Reflections

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think they will be heard because of their many words.
(Matthew 6:7)

My Jesus, please help me to pray today as you taught us. Let me consider each word.

You tell us to pray to “our Father,” not “my Father.”

Father, you are the Creator of us all, not merely the progenitor but the infuser of life. You are one, and you make us one with you.

You are in Heaven. What is that except wherever you are? Your Son brings heaven to us; he restores us to your Presence.

Your name is holy, so holy that the Jews dared not pronounce it but substituted “Adonai,” or Lord.

Your kingdom is here, now, and eternal. Your will is done, whether or not we cooperate with it. When we do seek it and strive to carry it out, we share the joy of your everlasting creation, “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Each day, you provide whatever we need, bread for our body and Eucharist for our spirit.

Perhaps the most important word in the prayer you gave us is “as.” We say not only, “as it is in heaven,” but “as we forgive those…” You forgive us to the extent that we forgive others. Every time I say this and mean it, I promise to forgive as you did, my Jesus, even from the cross. Let me not rattle off these words without considering them.

You will deliver me from evil and lead me out of temptation. My Jesus, I trust in you. Hear my prayer. Thy will be done in this moment and every moment.

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