What a brilliant chapter! I just leafed through this chapter again, and am continually impressed with how this chapter is a gem of understanding. Those of you who have not read Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth" book yet, and if you know you are the type to hop around in books, or not finish them, you would have great value by reading Chapter 5 first.
The first part of Chapter 5, while it's not a primer on how to pray, might as well be, because Benedict practically reads the mind of Jesus in using his words and actions to establish the most fruitful means to pray. He points out something I've mentioned a number of times, that Jesus prayed to God not only for his own dialogue with God, but to be the ultimate role model and inflame the desire to pray as intensely in his disciples who observed him. If you are having a dry spell at praying, or are just getting back into prayer, the first section of this chapter is just for you.
Then Benedict does a line by line examination of the "Our Father," the prayer that Jesus taught. Here Benedict helps the reader to "meet" and "understand" God, just as Jesus did. Benedict uses the teachings of Jesus to illuminate the personality of God, and to help understand who God is and what is his will.
Because Benedict is, how can I express it best, almost browsing through interaction with Jesus like he was a fellow disciple, listening and striving to understand each of the words and actions of Jesus, this is not a scholarly or erudite toned chapter, and is so accessible to anyone. It is both illuminating and personal, and therefore every enjoyable and valuable.
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