Hello, Christ the King Family,
Last Sunday we were encouraged to choose the better part along with Mary of Bethany and place ourselves spiritually at the feet of Jesus, so it is quite beautiful then that our Gospel reading this Sunday continues that theme of prayer. First, Jesus shares with his disciples the prayer we have come to call The Lord’s Prayer. Perhaps it can seem like such a simple gift—it is probably the prayer we first learned when we were very young—but what a tremendous and powerful gift this prayer is! Since we pray this prayer so often, it can often feel like a rote recitation, and yet this simple prayer is such a powerful invitation to a deeper contemplation of who God is and who we are. St. Teresa of Avila would urge her Carmelite sisters to take time occasionally to really slow down and pray this prayer reflectively, line-by-line. Consider what each line of that prayer tells us, and here is just a starting-point:
-We join Jesus in calling God Father (Abba), uniting our voices with the Son, and in turn acknowledging that we are children of none other than God the Most High.
-We praise his Holy Name—that God who is transcendent mystery, still reveals Himself to us and desires a named relationship with us.
-We long for the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom and place our trust in God’s will to fulfill every promise He has made.
-We trust that our Father knows what we truly need and ask that we can always be close to that Daily Bread of the Eucharist to sustain us.
-We ask for the grace to embody the same merciful love that God offered us first in Jesus Christ.
-And we acknowledge that without God’s help and grace, we are prone to fall, and that we need a deliverance we cannot give ourselves.
Along with this prayer of incomparable value, Jesus also reminds us how God responds to our prayers we offer to Him. It is not the case that God is the annoyed friend who is bothered by the insistence of his neighbor in need. Your prayers never bother God—He is God, after all, He can handle it! But Our Lord is trying to show us that even in human situations of friendship that are trying and demanding, the goodness of that bond of connection shines through human limitations and imperfections. If there is an attentiveness and goodness that shines through imperfect relationships between one human being and another, how much more will it shine through in relationships between human beings and their loving God? And that is a relationship God always desires and offers. Perhaps as St. Padre Pio beautifully and succinctly put it: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
Prayers & Peace,
Fr. David
Comments are closed