Please explain "Circumincession/Perichoresis" and prayer. We never learned this in Catechism!

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I’m 61 years old, & Catholic from my mother’s womb. Two weeks ago I heard something like this: "Prayer is ‘joining in conversation between the Father, and the Son.’ " In my mind I’m saying, “Say what?” When I spoke to my Priest, to my horror, he said, “That’s right.” I went through the story about how the Sisters and Priests never taught us that in CCD; besides, I don’t even know what that means. I do, however, know about prayer as the “raising of one’s heart and mind to God”. Please explain this so I can get out of this “shock mode”. Don’t spare me; I want to know everything, as I’m getting older. Thank you.
 
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Would you mind explaining the two big words in the thread title?

We know the Trinity is united.
Maybe the priest was just trying to get at we speak to all Persons of the Trinity when we pray?
Or something like that?
Did Father give any clarification?
He didn’t mention the Holy Spirit?
 
This was a distributing of Holy Communion at my home. Father had his list of others to attend. Otherwise, he would have been more than happy to explain everything. The info that I gave, is all I have to go on. Had to look up the big words on the computer. 🙃
 
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I read it over–
I don’t immediately see anything that causes concern.

But I’m not gonna swear to it either 🙂

Sounds like a poetic way to express prayer?
 
Scoochy said:
to my horror
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Why would this be “to your horror”?
Scoochy said:
I do, however, know about prayer as the “raising of one’s heart and mind to God”
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Certainly.
Scoochy said:
Please explain this so I can get out of this “shock mode”
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What is shocking about prayer in relation to God being explained as a conversation with God? Communion with God?

From the Catechism:

Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ.
 
Scoochy said:
"Prayer is ‘joining in conversation between the Father, and the Son.’
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Actually, that is a pretty accurate description of what prayer is meant to be. I would add the phrase “in response to the urging of the Holy Spirit”.

I cannot understand why you would be shocked or horrified. You seem to have a rather passive and static view of the Trinity’s role in prayer.

The terms you mentioned are standard terms in both eastern and western Christianity. You’ll find plenty on the Catholic take on those terms if you search them in Google with the word “catholic” included.

I think you are losing sight of the fact of your main goal as a Christian. As Athanasius said, “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”
 
I THINK that it’s Theology, which I didn’t have. I’m in medical field.
 
I am confused about the title, can you explain it.

Prayer is a conversation with a God.
 
The tiny amount of info that I had to work with was this:
1.) The Holy Trinity has an “ongoing conversation” among the 3 Persons. NEW CONCEPT for me, but not disturbing. ✝️
2.) “To my horror”, because nobody ever explained to me that we would be “entering into” the Conversation among the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity. NOW, I understand the INTIMACY of prayer, as the intimacy spoken in the “Song of Solomon” (“Canticle of Canticles”, or “Song of Songs”). Thank you, God. Amen. 💖
 
Scoochy said:
“To my horror”, because nobody ever explained to me…
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Easier to understand now? After being Catholic all my life that nobody had ever explained to me in such depth. That is isn’t, but it could be, as simple as “raising one’s mind & heart to God”. There’s much more to it. If you will read slowly, with understanding, it would help.✝️
 
Guess I am blessed to have my raising done in the Church of Christ, Assemblies of God and various non-denominational congregations. I learned about prayer from the day I went into the “cradle roll”. The basic was always “prayer is talking with God”.

Vocal prayer, contemplative prayer, mental prayer, were simply part of our lives.

That book by Fr Dubay is an excellent book “The Prayer Primer”.
 
Scoochy said:
“ongoing conversation” among the 3 Persons
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The idea of a conversation between the 3 Persons of the Holy Trinity that we would be mingling in sounds very strange to me. The 3 are one and we approach them as One. If someone told me they heard a conversation between Father, Son and the Holy Spirit I would not think of it as revelation but probably disturbing temptation.
 
About the the terms in the title:
Perichoresis (from Greek: περιχώρησις perikhōrēsis, “rotation”)[1] is a term referring to the relationship of the three persons of the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to one another. Circumincession is a Latin-derived term for the same concept.[2] It was first used as a term in Christian theology, by the Church Fathers. The noun first appears in the writings of Maximus Confessor (d. 662) but the related verb perichoreo is found earlier in Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389/90).[3] Gregory used it to describe the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ as did John of Damascus (d. 749), who also extended it to the “interpenetration” of the three persons of the Trinity, and it became a technical term for the latter.[2][4] It has been given recent currency by such contemporary writers as Jürgen Moltmann, Miroslav Volf, John Zizioulas, and C. Baxter Kruger, and others.

Modern authors extend the original usage as an analogy to cover other interpersonal relationships. The term “co(-)inherence” is sometimes used as a synonym.[5]

Since humans are made in the image of God,[6] a Christian understanding of an adequate anthropology of humans’ social relations is informed by the divine attributes, what can be known of God’s activity and God’s presence in human affairs. Theologians of the Communio school such as Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, and Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) locate the reciprocal dynamism between God and God’s creatures in the liturgical action of sacrament, celebrating the sacred mysteries in Eucharistic communion, in a hermeneutic of continuity and apostolic unity.[relevant? – discuss]
Source

 
Perichoresis is formed from the root chorein, which is also the root of choreia=dance. Dance gives a better idea of the dynamic than conversation, since it gives the idea of coordinated movement among many persons. Conversation can be better in other contexts, but just to get some flavor of how it is used, dance is a good context.

What is vital to this is understanding the Holy Spirit as living in us. We received the Holy Spirit in baptism, and constantly the Spirit trains us through the sacraments, esp Eucharist, to dance. That training comes from within us, and outside of us. When speak a word aloud, by putting our breath into shapes of letters, we mimic God who puts the Spirit into the Word to create the world. That sense of following the lead of your partner is what I mean by mimic there.
 
Thank you very much. Deep. Have to masticate on this. Much appreciated.
 
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Many thanks. Was doing ok until I saw “Wikipedia” as source. A proper Catholic source is needed for my intellect, such as it is.
 
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Sorry, it’s “among”, for more than two (2). Just trying to get a handle on what my Priest said. (Do, please, forgive correction. Deep topics need careful, specific words.)
 
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