I imagine that for many Christians, prayer is seen mainly as a spiritual reality, captured in the traditional definition coming from St John Damascene: “Prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God.” But I want to insist on the claim that prayer is also, at its heart, a deeply moral matter, especially when it comes to petitionary prayer.
The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas recognised this fact when he placed his discussion of prayer of petition in the middle of his treatment of Christian morality or ethics. The prayer in which we ask God for what is needed is an exercise of the virtue of devotion which is a part of the virtue of justice.
As Justice requires us to give other humans (and more and more, the rest of creation) their due, well prayer of petition gives God His due. Such prayer recognises both God’s almighty power and His infinite love. After all, why should you ask for something from someone who has no interest in you and is feeble to boot, when God is readily available to the prayer of faith.
Thus, turning to God in prayer should not be the last resort when all else fails, but our very first port of call.
This insight into the core moral nature of prayer was not invented by the Angelic Doctor (Aquinas) but rather is found in plain sight in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount recorded in three chapters of the Gospel of Matthew (5-7), a text daily Mass goers have been hearing in the last week or two.
Now, this Sermon, which is presented as a summary of Our Lord’s moral teaching, clearly contains much instruction associated with everyday moral conduct, e.g. not giving in to anger, even in relation to insulting language (think of the modern category of “hate speech”); refusing to retaliate when attacked (think of the use of the argument from self-defence used by the Israeli Government to wage war on innocent civilians in Gaza); and the importance of giving alms in a discrete way (avoiding what we now call “virtue signalling”).
However, Jesus then goes on to talk about prayer (and fasting) which do not seem to fit in with our usual moral ideas. As moral teaching in the past has typically started with the negative dimension: “Do not kill, bear false witness, commit adultery etc.,” the Lord focuses on how not to pray, especially in a way intended to attract attention.
Prayer in secret is encouraged, just as in almsgiving one’s right hand should not know what the left is up to!
Then the negative norms move into a positive approach. Instead of long prayers, involving “babbling like the pagans” a short prayer is suggested, the pattern of all prayer, the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father” (Mt.6:9-13). Of course it is a spiritual prayer, since it cannot be prayed without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the one who comes to us in Baptism assuring us that we are adopted children of God. But it is also a moral prayer because it centres from the outset on God, giving God his due.
The first three petitions are practically synonymous, expressing the idea of acknowledging God’s glorious nature – may his name or nature be held in reverence, may his Kingdom of peace and justice come through human action attuned to God’s will (vs.9-10).
It is in the second section of this prayer, however, that moral aspect is clearest, especially in the petition(s) relating to forgiveness. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (v.12).
Who can deny that forgiveness is a key moral demand, recognised as of value in human relationships everywhere in every age? But firstly, we ask forgiveness of the God who has created and redeemed us, as this requires, as a first step, the humility and honesty to recognise our sins and then to admit our responsibility for them. An examination of conscience is a moral challenge, not just a spiritual one. Again, we give God his due, since only God can forgive us our sins against his infinite love.
Asking for the grace to forgive others stands out above all in this essential Christian prayer, especially as Jesus himself picks this petition out for special mention, tying our being forgiven by the Father to our readiness to forgive those who have hurt or harmed us (vs.14-15).
This alone would be sufficient for us to claim that the Lord’s Prayer is profoundly moral in the ordinary, everyday sense, that we need to have the possibility of being reconciled when relations break down. Otherwise, human social life would disintegrate (which it is in actual danger of happening in our world today).
Our Lord’s stress on forgiveness in the context of prayer is a continuation of an earlier teaching in the Sermon when he urges his disciples to “Love your enemies” (Mt.5:43-44). This immediately raises the double question: Who is my enemy? And “how do I love this person or these people?”
The answer is not far off! Check out the next line, for often in Scripture a second line expresses the meaning of what was just said, e.g. “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven” explains what is meant by asking “Thy Kingdom come.”
So, following on “Love your enemies” we hear Jesus say, “Pray for those who persecute you” (Mt.5:44). Now we know who the enemy is; the ones who persecute the faithful for their faith.
It is found again in the account of the conversion of St Paul, when Jesus confronts the very man who is on his way to Damascus to arrest the Lord’s followers and Jesus calls out,” Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). From then on, Saul the enemy of Christ becomes his devoted servant and apostle and all due, of course, to his experiencing the loving forgiveness of the Lord.
Love of enemies, then, is in first place a matter of praying for them, asking God to change their hearts as the heart of Saul was transformed by grace. It also involves praying for the grace to forgive from the heart, since often it takes time for our hearts to catch up with the will to forgive.
If love is a core moral virtue and if love is expressed in prayer, then it follows that prayer is a moral act. Such prayer may also bring comfort to those who are not yet ready to enter into another’s presence to be reconciled.
We can pray in private, giving our souls space and time to ready ourselves for an eventual, hopefully, healing encounter, the kind Jesus encouraged in speaking of people leaving their gifts at the altar in order to be first reconciled to their enemies (Mt.5:23-24).
Nor should we forget the fact that Jesus practises what he preaches, when from the cross he prayed for his persecutors, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk.23:34). His perfect love of his enemies leads him even to make excuses for their evil deeds. And, as if to underline the link between prayer and forgiveness, he responds to the prayer of the Good Thief, “Lord remember me, when you come into your Kingdom” with those most loving and forgiving words, “Today, you will be with me in paradise”(Lk.23:42-43).
My linking morality and spirituality via prayer is important, I believe, because in first place it counteracts a tendency we may have to compartmentalise the various aspects of our lives, especially that between spirituality and so called “ordinary life” with its vital moral or ethical dimension.
Spirituality needs morality if it is not to be relegated to a branch of self-help psychology and navel gazing or simply an other-worldly activity, focusing on our desire to rise above this world and escape from its messiness.
Also, of course, morality needs to be based on a robust form of spirituality where the God we worship is an immanent one dwelling among us through His Spirit, deeply concerned with the pain of this world and with the plan of the Blessed Trinity to bring about the Kingdom of Justice, Peace and Love, “on earth as it is in heaven”, with our cooperation.
Kieran Cronin ofm