Let’s try to abandon ourselves in the arms of God; let us trust and surrender to his creative action which is forgiveness and salvation for all of us and we will understand that prayer and praise thus become the means to be guided, step by step, in the paths of true Christian life. Jesus is Lord! Amen, Hallelujah!
When the Spirit pours out, when the Spirit manifests himself, hearts are inflamed and the Spirit himself incites and leads to the praise and glorification of God. But what does the prayer of praise consist of? And what does it mean to praise? To praise is to praise God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit for what He is: holy, strong, omniscient, omnipresent, patient and faithful, he is unique and he is Trinity. We praise him for creation, we praise him for what he has done for us, for our life and for our body, for our parents and family members, for our brothers or sisters, for our husband, for our wife, for our children, for friends. We praise him for the water, for the air we breathe, for the food. We praise him because everything is grace!
Characteristics of the prayer of praise
We were created for the praise and glory of God. After sin we were redeemed for the praise of his glory (cf. Eph. 1, 13 -14). God created him to make him participate in his life, in his love and in his happiness. The man-creature, feeling happy, is spontaneously induced to turn to God in adoration and praise.
Praise should flow naturally from his heart
The problem with the lack of spontaneity in praise lies in the fact that sin has entered his life. Man no longer perceives the wonders of God. If he had not sinned, and if he did not sin, praise would be as natural to man as breathing, eating, or living. The more we are free from sin and bonds, the more our eyes will be opened and our hearts will be set on fire to praise God.
Praise is biblical
All the great characters of the Bible who performed great deeds for the Lord. A particular reference goes to the psalms of David: a good part of the 150 psalms are of praise. You will be hard pressed to find a psalm that does not contain, at least, one verse or verse that does not praise God.
Praise is liturgical
The liturgy of the Church has among its main objectives that of leading the people of God to praise the Lord. The celebration of divine worship, of the Sacraments, of the Eucharist is constantly punctuated by expressions or prayers of praise.
Praise is a powerful prayer
When we praise God for his qualities and works, it is as if we “provoked” all the power of his love in his heart. With praise we attract God’s powerful love to us, which will manifest itself in concrete, and sometimes wonderful, works. People with health problems, or vices, or family problems, work problems, coexistence problems, when they praise God with sincerity, receive wonderful solutions for their problems from God.
Praise is a prayer that liberates
The prayer of praise has in itself a liberating force. It attracts the liberating power of God to us to free us from any power that dominates us. It frees us from sins, from vices, from subjection to evil, from malignant contagions. People who are slaves to shyness, to rejection of themselves, of parts of their own body and of complexes in general, when they praise God for all his qualities and abilities, feel liberated and healed. The prayer of praise frees us from hatred and envy.
Praise generates joy and optimism
The true prayer of praise is a privileged source of joy and optimism because it opens our eyes to the good side of the world, of people, of life, of the whole world.
The praise of man as a whole
The prayer of praise can and should be achieved through the commitment and participation of our entire being: spirit, intelligence, will, imagination, emotion, body positions, gestures, voice, musical instruments. Without this inner inspiration, external manifestations do not have much meaning.
Introduce praise into life
For each of us to participate deeply in charismatic prayer we must learn, practice and live in our lives the wonderful, powerful and so sublime prayer of praise. Whoever does not praise God, freely, cheerfully, even pleasantly, in his personal, particular prayer life, will not be able to participate joyfully in community prayer meetings.
Pope Francis’ invitation
Addressing the Renewal in the Holy Spirit received in audience last January 20, Pope Francis recalled that one of the founding aspects of the charismatic Renewal is the service of prayer, especially adoration and praise. Let us then try to abandon ourselves in the arms of God; let us trust and surrender to his creative action which is forgiveness and salvation for all of us and we will understand that prayer and praise thus become the means to be guided, step by step, in the paths of true Christian life. Jesus is Lord! Amen, Hallelujah!
