In the Old Testament, the revelation of prayer comes between the fall and the restoration of man, that is, between God's sorrowful call to his first children: "Where are you? . . . What is this that you have done?" and the response of God's only Son on coming into the world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events.
Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican.va)