Jesus' Prayer

We spoke and discussed with all the lecture's attendees about the power of prayer last night. How long to pray, Meditation, When to pray, Different types of prayer, How Jesus himself prayed by himself, How prayer is a dialogue with God, How it is that God himself leads us to pray through his Spirit. But one question, and only one, captured the essense of prayer: How come not all prayers are answered according to our wishes? It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that God does not change his mind when we pray but it is us who get closer to him when we truly pray. One person said, we have to discern God's will for us..."Discern the Spirits" the Holy Bible says. St. Ignatius of Loyola had to develop a set of exercises - His "Spiritual Exercises," which the Jesuits follow to this day, are treasures of how to find God's will in every day of my life. This took me directly to the most important topic about prayer: The prayer of Jesus at the night he was betrayed. Jesus spent a long time in prayer while his disciples were sleeping after their last supper at that scary night. He was afraid. He was alone. It was a dark night and a dark moment in his earthly life. The Son of God was troubled by what awaited him, because he was as human as every other human person. He knew that his life was coming to an end. He knew who was to betray him. And he knew he will die. His supplications to his Father continued until he was sweating blood. How did he pray and struggle in his prayer, this Master of all spiritual masters? At last, he says "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42) And because Jesus aligned his human will with the divine will, he approached his death in total obedience to his beloved father whom he called "Abba" (Daddy). And in his death he carried on his shoulders not only his cross but the crosses and sufferings of the entire world. No, he saved the entire human race from hell in his death. His life begot life and his death begot more life...eternal life for all humanity... His prayer did not finish since he is still praying, as we all know, to bring us close to his father. Allow me to add one little thing since it connects all: What was the source of his prayer and his relationship to his father and for us? St. Augustine teaches us that it was love from eternity. The Father loved and continues to love his begotten Son (the Word) in his unlimited self-emptying self-giving love and the Son receives that self-emptying self-giving love, and the Holy Spirit is that love that binds the Father and the Son. This is the Trinity which is at the core of Christianity. Love is the only way for eternal life. In recent decades, scientific research in quantum physics has been stipulating that not only living people are in relationship, but even inanimate matter at the microcosmic level do communicate with each other. I may be mistaken but I feel that the imprint of our Christian Triune God fills the universe. Yes, prayer is a dialogue with God...Yes, prayer starts with God, not us, and it is the Spirit of God that urges us to cooperate with God's grace...Yes, it takes time to enjoy prayer...Yes, it is in the Eucharist that the Church prays since through it Christ himself is praying in his sacrifice. But the most important element in prayer is love...that is Christ - that is God.