“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Thursday, 22nd June 2017.
Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
2 Cor11:1-11;
Ps 111: 1-4, 7-8;
Mt 6: 7-15
OUR FATHER!
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. The Lord’s Prayer was given to us by Jesus Himself, as a way of teaching us to pray. Jesus gave us this prayer as the model of all prayer. However, saying this prayer is not enough. The goal is to internalize each and every aspect of this prayer so that it becomes a model of our personal petition to God and an entrustment of our entire life to Him.
The Lord’s Prayer begins not with a petition; rather, it begins with us acknowledging our identity as children of the Father. This is a key foundation for the Lord’s Prayer to be prayed properly. It also reveals the foundational approach we must take in all prayer and in the entire Christian life. Each Christian is to see the Father as our Father. We must see ourselves as God’s children and approach Him with the confidence of a child. Children have the greatest trust that their parents love them no matter what. This must be our fundamental starting point for all prayer. We must start with an understanding that God loves us no matter what. With this understanding of God we will have all the confidence we need to call on Him. To call God “our” Father expresses an entirely new relationship as a result of the New Covenant that was established in the blood of Christ Jesus. This grace also reveals our profound unity to Jesus as the Son of God. It also reveals the union we share with one another. All who call God their Father in this intimate way are brothers and sisters in Christ. We, therefore, are not only deeply connected together; we also are enabled to worship God together. In this case, individualism is left behind in exchange for fraternal unity. We are members of this one divine family as a glorious gift of God.
Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
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