Catholic Schools as praying communities in communion with Jesus Christ and His Church

In this short article, I will reflect on the expression and central place of prayer in Catholic school communities. I will examine what prayer means within the Catholic Tradition, and I will then propose that Catholic schools must be praying communities that are in communion with Jesus Christ and His Church.

Firstly, the great spiritual master, St Teresa of Avila, is known to have wonderfully summed up Christian prayer as “nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.” This means that prayer, simply understood, is a conversation with God. Hence, prayer must have a central place in all Catholic schools. Prayer is that dialogue with the living God which helps a person to grow in their personal relationship with Him. So through prayer, a person is able to commune with God, because prayer is that place where “Christ comes to meet every human being.” [1] Therefore, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christian prayer is clearly defined as a “vital and personal relationship with the living and true God." [2]

The Catechism further affirms that the life of prayer is the habit of always being and living in the presence of God; of talking to Him and sharing our personal lives with Him. [3] This way of living—“this communion of life”—is always possible, because through Baptism, a person has become “united with Christ” in His Body, the Church. [4] This means that Christian prayer, properly understood, is always in communion with Jesus Christ through the Church. The Church cannot be separated from Jesus because it is His Mystical Body on earth. And so while there are “many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray,” prayer can only be said to be authentically Christian insofar as it is prayer in communion with Christ and His holy Church. [5] Therefore, Catholic schools must be praying communities whose prayers are in “communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church.” [6]

To summarise, I have reflected on the expression and central place of prayer in Catholic school communities. It is important that prayer in Catholic schools flow from the Church’s living tradition of prayer, so that its diverse expressions remain in communion with Christ and His Mystical Body, the Church. It is this kind of authentic Christian prayer that will lift the hearts and minds of students, and indeed the whole school community, into a deeper communion and relationship with Jesus Christ.

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1997), 2560, http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p4s1.htm.

[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2558.

[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565.

[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565.

[5] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565, 2672.

[6] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565.