As we pray, we are led to a deeper communion with the heart of the Lord Jesus. All our prayers find strength and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. As the Paschal Mystery of his passion, death, and resurrection are the apex of his life and ministry, we find everything in life bound and united in that singular, powerful mystery as it is redeemed and offered to the Father.

The Paschal Mystery contains the entire reality of human life. It is the consummation of the covenant drama between God and humanity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “In this Paschal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ: God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life and time; the love that hands itself over and the sin that betrays it; the disciples present and those who will believe in him by their word; humiliation and glory. It is the prayer of unity.”

The Paschal Mystery is the moment of completion. It is the source of unity. It is the cause of new beginnings. In the Paschal Mystery, we are able to understand and realize all that the Lord Jesus prayed on our behalf.

The Lord Jesus was obedient to the Father and did all that was asked of him. He brought forth our redemption through love and sacrifice. Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the prayers of his disciples, the Lord’s saving work continues until the end of time. The Catechism observes: “Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time.”

In the Paschal Mystery, we see the tasks before us and ahead of us. We yearn for the coming of God’s kingdom in our world today, just as we concurrently pine for Second Coming and the fulfillment of all things in him. It is the Lord’s sacrifice and his high priestly prayer offered at the beginning of his passion that directs and orders our hopes and longings.

The Catechism explains: “The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation.”

As the Lord Jesus accepted the status of a servant, so he exemplified himself as true Son of the Father. The Catechism teaches: “Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh. The Son, who made himself Servant, is Lord, the Pantocrator.”

As the Lord Jesus loves and is pleasing to the Father, so his sacrifice endures for all time. The high priestly prayer is the running commentary and definitive instruction on what Jesus Christ, Servant and Son, has accomplished on our behalf.

As we realize the saving work of the Lord Jesus, we are invited to unite ourselves ever more closely to him. We are led to pray as he prayed and to let our prayers be united with his own prayers. By the Lord’s association with us, we are one with him.

In this mystery, it is the Lord Jesus who prays in us. He is also the one who hears our prays and answers them. In our prayers, we encounter the Lord, true God and true man. By praying in him, we experience the beauty of his hypostatic union.

The Catechism observes: “Our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer.”

The call to prayer is not simply about asking for what we want. It is not about psychological consolations, warm fuzzies, or renewed self-determination. Prayer is not a part of the self-help process. Prayer is about surrendering our lives to the Lord, who surrendered his life for us. Prayer is about union with the Lord, who unites himself to us. Prayer is about encounter, experience, dialogue, shared sacrifice, and communion.

In this way, prayer becomes a small taste of heaven. In our time of prayer, we taste and see the goodness of the Lord. We are able to make his prayer our own prayer and so write our own high priestly prayer in him. As the Lord offered sacrifice and prayed to the Father, so we – united in him – can offer the sacrifice of our lives and pray to the Father with him.

This is the mystery and the greatness of prayer that is offered to us in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man.