1. The principle of prayer

Whatdrives the man in the search, sometimes uneasy, of happiness, peace, and fulfillment?

What motivates  him to look outside himself that fullfillment  that often leads people to think to find in creatures? Why in the ongoing search for new sensations ,he experienced instead, a transient joy, an artificial paradise that  quickly gives place to bitterness and disappointment?

S. Augustine has a clear answer to this question derived from his experience: ‘Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee …’. Man is made for joy, but the happiness which he is inclined to has  to be found in its very nature: for he is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1.26) and carries the breath of his spirit, life itself of its Creator. The human being is, therefore, half-divine and divine is the part that puts him in a longing for happiness, the desire to be realized beyond its limitations: the man does not find fulfillment if  not joining in with his’ half ‘, and totally be in communion with the divine life. The prayer begins when one sees its creaturely limits and longs for something bigger. This applies to everyone from the mists of time, because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ‘the desire for God is written in the heart of man, because man was created by God and for God, and God never ceases to draw man to himself, and only in God will he find the truth and happiness he seeks without stopping ‘(I, 27). All human beings are capable of religiosity, as evidenced by the variety of beliefs throughout history and, if considered with intellectual honesty, straight desrire, pure heart, before the deep desire of our souls, then we come to perceive the presence of God in ourselves and in the creatures, so it becomes natural to turn towards the You above us. Begins, so, the adventure of prayer ….. (Continued)

Laila Lucci,

Bible Teacher  and professor of Hebrew Bible and S. Writing at the ISSR Rimini is the author of several essays and books,  among whic are included:  Witnesses of the Risen.

Paths of Lucan pneumatology, Pazzini, Verucchio (RN) 2007

Commentary to exegetical-theological “Wisdom Books” in The Bible VVV, S. Paul, Cinisello Balsamo 2009;

Introduction, translation and commentary on Joel, S. Paul (NVAT), Alba 2011;

Introduction, translation and commentary on Amos, S. Paul (NVAT), Dawn 2012.