Friends,
the Gospel for today is of great moment, for in it the Son of God
teaches us to pray. Our teacher is not just a guru, a spiritual sage, or
a religious genius, but the Son of God. This is why the Our Father is
the model of all prayer. A desire to pray is planted deep within us, the
desire to speak to God and to listen to him. We can forget to pray,
neglect to pray, become lazy in prayer, but we can never really lose the
desire to pray.
And
so let us attend carefully to the first words of Jesus' great prayer:
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Our basic problem
is getting our priorities mixed up. We seek all kinds of worldly
things—money, pleasure, power, honor—all of which are unsatisfying.
What
we should desire, first, is God. This is precisely what the prayer to
hallow the name of God is all about. It's not that God's name isn't in
fact hallowed, but we're praying that we might keep it that way, that we
might honor God in all things. We're praying for a radical
reorientation of our consciousness.
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"This is how you are to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
"If you forgive men their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
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