How We Should Pray

 

Matthew 6: 7-15

 Pray As Jesus Taught US

⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today 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 the evil one.’

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

This beloved and oft repeated prayer focuses on our relationship with God and our everyday needs; no wonder it is so popular, as we acknowledge that it comes from the lips of Jesus himself. Simply to call God Our Father reminds us if the blessing and privilege to have the Creator as MY father, MY creator...who wishes to establish a kingdom where his will is done and can be my true  home. Then the prayer turns to our needs, food, material and spiritual, forgiveness of our sins as we forgive others, and deliverance from temptation and the wiles of the evil one.  A template for living the life for which God created us. May we come to revere and pray this prayer from our hearts, not simply from rote, but with all the conviction and sincerity we can muster, as if we were praying it for the first time in the presence of Jesus who just taught it to us.

Bro. Rene

Our father in heaven, you are infinitely forgiving and merciful. Help us to live lives of forgiveness that your name may be hallowed throughout all the earth. Grant this through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

  Rev. Adam Booth, C.S.C.