by Sr. M Monica O.S.A.

Jesus, who is Truth, does not allow for compromises. Instead, he nourishes us with himself to help us grow with him and in him. At the center of the "Our Father," Jesus summarizes the desires of humankind and invokes the Father not to leave us without our daily bread. This is because Jesus knows our hunger and our restlessness, and so we can now experience "how beautifully the new Eucharistic bread is relayed to our daily bread, how the Eucharistic bread imparts its blessing to the daily bread.."

Prayer is an act of being. It is central to the person of Jesus, and sharing his prayer is the prerequisite for knowing and understanding Jesus. Prayer is transferring oneself into the body of Christ; an act of love which, as love for and with the body of Christ, and also love of neighbour as members of that body, necessarily and always recognizes and complements our love of God.

Communion with the prayer of Jesus therefore includes communion with all his brothers and sisters. Coexistence with his person, which derives from participation in his prayer, constitutes that wider existence which St Paul terms "the body of Christ." The Church, the "body of Christ," is the true subject of the knowledge of Jesus.

The transcendence of our own life demands the way of prayer, not only private prayer but also the prayer of the Church, that is, the Sacraments. We should become one with the heart of Jesus in all aspects of our daily life, in our feelings, in our will and intellect, allowing ourselves to be intimately penetrated in the innermost recesses of our being by the life of Jesus.