Tuesday of the First Week of
Lent
Isaiah
55: 10-11
Matthew 6: 7-15
The Way of Prayer
Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, we had
reflected Yesterday about how we
should relate with our neighbours and to those who are in need. We are
invited to see the presence of God in them and love as we would love God.
We were invited to respond to their needs, negligence on
our part deserves appropriate punishment from God. hence we can sum up and say
it was a call to love and serve them, one of the Pillars of the Lent: Charity (
Almsgiving)
Today we are invited
to reflect on another pillar of the Lent: Prayer.
From the teaching of Christ, we can extract two aspects
that are unnecessary to be avoided.
●
Many
words are not required, need not to heap up words while praying. Therefore the
repetition of the words, long prayers
without any real attention to God does not affect God to grant us our
petitions. (Mt 6:7)
●
And the
focus should not be on public opinion or public appreciation. And it should not
be a time to showcase one’s talents and skills. (Mt 6:5)
So when Jesus says
“ But when you pray, go to your
inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret” is that a
kind of personal contemplative prayer where you shut all the doors of distractions, intentions and focus only God
and his will to us. When Built on this
personal relationship God hears and responds. St. Teresa of Avila defines prayer as “is nothing else than a close sharing
between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with the one who
we know loves us.”
In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us The Lord’s Prayer or Our
Father , perfect model to all the
prayers and perfect in every sense.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven” - as being to pray
Christ invites us to call God, our Father, transforming our prayer into
more personal. With this close relationship we can confidently approach him now
without any hesitation.
And here by addressing who art in Heaven we acknowledge his greatness and thus give
due praise and reverence. It’s a praise to his Holiness and Divinity.
The Petitions
As the prayer is divided into two sections, The first
section solely the praise of God, the will of God and our cooperation with him.
Hallowed
be Thy Name:
God’s name is Holy From eternity the reason for our praying is that it is a
reminder that it should not be defiled, rather we allow it to spread the Holy
Name and be revered in us and around. (unfortunately, in many places God’s Holy
is name is unnecessarily used and defiled)
Thy
Kingdom Come:
We pray for the second coming and also elsewhere Jesus
says it is already among you (Luke 17:21), it means that we pray that it is
established in us first. That our life may be guided according to the rules and
regulations of God’s kingdom. The way we think, speak and act must reflect the
kingdom's values. And also the values of the kingdom are upheld in the society,
the respect for life at any stage,
mutual respect, and goodness. Love and forgiveness to name a few. ( but we
are drifting away now).
Thy will
be done on Earth as it is in Heaven:
We pray that his will is fulfilled in our lives as is
accomplished in Jesus. Therefore it's a way of committing and entrusting
ourselves into his hands. We are also asking here to fill us with the strength
to fulfil his will in our lives.
The next
four petitions relate to personal and interpersonal needs. we pray:
Give us
this day our daily bread:
We pray for our needs: material and spiritual. We are
trusting in the providence of God
here. By saying daily, we are praying for his presence in every moment of our
life so that we lack nothing (psalm
23:1). We trust in his care and depend on it for he is the source of our
sustenance.
Forgive
us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us:
God is merciful and
loving. So we need not fear and be embarrassed to come to him with our faults.
We can pray He is our father. However there is one condition here, the only way to obtain is to forgive our
brothers and sisters first, first be reconciled with them then we are eligible
for this grace. (Matthew 5: 23-24)
And lead
us not into temptation:
Temptations are real and painful, it can be because of our
weakness, nature and satan. It’s like a battle we have to fight off, lest we
fall into sin. So We pray here to the
Lord that we are weak, so we
entrust ourselves into his power and authority to help us to overcome.
But
deliver us from evil: As we pray for the deliverance from evil, the evil which
destroys life and distances us away from the values, gospel values and human dignity , in our
modern society there are many evils in different forms. the systems, laws and
regulation in the society which lead a person in a destructive way. ( we
witness this trend in many countries, Gender, woke and all) at home, workplace,
schools, roads and environment.
Only God can free and deliver us.(Daniel 3:17)
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
— Soren Kierkegaard.
Therefore, let
us remember to pray as Jesus taught us with praise and petitions and with
attention and awareness. Let us have a personal relationship with God the
Father in
our Prayers. Let us remember
★
Prayer is
a personal relationship with God
★
Prayer is
conversation with God and connection with God who awaits for us.
★
Prayer is
to depend on God, acknowledging our weaknesses.
★
Prayer is
to submit to God, surrendering our will to God’s will.
★
Prayer is
to believe that “I can do nothing, but God can do everything,” and to ask him
humbly.
