The Lord’s Prayer

Today’s Gospel Text: "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread; 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;  13 And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:7-15

Reflection: Who could reveal such secrets about God to us and look how ordinary he is made to look by Jesus to the extent of we having a close relationship with God as our dear Father.  

When we approach our God in liturgical worship he is rightly projected as a God who is Holy, at a distance to be honored and feared; approach him with a great reverence as we offer him his the sacrifice of his Son as a thanksgiving. 

The liturgical moment is a different moment and it has to be a sacred moment, where in we are encountering a God who was appeased by the blood of the Lamb, who took away that sin that separates us from God.

Thanks to that moment when Jesus through his death reconciled us to him on the cross that we “.. in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Eph 3:11-12 Douay-Rheims

Thanks to the work of Jesus, God is now no longer a far distance, angry God, spitting fire when demanding justly the worship of him.

He is now an accessible God,  a dear Father through Christ Jesus. He is not my Father but our Father, which means in union with all who call upon him as Father, we have the right to be children of him.

Jesus reveals to us that he is a Father who though holy and reigning in the highest heaven is willing to establish his kingdom in our midst, in our hearts and willing to work out his perfect will for the humbly disposed.

He is the provident God who provides for our needs and cares for us and expects us to be perfect as he is perfect by being instrument of forgiveness.

In other words we are called to imitate and be like God himself and live with him for all eternity.  He will equip us against the evil one who is a force constantly at work in our midst.

Prayer:  Our Father who art in heaven ……………..

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Be my Brother

Today’s Gospel Text: Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. 20 And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you." 21 But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." Luke 8:19-21

Reflection:  Was it an outright denial by Jesus of his mother and brothers? It seems so or it could mean that both is true.

Or else we could term Christ Jesus as a liar? Indeed these were his mother and brothers (according to most Asian tradition, a cousin is always looked upon as a brother and sister, this issue has already been discussed elsewhere, in a previous reflection before on this blog) at least in the physical sense.

Hence, it cannot be that Jesus by asserting the new criteria has denied his mother and brothers, but has only set in place his priority, in which he is proclaiming the new relationship which is born out of the word of God.

This hearing of the word of God is not just the reading of it by any human element and we listen, rather it is the listening to a living God who constantly speaks, and may speak to our hearts more powerfully through his written word, either in our personal reading or when read by others.

God speaking to our hearts generates faith and trust in him, the foundation of all relationship. There can be no relationship without faith and trust in a living person, with constant interactions with him.In other words; no relationship can exist without communication,

Jesus by his sacrificial death has broken the barrier of communication with the one true living God.

It is this interaction with the God, who speaks to us, that we can be assured in our hearts that he the God is our Father. He is not just my Father but also the Father of all those who have received this word.

Mary, we know for sure received this word of the Father, in absolute trust and confidence and hence is the prime model of this relationship which we all are called to imitate.

Her attitude of pondering, which means being open to listening to his voice, is an hall mark of her dedicated discipleship, which I am sure was passed on to Jesus’ cousins too.

Prayer:  Lord, if I have failed to live up to your expectation of not being constantly attuned to your voice, then forgive me and strengthen me to listen.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

What’s Prayer?

Scripture/Bible:  "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread; 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 13 And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:7-15

Reflection:  The only prayer that Jesus taught his disciples was the ‘Our Father’.

That’s the most interesting aspect of the man who taught us to watch and pray always. (Lk. 21:36; Mk.13:33-37; Mt. 24:42, 25:13) Just a few lines of prayer!

If we look at these few lines then we have missed a point.  Jesus in this prayer teaches us the endless, unceasing, eternal and effective prayer and the very first words are more than enough to communicate that. : 

By introducing God as Father he has introduced us into a relationship, that too an eternal relationship unlike the mortal relationships in which we normally find our happiness in.  

Thus he has changed the whole dynamism of prayer, which is no longer an abstract form, a compulsion, that has to exist in our life whether with multiple words or a mantra or some techniques or an exercise in concentration or some magical formula. 

You got to sit and relate or seek to relate with the one whom Jesus introduces to us Father; His Father is now gifted to us as a Holy, almighty, royal, powerful, reigning, merciful, forgiving and providential God as 'Our Father".   

The stranger God is no longer a stranger because Jesus our friend and redeemer introduces him to us as a Father who though powerful and almighty cares to provide us our daily bread, forgives us our sins provided we forgive those who trespass against us and protects us from the evil one and his temptations.

If I know this then I need not recite the prayer again and again in order to enter into a relationship with God but only live out this relationship always and anywhere, in his presence.

Do you really consider God as your Father, then live it out, why are you worked up, anxious and worried, rather seek to know him and his love merciful and providential love for us.   

Prayer:  Recite the Lords’ prayer meaningfully and live out it out beginning with your prayer time.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us