Monday, October 24, 2005
Baltimore Basilica Restoration
I picked up a brochure for the Baltimore Basilica at the Baltimore Visitors Center on the Inner Harbor earlier this month, but found out the cathedral ("America’s First Cathedral,” the brochure announces) is closed for renovation. It is scheduled to reopen in November 2006.
The Baltimore Basilica was the site of the Third Plenary Council, which wrote the Baltimore Catechism. That catechism includes this description of prayer:
475. What is prayer?
Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.
Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. (Lamentations 3:41)476. Why do we pray?
We pray:
first, to adore God, expressing to Him our love and loyalty;
second, to thank Him for His favors;
third, to obtain from Him the pardon of our sins and the remission of their punishment;
fourth, to ask for graces and blessings for ourselves and others.
Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. (Matthew 26:41)477. How should we pray?
We should pray:
first, with attention;
second, with a conviction of our own helplessness and our dependence upon God;
third, with a great desire for the graces we beg of Him;
fourth, with loving trust in His goodness;
fifth, with perseverance.
And all things whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive. (Matthew 21:22)
Earlier: Worship in Historic Baltimore
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