Our Father, Our Prayer

Wednesday, July 20th, 2016

In this Sunday’s reading we are offered an instance where our Savior gives us clear instruction. For all of the many enigmatic things Jesus says, this week’s Gospel story, having the Lord give us the Our Father prayer, is as clear as it gets. “Lord, teach us to pray,” a disciple asks and what follows is the most famous prayer in Christianity. “While the Our Father prayer is a beautiful and essential prayer, it really is a template for all of our prayers,” Fr. Douglas Milewski, a former teacher, always reminds me.

First, Jesus calls God ‘Our’ Father, not just his Father. So, we should know that we are addressing all our prayers to a loving parent, not a disciplined master. Next, we give God praise first: He is in heaven, let His Kingdom come and reign on Earth. Then, the hardest words to say in any prayer: “Your will be done.” That’s the tough stuff of a well-lived, disciplined life. “Your will be done” is hard to say at the bedside of the dying parent or the child who begs for water, but there is a small comfort next in the prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus is reminding us that God is not a genie here to grant wishes.  We are asking for what we need, not what we want. Sometimes in the depths of our own egos or in our pain we don’t realize there is a difference between what we want and need. Finally, the prayer concludes with a prayer for all of humanity, beginning with “those who trespass against (or hurt) us.”  Through forgiving and having mercy on others we can be delivered from evil. It is wild stuff and like the greatest writers it packs a punch in three or four lines.

In class I often have students write their own prayers following this structure:

  1. Remember you are addressing a loving parent.
  2. Praise God, give thanks.
  3. Surrender to God, it is His will not yours.
  4. Petition the Lord for things you need, not want.
  5. Pray for others, beginning with those who hurt you.

Jesus is teaching us, letting us share in his own private prayer.  It is quite selfless. I wouldn’t want to share my prayers with most, and yet Jesus — always the teacher — is instructing us.  The Our Father is ‘Our Prayer.’ Let’s pray for our very hurting country and world. Have a blessed week.

I’ll be seeing you,

Elliot

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