THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER IN THE JERUSALEM CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF ACTS
THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER IN THE JERUSALEM CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF ACTS

Summary/Abstract: One of the recurring elements in the Lucan Diptych is precisely the practice of prayer by all its characters. From Jesus to Mary and the disciples, and from the women to the first Christian community everyone is said to pray in the Gospel and the Book of Acts. The initial path of the Church is marked, above all, by the action of the Holy Spirit, who transforms the Apostles into witnesses of the Risen One who express themselves not only in the Word but also in the shedding of their own blood. Their testimony spread rapidly from Jerusalem and Antioch to the West until it reached the capital of the empire in Rome, as the Lord said in Acts 1:8: “you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth's remotest end.” The entire book of Acts reveals a praying Church, a community of faithful deeply rooted in prayer. Both as a community and as individuals, they pray continually, thus fulfilling the prayer mandate given by Jesus in the Gospel: “Stay awake, praying at all times” (Lk 21:36)

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