers resemble that of Jesus or are they reduced to occasional emergency calls? 'I need something...' And when you do not need [something], what do you do? Or do we mean them as tranquilizers to be taken in regular doses, to get some relief from stress?"
"No, prayer is a gesture of love, it is being with God and bringing him the life of the world: it is an indispensable work of spiritual mercy," he continued.