The first priority in Archbishop Mark’s Apostolic Priorities for the Archdiocese of Brisbane, documented in With Lamps Ablaze, is Teaching Prayer. He says, “Often we urge people to pray but don’t really teach them how to pray… Now is the time to teach ways of prayer which are mature and all-embracing. Christian prayer begins not with speaking but with listening; and learning to pray is therefore learning to listen – to listen even to the silences of God. If all we do is speak, then in the words of Jesus we “babble like the pagans” (Matt 6:7). But if we speak after listening and in response to God who always has the first word, then we speak according to the mind of the Holy Spirit. That’s what we need to teach and learn. In the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus called the twelve apostles to himself, first of all, “that they might be with him” (3:14). This is where the mission starts: being with Jesus, which is what prayer is.”

Join us for our new weekly series, Let’s Pray, where we invite you to pray along with us. Each week we will invite you to pray a new prayer with us – maybe you don’t know what to pray, or want to pray along with someone, or want to practice your faith through prayer. Our Let’s Pray series is for everyone.

This instrumental, performed by Christopher Trikilis who is the Director of Music at the Cathedral of St Stephen, is a wonderful accompaniment to a reflection on Psalm 130, “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” by Johann Sebastian Bach. This penitential Psalm traditionally said for for the souls of the dead. In 1736 Pope Clement XII encouraged Catholics to pray this Psalm for the dead, even making it a part of a person’s daily schedule. So, let’s pray for the faithful departed.

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine
Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord.

• I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ (Johann Sebastian Bach)

  I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ (Johann Sebastian Bach)

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 639 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
  Christopher Trikilis, Organ (Instrumental Track)

  ‘I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ’ is Bach’s most famous interpretation of the penitential Psalm 130.