LORD TEACH US TO PRAY

Luke 11:1-4

At the time of Jesus, Jews were known for their devotion to prayer. The rabbis had a prayer for every occasion. It was also a custom for rabbis to teach their disciples a simple prayer they might use on a regular basis. It is in this line that the disciples, impressed with how the Lord took time to pray, asked him to teach them how to pray. Spontaneously Jesus teaches them from His heart a short prayer addressed to our Father in heaven. His prayer is simple and yet full of meaning. It is a prayer that enables the disciples to profess their faith in God. I believe that when Jesus taught the disciples to pray with the words of the “Our Father,” he did not simply mean that they memorize the words. More than a formula prayer, the “Our Father” summarizes prayer dispositions we should have when we approach God and when we want to nurture a relationship with him. What does this Lord’s Prayer tell us about God and about ourselves? Jesus starts with

Father: We must always come to God with great trust and confidence because he is our Father.

Hallowed be your name: our prayer should remind us of God’s Holiness, but also it should remind us of our call to Holiness.

Your kingdom come: In our prayer, we should let God be in control; we should come to him with a spirit of surrender to his will.

Give us each day our daily bread: To approach God in prayer is to depend totally on Him, to include Him in all our daily concerns, not only to approach him in special moments or in times of need; but in our daily concerns.

 Forgive us our sins: When we approach God, we must have the humility to accept that we are sinners in need of forgiveness.

For we forgive all who do us wrong: Approaching God is to empty ourselves in charity to others. Then God will have enough room to let His graces and blessings flow.

Subjects us not to the test: To approach God, we must confess that he has the power over all; even over the liberty of Satan to do anything.

Realizing that the “Our Father” is a prayer that Jesus himself uttered out of the depths of his heart as a result of his intimate relationship with His Father, who is also our Father and God, let us pay more serious attention when we pray it every day.