How should one pray the Catechism of the Catholic Church?
I was inspired to ask this question after reading an appealing book titled ‘Pray the Missal’. I wonder anyone who has finished the CCC and profited from it SPIRITUALLY and assimilate it into one’s prayer life (NOT INTELLECTUALLY OR ACADEMICALLY).
Many ways. Of course while the Catechism has some prayers in them, they are included by way of example and as teaching tools, and the Catechism is primarily a teaching document, while the Missal of course, by its very nature, is a book of nothing but prayer…
Nonetheless, you can indeed use the Catechism as an aid to prayer. For example, let’s say you’re studying the section “Life in Christ” and you come across somewhere in the Ten Commandments something that strikes you as a pet weakness. You can then lift up that particular weakness in prayer asking for the grace to overcome it, perhaps even rephrasing the Catechism’s words in prayer form.
For example, you can pray something like “Lord, grant me the grace of self-mastery, that I may not trust in my own strength but in your constant help. May I renew this effort through all the stages of my life, intensifying it when it is needed most, so that I may not be a slave to my passions, but may subdue them and so live a life pleasing to you. Through Christ our Lord.”
I just banged that out based on CCC 2342.
So, something like that.
