PRAYING PEOPLE! ~ CookingFood.Org

“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”

Thursday, 16th June 2016,

Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

Sir 48: 1-15;

Ps 96: 1-7;

Mt 6: 7-15

PRAYING PEOPLE!

Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God. And that prayer can carry at least five different kinds of messages: You can ask for something (Mt 7: 7); praise (Ps 145: 2-3); thank (Rev 11: 17); confess (Ps 32 :5); and finally complain to the Lord (Ps 142: 1-2).

In today’s Gospel we are not “invited to pray” but we are “expected to pray”. The Lord’s Prayer is an invitation not only to pray but to pray together with others. Call God “Our Father…” (v. 9), reminds us that we are part of a larger family with a Father who knows our needs and loves us. It also guards us against individualistic pride that seeks to be admired for outstanding devotion. “Go into your room…” (v. 6): Praying together does not take the place of private prayer; instead they deepen and strengthen each other. “Do not heap up empty phrases…” (v. 7): Praying together helps protect us from carelessness and mindlessness in prayer.

The Lord ’s Prayer has two parts. The first three petitions (vv. 9-10) are about God’s name, God’s kingdom, God’s will. The last three (vv. 11-13) are about our food, our forgiveness, our holiness. The first three call our attention to God’s greatness. And the last three call attention to our needs. The first half feels majestic and lofty. The last half feels mundane and lowly. The Lord’s prayer urges you to go to God for bread, and for healing of relationships, and for the overcoming of besetting sins, and for the doing of God’s will, and for the seeking of God’s kingdom. So while our feet are on this earthly ground and we have our daily needs, let our hearts rise into the magnificence of God’s Holy Will, God’s Kingdom, and most of all God’s Holy Name - his being, his perfections.

Prayer: Father, help me to realize more deeply my needs and my total dependence on You. Amen.