Prayer, by its very definition, is dialogue with God. But do we really know how to pray -- on our own, and together? It's a question with profound implications for each and every evangelization effort of the Catholic Church.

On April 22, Archbishop Salvatore "Rino" Fisichella, a pro-prefect in the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization and the lead organizer for the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, presented a lecture at The Catholic University of America in Washington that emphasized the vital role liturgical formation has in supporting the spiritual lives of Catholics.

Quoting Luke 11:1 -- the apostles' request to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray" -- Archbishop Fisichella said that for believers, Jesus Christ acts as both teacher and model.

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"If we pray, it is because Jesus prayed," the archbishop told an appreciative audience of prelates, clergy, religious friars and sisters, and laypeople. "We pray to Jesus -- but Jesus prays with us."

And yet, prayer is no easy undertaking.

"None of us," Archbishop Fisichella shared, "can deny that daily life is marked by a constant pressure to act -- which creates conditions of fatigue, confusion, indifference, and more."

Believers are aware of the need for prayer, yet something has seemingly been lost. The archbishop framed the dilemma in terms of garbled communications.

"We fall into the absurdity of trying to express ourselves in a foreign language that we suppose we know -- but instead, often without being understood by the native speaker," he suggested. "The first reaction is to think there is no way out between the desire and need to pray, and the relentless pressure of daily commitments," he said.

What, then, is the solution?

"The most immediate response," Archbishop Fisichella told the audience, "is both simple and demanding: One prays when one is in the presence of God."

And that's demanding because it asks for both conviction and silence.

"Any understanding between God and man must be on the basis of God's language, not our language. Therefore, in prayer, one must first be convinced of standing before a God who has spoken first," the archbishop said. "It is necessary ... to listen, and to receive the gift offered. Listening requires silence -- without which the Word does not reach us, leaving us incapable of entering into a real and authentic relationship with God."

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Liturgical prayer, Archbishop Fisichella shared, finds its reason for being in supporting the proclamation of the Gospel.

"Prayer, therefore, is not extraneous to evangelization," emphasized the archbishop, "which remains the first and indispensable action of the Church."

Prayer, and the breaking of the bread -- the liturgy -- belong together, he said, complementing one another and informing "a program of life in which evangelization, prayer, liturgy, charity, and holiness of life form a whole -- giving meaning to existence, and making the Gospel credible to our contemporaries."

We need to be certain of the presence of God, the archbishop said, so prayer doesn't become "a personal illusion. Believers must be offered a certainty that reassures them. Who can guarantee this certainty?" he asked.

The Church can, answered Archbishop Fisichella, "within whose communion I am to receive the assurance that God's word will ring out to me -- not from the far distant past, but as close and engaging ... as my presence here and now is concrete."

Liturgical prayer is the prototype of the Church's prayer, noted the archbishop -- and the priest is called to be a guarantee, for those who participate in the Eucharist, of the presence of God. Mercy and faithfulness should characterize his office.

Beauty is an essential element of the liturgy, Archbishop Fisichella added, "in order to evoke in every believer the supreme reality of encounter with the mystery of God." If beauty is lacking, he proposed, so is love -- and without love, the meaning of life and the effectiveness is prayer is also lacking.

It's important, however, to remember the essential function of the liturgy.

"All this is not primarily aimed at communicating doctrine," the archbishop told his listeners, "but evoking the presence of God."

Ultimately, prayer is both a personal and a communal act.

"Prayer is essential to faith," concluded Archbishop Fisichella. "Every prayer is permeated by faith in the mystery of the Trinity -- it is addressed to the Father, to Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and remains in its ecclesial dimension as an action of the Church, in the Church, and for the Church."

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Archbishop Fisichella's lecture was hosted by Welcoming Children in Worship, a four-year pastoral initiative led by Jem Sullivan, an associate professor of practice in Catechetics at Catholic University's School of Theology and Religious Studies.

(Kimberley Heatherington is a correspondent for OSV News.)