II. Prayer of Petition
Catechism number 2630
The
New Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the
Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by hope,
even if we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew
every day. Christian petition, what St. Paul calls {"groaning,"
arises from another depth, that of creation "in labor pains" and that
of ourselves "as we wait for the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved."103 In the end, however,
"with sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit "helps us in our
weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."104