The Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Lk 11: 1- 13

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Introduction

Today’s reading is about prayer. Jesus teaches his disciples to pray and tells them to persevere in prayer. Jesus also tells his disciples that the basis of prayer is God’s goodness, a goodness that we can count on at any moment of our lives.

The Gospel

The Gospels document those times when Jesus would withdraw to a quiet place and pray. This must have made quite an impact on his disciples. Our reading today in fact informs us that one of them asked Jesus, saying: “ Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Then Jesus said to them, “ When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us and do not subject us to the final test. “

Then Jesus tells them the reasons why one should persevere in praying. He said to them: “ Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘ Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him, and he says in reply from within, ‘ Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

“ And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives: and the one who seeks, finds: and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his sons a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Reflection

In the gospels, we read quite often how Jesus would withdraw to a quiet place to pray. He would often spend the night in prayer after a busy day of ministering to those who were infirmed. His disciples must have been touched and moved by Jesus’ prayer life. This is perhaps why, one of them asked Jesus: “ Lord, teach us to pray…” Jesus, then taught them the “Our Father.”

This prayer is the basis of all our prayers for several reasons:

 First it teaches us to address God as our very own father. Our relationship with God must be understood as a relationship between father and child. We come to God as his children, believing that he cares and truly loves us.

Secondly, our first concern and prayer is that his name be honored and be made holy.  While we come to God with great confidence as his children, we also acknowledge the fact that he is holy. Holiness is perfection which God alone possesses.  

Thirdly, our deepest longing must be that God’s reign be upon us here on this earth. Only when the Lord rules will we see justice and peace on earth. So we ask him to let his kingdom come and his will be done here on earth as in heaven.

Finally, we ask God for the needs that we have for our daily life: our food, the forgiveness of our sins and his loving guidance and protection as we journey through this life.

But after Jesus taught the “Our Father,” he also gave us another important teaching about prayer. He tells us to persevere in prayer and that we should never stop praying. Jesus illustrates this by giving a short parable about someone knocking on the door of a friend asking for some bread for his guest. There we see that it is the persistence and the perseverance of the one begging a favor that makes his request granted. Surprisingly, this short parable seems to tell us that we are capable of changing God’s mind and that through persistence and perseverance, God eventually grants what we ask for.

Lastly, Jesus tells us that the whole basis of prayer is that God is good and loving; that he is more than any human father whom we presume, would know what to give to his children. Jesus cites how a father would never give his children something that would cause them harm, like handing them a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg.  

Because God is good and loving, we can firmly believe that whenever we ask, it shall be given; that whenever we seek, it shall be found; that whenever we knock, the door shall be opened. This is the certainty of prayer. Our prayers will never be left unanswered but instead will be heard by him who has made us his beloved children.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for making us your children. You are our father who loves and cares for us. You wish that we do not stop praying. You want us to persevere in prayer, never stopping until we get an answer from you. Give us the confidence to believe that when we ask, it shall be given, that when we seek, we shall find, and when we knock, it shall be opened. Amen.

“Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.” – 1 Thessalonnians 5: 16