Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

 

Gospel Reading: Luke 11:1-4

 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:  Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

 

Have you ever heard someone speak and marveled at how eloquently the words came from their mouth. They seemed to have everything just right. That’s how Jesus’ disciples must have felt when they watched him pray to his Father. The disciples want to learn how to pray like him. This may seem like a very strange request, especially since Jews were very devoted to prayer. But Jesus must have been awesome to watch pray. His praying must have been inspirational to those who saw him. I’m sure they were expecting some long drawn out teaching, but Jesus responds with a simple response. Jesus responds to his disciples with the Lord’s Prayer; a simple yet confident prayer. It begins with a recognition of who God is - “Father, hallowed be thy name.” In the introduction, we recognize that God is Lord of All and that he his sacred. Then we recognize the fact that God’s kingdom is here on earth – “your kingdom come.” This is more than a statement, it is a request to bring forth the Kingdom that we may experience it for ourselves. In this statement, we recognize that we are building the Kingdom of God through the will of God.

 

To do God’s labor, we ask him to nourish us with what we need to survive the day – “Give us each day our daily bread.” When Moses lead the Jews from Egypt, God told them only to take what they needed for the day. To ask for any more is greedy and wasteful. We are told that the Lord will provide us with everything we need, we just need to trust him. Then we ask, “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is in debt to us.” It is important to ask the Lord for forgiveness every time we do something wrong. Every time we gossip, we hurt someone, we steal or we cheat, we must ask forgiveness from God. However, how can we ask for forgiveness if we fail to forgive those who have hurt us or sinned against us? When you start your evening reflection, you should start with a reflection of those who have sinned against you. This will allow you to remove the hatred or the resentment you might form against them. Once you forgive others, your heart will be freed then to accept the grace of forgiveness from God. In the last line he tells us to pray - “lead us not into temptation.” We are not asking God not to lead us into temptation because God would not do that. We are asking God to give us the strength to avoid sin and temptation. We are asking God for the strength to avoid the peer pressure and sinful desires of the world. It is us that must find the strength to avoid sin. The Lord’s Prayer is simple, yet confident. Pray with confidence in the word’s our Father gave us. Listen to the words and understand what you are asking. God’s unending grace will free us from the traps and snares which cause us to sin.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and

do not subject us to the final test.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon