God consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we all know. Jesus is said to have been fully human, as well as fully God. This is a mystery in itself. In fact, my question contains many sub-questions. Jesus prayed a lot. We know he prayed for 40 days before entering into his Earthly ministry. We also know of numerous stories of Jesus retreating to be alone and pray. Jesus gave us the example of praying to “Our Father”. My question is that since Jesus is fully God, (as well as fully human), why did he pray? There is only one God, and Jesus is fully God. Therefore, if Jesus is God, why did he pray to God? Was he praying to Himself?
Sincerely, Why?

Dear Why,

This question touches on the two most fundamental Christian mysteries: the Trinity (who God is and what God is like) and Christology (who Jesus is and what difference he makes). Fortunately you seem to be aware of the doctrines that there is only one God but three divine persons and that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine.

So we can focus on the question about Jesus and prayer: If Jesus is God, why would he pray? And underlying that is the question of what Jesus is doing when he prays (or what is anyone doing when they pray, for that matter).

Essentially, I would say that prayer is communing with God. It is true that Jesus is God, but as the Second Person of the Trinity he is also distinct from the other two persons (the Father and the Holy Spirit). So when Jesus prayed he was communing with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Since Jesus is also fully human, when he prayed he modeled what prayer is for all of us – communing with God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is true that because Jesus is himself divine as well as human, his communing with God would have a different quality than our prayer. But for both Jesus and the rest of us, it is a question of expressing and nurturing a relationship. As with any relationship there are different moments and dimensions that need to be expressed in different ways. Once we are in relationship with God sometimes our communing (prayer) is full of gratitude, sometimes we say we’re sorry, sometimes we are asking for what we need, and always we praise God and entrust ourselves to him.

Jesus is an absolutely unique person, so his prayer was also unique; but we are all like Jesus insofar as we need to be in communion with the One “in whom we live and move and have our being.” Jesus has shown us the way.

aka Fr. David C.Ss.R.