My dear friends, as we have entered the Lenten season, we should have an increased emphasis on prayer and Penance. Today in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus sets the pace of prayer. He gives the guide, a pattern and a model of prayer to his disciples when he said to them: “so you should pray like this” and taught them his prayer.
Our Lord’s prayer is a great model prayer for all Christians with its four components; acknowledgement and worship of God, request for needs, forgiveness of sins, and prayer of support against every evil and temptation.
The first part of our Lord’s prayer consists of the primary aspect of prayer: the acknowledgment of the supremacy of God, worship, honor, and glory. Thus, Jesus said to his disciples: “so you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven ” (Mt 6:10).
The recognition of the supremacy and worship of God in the first part of our Lord’s prayer covers the purpose of human creation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that we are created to know, love, and worship him in this world until we come to be with him at the end time. That is to say that giving God all the honor and glory should be our first point of focus as soon as we want to pray.
The second component of our Lord’s prayer is that of needs -“give us this day our daily bread”. Unfortunately, most Christians make the mistake of putting “needs” as the primary aspect of their prayers by spending most time of their prayers in making requests in many words. They forget that our heavenly Father knows all we need before we ask (Mt 6:8). Jesus even warned the disciples on babbling as the pagans do by using many words. Shakespeare’s Hamlet puts it correctly when it says: “my words fly up, my thoughts remain below, words without thoughts never to heaven go”. God is not deaf that he does not hear. Using more words does not make prayers more likely to be answered. All creatures look up to him to provide them with food at the proper time (Ps 145:15). We only need to pray in faith, and trust in God.
The third component of our Lord’s prayer is that of forgiveness. We ask for pardon on the condition that we give to others what we expect from God. This is because human and divine forgiveness are interconnected just as love of God and neighbor are interconnected. If we cannot put things right with our neighbor, it will be difficult to put things right with God. He expects us to forgive and forget as we expect same from him.
The final component of our Lord’s prayer is the plea for his grace to help us be strong over every evil and temptation. The soul may be strong but the body is weak. We need his grace to overcome the odds against doing his will and commandments.
Our Lord’s prayer is a wonderful prayer that should be meditatively prayed. We can also adopt the guide or format in our prayer life. God bless you.
