Prayer: The Mission of the Church

Ressourcement

by Jean Daniélou

Catholic scholar Jean Danielou considers the centrality of prayer for the Christian layperson, developing the insight that the active, missionary dimension of the Christian life is in fact the "self-unfolding" of contemplation.

Genres: Theology, Prayer, Spirituality

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 1996

About the author

Jean Daniélou S.J. (1905–1974) was a theologian, historian, cardinal and a member of the Académie Française.

Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, son of Charles and Madeleine (née Clamorgan). His father was an anticlerical politician, several times minister, and his mother an educator and founder of institutions for women's education. His brother Alain (1907–1964) was a noted Indologist.

Daniélou studied at the Sorbonne, and passed his agrégation in Grammar in 1927. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1929, becoming an educator, initially at a boys' school in Poitiers. He subsequently studied theology at Fourvière in Lyon under Henri de Lubac, who introduced him to patristics, the study of the Fathers of the Church. He was ordained in 1938.

During World War II, he served with the Armée de l'Air (Air Force) in 1939–1940. He was demobilised and returned to civilian life. He received his doctorate in theology in 1942 and was appointed chaplain to the ENSJF, the female section of the École Normale Supérieure, at Sèvres. It was at this time that he began his own writings on patristics. He was one of the founders of the Sources Chrétiennes collection. In 1944 he was made Professor of Early Christian History at the Institut Catholique de Paris, and later became dean. Beginning in the 1950s, he produced several historical studies, including The Bible and the Liturgy, The Lord of History, and From Shadows to Reality, that provided a major impetus to the development of Covenantal Theology.

At the request of Pope John XXIII, he served as an expert to the Second Vatican Council, and in 1969 was consecrated as a bishop and made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. He was elected to the Académie Française on 9 November 1972, to succeed Cardinal Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant.

His unexpected death in 1974, in the home of a prostitute, was very diversely interpreted. He died on the stairs of a brothel that he was visiting. It turned out he was bringing her money to pay for the bail of her lover. Thanks to a group including Henri Marrou, his reputation was cleared.

Reviews

[Dan]

From pg 95 of "Prayer: The Mission of the Church": "Prayer is related to mission because it is to the extent that we have discovered [through the gospel of Jesus Christ] who God is and how much a knowledge and love of God is constitutive of a comprehensive humanism and a full and complete existence that we suffer from, and are struck by, situations in which God is not known or loved. ... A recognition of a certain absence of God in the world is part of the missionary attitude. As we become aware of our relationship to God and of the vital revelation of God given to us in Christ we suffer to see that people ignore God altogether (the world of atheism [and functional atheism]), or that they fail to see the full truth of God (pagan religions, Islam, Judaism, [plastic Christianity])."

While I don't agree with everything that Danielou says, I find his dynamic connection between prayer and Jesus' continuing mission by his Spirit to be refreshing: not mere instrumentality or strategy, but robust witness to and participation in the continuing mission. Prayer draws us irresistibly into the mission as well as giving necessary sacramental witness to the Kingdom of the mission. Prayer is not merely about personal piety or leveraging the power of the gods to accomplish some presumed kingdom vision, but about drawing near to the throne of grace in the world's desperate hour of need.

[Rev James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great discussion on prayer

Very deep, genuine discussion on prayer especially in being guided in our prayer and how it guides our actions. How the Holy Spirit guides us in our prayer

[Jack Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, based on a series of talks given to the laity and published posthumously, in my opinion, form a good introduction to the thought of Jean Daniélou and his concerns. As others have noticed, the title was changed in English (this seems to happen a lot with French titles especially, I wonder why?). The original French title was 'Contemplation' therefore the subject goes beyond just prayer itself but reaches to the entire Christian life in its totality.

Daniélou begins with our relationship to God, the supreme reality. Contemplation involves recognising our relationship to God and appreciating his transcendence. Prayer is more than just words but involves a certain attitude towards God. Daniélou then moves on the central virtue of hope and what it means to us. Finally he brings in the mystery of the Trinity, first exploring Jesus Christ and our redemption and then the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in our lives. We adore the Father, the Son redeems us and the Spirit lives within us.

Mission is shown to be extremely important to Daniélou and it's clear how much he truly desired everyone to be saved and share in the fruits of Christ. He is at pains to show that contemplation and prayer aren't opposed to mission and evangelisation but are in fact complementary and require each other. The contemplative always desires and prays for the salvation of others and the missionary must always be in tune with God. The unfolding of the Holy Spirit in our lives is primarily in order to expand the Kingdom of God to encompass everyone.

I would recommend this book as edifying reading for anyone interested in living a Christian life or interested in Jean Daniélou. I would rate 5 stars but it wasn't entirely riveting in my opinion, although some sections certainly were. Depending on your background and prior knowledge some of it might feel obvious or some of it might feel very new and challenging. This is not a scholarly work and, being based on lectures, has little to no footnotes or citations (apart from Scripture, obviously).

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prayer, as shown in the Bible, isn't contemplation. There are only two verses in the entire bible which speak about meditating on God. Even if we interpret those two verses as referring to contemplation, that is a far cry from the strong association of prayer with contemplation that Danielou gives in this book. Danielou starts off with an incorrect view of prayer, and his entire book suffers as a result.

However, I do think we can steel man his case a bit. If we replace contemplation with worship, then this book becomes a lot stronger. In fact, his overall view of missions then looks remarkably similar to John Piper's claim that missions exists because worship doesn't. Danielou says that contemplation is the fuel for mission. While I don't think this is true, I do think worship is the fuel for mission. I think Danielou's understanding of contemplation is fundamentally an act of love and worship. Contemplation is not the same as prayer, but it is worship, and worship does provide the justification for mission that Danielou gives to mission.

[Peter Ralston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I opened this book with a prayerful intention, read the publisher's background explanation of the series of which this book is one volume, then compared the untranslated title in French to what I could discern from a standard French-English dictionary. A prayerful appeal to God at that moment led me not to continue reading this book, as the original title referred to "contemplation" more than to "prayer."