Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Legend has it that St. Francis and his dear friend Brother Leo wanted to spend one evening meditating on the Our Father. Each of them retreated to their quarters for the night, and agreed to meet in the morning. Brother Leo, after reciting the prayer hundreds of times, was excited to share his good work with his friend. However, in the morning St. Francis was nowhere to be found. Brother Leo went to his room and found him in a trance. After several failed attempts to get his attention, Brother Leo shook him. Leo was eager to share the numerous times he recited the Our Father, but was surprised to learn Francis did not even complete the prayer once. He told Leo, “I started by saying the words “our” and “Father,” and I just couldn’t move on from there.” Brother Leo was stunned and humbled by Francis’s deep devotion.
In today’s gospel passage, Jesus shares with his disciples the words of the Our Father as an example of how to pray. How can we change our vision so that our eyes become fixed on God instead of focused on the many distractions in our lives? Like St. Francis, can we take the time in our prayer to see how we can better allow God to work in us? Listening to God and letting God work is the heart of prayer. God’s grace can transform our empty phrases and hollow words as much as our very selves.
Sometimes I find that my familiarity with the Lord’s Prayer can be a drawback from listening for God’s will. I mindlessly repeat the words, distracted by life’s many worries. In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, children meditate on the words of the Our Father. They pray the words slowly, one phrase at a time. Perhaps this is a worthwhile practice for us today. As you move slowly through the prayer, what particular word or line resonates with you at this moment? As Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The meaning of the Our Father goes much further than the mere provision of a prayer text. It aims to form our being, to train us in the inner attitude of Jesus.” As we come to our Father today in our prayer, let us not ask for Him to change things in our lives, but rather give us the grace to change ourselves.
-Jessica Gabrielli