Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, we hear Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. What a great opportunity to ponder this prayer today, and perhaps even to awaken to its power to transform our lives.
We find Jesus praying, and from the text we can surmise that the disciples were observing him. I wonder how Jesus was praying – what was his posture, his demeanor, what form did his communion with his Father take? Was he speaking to the Father, listening, both? Or perhaps just sitting in stillness. Whatever Jesus was modeling, it captivated the disciples’ attention such that one of them was moved to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray!” What a humble request. Certainly, faithful Jews lived a life of prayer and were accustomed to knowing what, how, and when to pray. Just as this disciple was drawn to Jesus’ modeling of prayer, I’m drawn to the disciple’s humility and teachability. I’m moved today to say, “Lord, teach me to pray!”
You can find almost endless commentaries, homilies, and scholarly studies on the Lord’s Prayer. What I offer today is in no way intended to be definitive. Rather, I offer for reflection what came to me today in prayer. I invite you to reflect similarly on what we read today in Luke’s Gospel. What catches your attention; what moves you in prayer?
I notice four things today which compel me to think about my prayer a bit differently. First, Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer by worshipping and reverencing our heavenly Father and to ask that the Kingdom of God be manifest here on earth. What if I were to begin every day in this way – giving glory and honor to God and seeking to be an ambassador of the Kingdom this day? Second, Jesus invites us to ask for our daily bread. What if I were to greet each day in humility, recognizing that apart from God I have nothing and can do nothing and asking for the graces I need for whatever the day brings. Third, we ask for forgiveness for our sins and pledge to be forgiving of others. Imagine how different our lives and relationships would be if we could be truly, honestly, and authentically forgiving? Sometimes I think the Lord’s Prayer becomes so rote and familiar that we cease being convicted and inspired by it. Can we today, take seriously our Lord’s directive to forgive others even when it’s hard. Perhaps today we might ponder the depth and weight of our own sin and the dramatic extent to which we’ve been forgiven. We tap into that deep well of dizzying gratitude to offer forgiveness to others. Forgiveness is not something we do; it’s something that flows out of us once we realize the extent to which we’ve been forgiven by God. Finally, we ask to be spared the final test. Matthew’s Gospel presents this line as “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Imagine starting each day with a commitment to avoid temptation. That prayer might include honestly naming before God the specific temptations we face and asking God to help us stay off those paths. Recognizing the very real presence of the evil one, we might start each day by declaring Jesus’ Name over ourselves and our loved ones and announcing to satan that he has no place in our lives. In 1 John 4:4 we read, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” We can start each day confident that we can overcome any temptation or attack of the enemy because we belong to Christ and his Spirit lives within us.
The Lord’s Prayer becomes a living and active spiritual weapon when we wield it intentionally and thoughtfully. Perhaps not only at the start of each day, but throughout each day, we might call to mind the Lord’s Prayer and pray it meditatively, conscious that inherent in it is great wisdom, truth, and power. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through each line of the familiar prayer, inviting God to open new doors of revelation and call to action for you. May the Lord bless you to not only have a robust prayer life, but to live a robust life of prayer.
Elizabeth Wourms