Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s selection from the Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus instructing his followers on prayer. The passage, not to mention the prayer, is so familiar to us that we might easily pass it over. This would be a mistake, however. As we often hear at Mass, this is the prayer “that Jesus taught us.” This is “the Lord’s Prayer.” This is the prayer of the whole Church. Jesus instructs his followers not to get lost in a multitude of words, but to pray simply, addressing God as Father. This is an intimate opening, natural for Jesus but remarkable for us. Yet Jesus, the Father’s Son, instructs us also to address God as Father and to pray that God’s name be respected. Jesus models the petitionary prayer that ought to speak to the deepest desires of every Christian: that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven and that God’s kingdom may reign. The “daily bread” of the prayer has long been interpreted Eucharistically; this is the nourishment we seek. The prayer ends with the desire for forgiveness and deliverance from evil.

In some sense, this prayer is a summary of the Christian life. The intimate children of God honor God, want to live for God and in God’s kingdom, want to be nourished by God. We seek to avoid sin and to find forgiveness where we fail. And we do this – we pray this – because of Jesus, God’s only Son, sent to earth out of love to make it possible for us to live this life and to pray this prayer.

Today, let us take some time to meditate on the words of the Our Father prayer. This classic prayer is a source of insight and a guide for our life. Let us not skip over it easily! - Maria Morrow