This Coptic icon of Pentecost has been chosen to prepare the reader of the Compendium for the section on Prayer. It has been chosen to lead us into, and open us up to, Christian prayer. The Church wants this icon to teach us the Christian foundations for prayer. Christian prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God – as prayer is for all people of all religions and none - but specifically Christian prayer is also much more than this.
We are reminded in Scripture that Jesus had told his apostles that, after his Ascension, they were ‘to wait for the promise of the Father’ which was the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’. The Apostles humbly trusted Christ, now risen from the dead, and decided to wait by praying. ‘Humility is the foundation of prayer’ (CCC 2559).
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