There are many ways we can approach God in prayer. The reality of prayer is an umbrella and the highest and most basic of these ways is blessing and adoration. After blessing and adoration, as we acknowledge the sovereignty and majesty of God and realize that he calls us to himself, we are then able to approach him and offer the prayer of supplication.
The prayer of supplication is diverse and wide-ranging. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even ‘struggle in prayer.’”
Many verbs are used to describe supplication since it involves an act of trust and an outpouring of the soul to God. Supplication is accepting our need before God, voicing it, and admitting the fact that we cannot fulfill the need ourselves. Supplication is wrestling with problems and confessing before God that we cannot fix them. Supplication is the bedrock of humility. It touches the core of our being, which is why so many numerous verbs are needed to describe its complex reality.
Of the many ways of portraying supplication, the Catechism summarizes them and teaches us: “Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end.”
The acceptance of our reliance on God and the realization of our need for him and his desire to help us is the birth of sincere and on-going petition. As we begin to have confidence in God and his providence over our lives, we are comfortable placing our petitions before him. By making our petitions, we understand the goodness of God in a more profound way and embrace that goodness in our prayer life.
The prayer of petition is not a wish list. It is not a series of demands imposed upon God that he somehow needs to fulfill in order for us to believe in him or have trust in him. Our petitions are made within the context of our confidence in him and with the firm conviction of our heart: “Your will be done, O Lord.”
As we place our petitions before God, we surrender our own ambitions and plans. We recognize and accept that we cannot do anything by ourselves and we beseech God to enter into our fray and bring peace and resolution to our difficulties. We accept our vulnerability and weaknesses and present them to God with open hearts.
As we confess our sins and disclose our brokenness, we begin the path back to God. The path is marked by our blessing and adoration and by our supplication. We are sinners who know we are loved and care for. We are children who have strayed from our heavenly Father and are being called back to closeness with him. As a part of our return to him, we lift up our heart in supplication. We place our needs and petitions before God knowing with confidence that they will be answered according to his goodness.
The Catechism teaches us: ““We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.”
We do not give our petitions to someone who scorns us. We do not disclose our vulnerability to someone who will hurt us. We do not offer our petitions to someone who will manipulate or take advantage of us. As such, the placing of our petitions before God is a return to him. It is an act of trust and love in God. Our petitions are a sign of our desire for union with him and a declaration of our love and trust in him.
Our petitions will not always be answered according to our wants, needs, and hopes. Our petitions are placed before the providence of God. We ask for the faith to accept whatever answer God gives us. We ask for the humility to listen and show docility before God. We pray for a trusting spirit as God answers our prayers and petitions. We pray with sincerity of heart that God’s will be done.
We begin a life of prayer by blessing and adoring God. As we confess his sovereignty, and recognize our place before him, we can then accept his invitation and offer our supplication before him.
