Prayer in the Catechism - For Christ also suffered for sins once ... that he might lead you to God. 1 Peter 3:18

Part 4 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christian Prayer, begins with a startling revelation from John 4, the story of the woman at the well.  I have included 2 paragraphs below.

2560    “If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.

2561    “You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!” Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God.

The startling revelation for me was that God thirsts for us.  I had never thought about God thirsting for us all, and especially not for me.  Jesus thirsts for me that I might thirst for Him.  God's love poured into my soul through this truth and I was lost in grateful wonder for a couple of hours.  What an invitation to prayer!  God passionately longs for us to come to Him.

No wonder that James states with such certainty in James 4:8, "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you."  And I have found this statement to be true, especially when I tarry before the Lord through prayers, like the rosary, that keep me in prayer.  God shows up.  He reveals things to me as I meditate on the mysteries and helps me to remember people to bring before Him. He also steadies me and gives me strength for the day.

The Catechism section on Prayer has a lot of good information and teaching on prayer.