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February 19, 2021“This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
your will be done . . .” ~Mt 6: 9-10
During this first week of Lent, we begin our journey in the wilderness to deepen our relationship with the Lord by coming face to face with our sinfulness. We reflect on our desires, examine our motives, adjust our priorities, and evaluate our interactions. To help, God gives us one of the greatest tools along with those of fasting and almsgiving -- the gift of prayer. Prayer is the vehicle of communication and conversation with our God.
St. Teresa of Avila, the “Doctor of Prayer,” said that this unique gift involves relationship not an exercise of technique or method. Jesus taught us the “Our Father” to bring us into relationship with the Divine and to help us initiate and maintain a more intimate bond with the Triune God. He designed this prayer as a “how to” model for relationships, involving six petitions. Three petitions concern God and three concern us and neighbor, perhaps structured after the two great commandments (“Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will, give us, forgive us, deliver us”). We are told to seek God, God’s kingdom and God’s will through prayer first, and then we are taught to address our needs.
To accomplish the changes of heart and deeds needed, we search to unite with God as all good works flow from this union. We begin our search for this reconciliation in the wilderness.
“How great is the power of prayer! For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed at heaven, it is a cry of gratitude, and love in the midst of trial, as well as joy, . . . it expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.” ~St. Therese of Lisieux
Note: Scriptural passages involving topics such as intimacy, Lent, gratitude, sorrow and others can be found online at this biblical resource, www.openbible.info/topics/. As a Catholic discerner of the Bible, you can search the topic resource, review the passage, then look up the verse and translation in your Catholic Bible such as The New American Bible (NAB) or The New Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE).
