Lord’s Prayer

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Est 4:17 Within your will, O Lord, all things are established, and there is none that can resist your will. For you have made all things, the heaven and the earth, and all that is held within the circle of heaven; you are the Lord of all.

Collect Almighty ever‑living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever

Scripture today: Galatians 2:1-2. 7-14; Psalm 116; Luke 11:1-4

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he 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. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' (Luke 11:1-4)

Lord’s Prayer Every saint is extraordinary, not for any extraordinary things he may do, but for the extraordinarily holy way he does the normally ordinary things. That said, one of the extraordinary saints of the nineteenth century was a parish priest in the backwater village of Ars, in France. Jean-MarieVianney, known popularly as the Cure of Ars, had a striking range of charisms as a parish priest. He could read the hearts of souls and convert sinners. His spiritual power in the Confessional was very great, but one notable feature was the way he said Mass. He was filled with prayer and with God during his celebration of Mass. It was manifest to observers that he was in communication with God during prayer. Now, however striking the spiritual life and the prayer of a particular saint, that saint merely reflects to a point the spiritual life of Jesus Christ. He but shares in the Spirit of Jesus, and Jesus Christ far outstrips him because he, Jesus, is the Son of God. To behold the Cure of Ars at prayer and celebrating Mass was a most moving experience, but what must it have been to see Jesus Christ at prayer with his heavenly Father! Imagine Christ communing in prayer with his heavenly Father — Father and Son in converse with one another. This is what our Lord’s disciples observed. They lived with him, travelled with him, heard him, spoke with him, dined with him, and in general observed him more closely than anyone else had, with the exception of his own most holy mother and his foster-father, at Nazareth. The Twelve came to know Jesus Christ as few others ever could — this was their privilege and their responsibility. How great the responsibility of Judas in falling away from the personal friendship of Christ — not only a responsibility for his own salvation, but a responsibility for the vocation as an Apostle that was granted to him! The disciples also observed Christ at prayer. In our Gospel passage today (Luke 11:1-4) we read that “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” There was no master of prayer who could match Jesus Christ.

Yes, Christ is the peerless master of prayer. But notice how simple, brief, and seemingly ordinary the prayer is that he taught his disciples to say. In Luke’s version of it, briefer than Matthew’s, it lasts a mere two lines. It is strikingly simple and brief. There are many much longer prayers in the Scriptures — the average psalm would be longer, and Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper is much longer. It clearly shows that our Lord’s own prayer was simple, and that he wishes our prayer to be simple too. In fact, so brief and simple is it that it easily leads to prayer that is wordless. The Lord’s Prayer suggests that the principal component of prayer is not many words, but the intent that informs them. The words ought be heartfelt, expressing the heart’s sigh and yearning, borne along by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who prays from within us. If this is the prayer that our Redeemer taught us to use in our converse with God our Father, then the elements that make it up are calculated to encompass all our needs. How simple the prayer! “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:1-4). The first thing we pray for, reflecting the earnest desire of our Lord himself, is that God will be honoured and glorified. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. This will happen the more Jesus Christ is accepted as Lord of lords and King of kings. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, he told his disciples. That authority is being wielded in order to bring all things to the feet of God our Father, and at the end, God will be all in all. For this we pray, at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer. The kingdom of God advances the more mankind enters into the friendship of Jesus Christ, and lives according to the demands of that most holy friendship. We pray for all our needs. Our greatest need is for Jesus Christ, and so our true bread is the Holy Eucharist, the bread of heaven and the bread of life, his body and blood. We pray for forgiveness and the grace to forgive all those who have injured us. Finally we pray to be kept from sin.

Let us love the Lord’s Prayer, and never let it become a prayer of rote or routine. We could not do better than die with this prayer on our lips, together with the Hail Mary, and the Glory be to the Father prayer. The Lord’s Prayer was, I think, the last prayer on the lips of Pope Paul VI, whose Cause for Canonization is proceeding. Jesus Christ is our model of prayer and he is our master who teaches us how to pray. Furthermore, and most importantly, he gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit, who enables us to pray and to share in the prayer of Jesus Christ. Pray, then!

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second reflection: (Luke 11:1-4)

Lord, Teach Us To Pray It ought be fairly obvious that it is extremely difficult to be saved if one does not pray, and impossible if one refuses to pray. The purpose of life is to know, love and serve God here on earth, and how could we do this if we do not pray? Moreover, if we are to advance in the knowledge and love of God, we must advance in our life of prayer. But there is a more fundamental consideration. The love of God, and the life of prayer which is its precondition, is the gift of God, the fruit of his grace. It is a blessing, a favour to be asked for. And so we can understand the request of the disciples to our Lord that he teach them to pray: "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He had been praying! Imagine how they would have gazed on the Lord at prayer, how they would have marvelled at what they saw, how they would have loved to share in his life of prayer.

All the Lord's disciples are called by their vocation to be part of his life of prayer. We are called to live in union with him in his life of prayer, and to pray with him to the Father. This is a great grace to be continually sought and requested: Lord teach me, teach us, to pray. The Lord's Prayer is Christ's answer to this request. So all our lives we ought be learning from the Lord's Prayer, and especially from that part in it which begs forgiveness and which promises to forgive others.

(E.J.Tyler)

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