"In Christ and through him, we can speak freely to God, drawing near to him in confidence."

These concluding words from today-s passage from the Letter to the Ephesians are not a mere opinion of the writer. The doctrine contained in these few words derives from the teaching of Jesus himself, as recorded in the Gospels, especially in the Gospel according to John, and is close to the doctrine on confidence in prayer as taught by Saint John in his First Letter.

Jesus taught us to pray to God the Father directly in the "Our Father", a prayer which we can and do use freely and which is naturally incorporated into the Mass. He reaffirmed this teaching at the Last Supper, affirming that we could pray to the Father in his name (John. 16:23).

Jesus also taught us that no one could go to the Father except through him, since He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) thus giving us access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). He continually gives us hope and confidence for he lives with us as our hope of attaining glory (Colossians 1:27).