What implications about the mystery of God are hidden in Christian common prayers?

You may know the few ordinary words that compose the simple prayers said during mass by heart. Now you can explore the profound and touching meaning of those words.

With this thoughtful new series by Catholic Priest, Notre Dame Professor, theologian and author, Nicholas Ayo, you’ll examine the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Gloria Patri with new understanding. Professor Ayo shows how prayer always proceeds theology much as spoken language precedes the compilation of a dictionary or historical events precede written history. See these great prayers as windows into a deeper theology.

You’ll understand how the first Christians lived the faith before the Gospels where written, and how the Apostles’ Creed served as a baptismal creed and a profound summary and distillation of what Jesus of Nazareth meant for Christians in the past, in the present, and in the future of humanity and the whole world. Father Ayo presents the Creed in its fullness, without distortion, and with full recognition that such a distilled and concise "symbol" requires an adequate explanation and a heartfelt commentary. Although the Creed developed over centuries, the basic Trinitarian structure was there from the beginning.

Experience Old Prayers with New Understanding

Three other Christian prayers rank with the Creed as the most known and prayed of all Christian prayers. The Lord’s Prayer originates in the words of Jesus who told his disciples when they prayed to say: "Our Father." Those two words alone may be thought to summarize the whole Lord’s Prayer, which in turn may well summarize the whole Gospel.

The Lord’s Prayer is a very humble and very reverent recognition of what is basic and important to all human beings, whatever their situation or their faith. You will examine the Hail Mary—the Ave Maria of song and tradition—a prayer particularly loved by Catholics, but one which belongs to all Christians. No one but Mary knew Jesus from the moment of his conception to the moment of his death and beyond.

Understand the significance of the most recognized and known doxological prayer found in Christian prayer, the Gloria Patri, known in English as "Glory Be to the Father". This prayer remains an ancient formulation of the essence of religion and Christianity most specifically.

Father Ayo with explain the four modalities of prayer: prayer of praise, prayer of forgiveness, prayer of thanksgiving, and prayer of petition, and how it is best to use them. Explore the wonders of prayer with both scholarship and poetry, taking a hard look the facts and a gentle look of what is dreamed in the human heart.

Make This Innovative, Effortless New Learning Solution Your Own

In short, these 18 talks form an invaluable guide to the wonders of prayer. Don’t miss them — order your set today.

Fr. Nicholas Ayo is a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross. He received the S.T.L. degree from the Gregorian University in Rome and the Ph.D. in literature from Duke University. He was the Director of Novices for the Congregation of Holy Cross in North America for six years and taught in the Great Books Program at the University of Notre Dame until 2004, when he retired to Professor Emeritus status. Examples of his many books include: The Creed as Symbol, the Lord’s Prayer, The Hail Mary: A Verbal Icon, and his most recent book, Gloria Patri: The History and Theology of the Lesser Doxology.

Photo by Matt Cashore

Go back to top of page.
Read more about this speaker.
See other programs presented by this speaker.

1. Introduction

2. Apostles’ Creed: Article One

3. Apostles’ Creed: Article Two

4. Apostles’ Creed: Article Three

5. Apostles’ Creed: Article Four

6. Apostles’ Creed: Article Five

7. Apostles’ Creed: Article Six

8. Apostles’ Creed: Article Seven

9. Apostles’ Creed: Article Eight

10. Apostles’ Creed: Article Nine

11. Apostles’ Creed: Article Ten

12. Apostles’ Creed: Article Eleven

13. Apostles’ Creed: Article Twelve

14. Prayer as mystery

15. Lord’s Prayer: Part 1

16. Lord’s Prayer: Part 2

17. Hail Mary

18. Gloria Patri

Go back to top of page.