2nd Sunday of Lent Reflection

The Power of Prayer
“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

Place yourself in the time of Our Lord. You are among the disciples. And, you hear one in your group asking the Lord to teach us to pray. As you stand in awe, you hear the Lord begin by offering the prayer that is foundational to our faith “Our Father . . . “ During Lent, we enter into more intimate conversations with Our loving God as it helps us draw closer to Him and to one another they prepare us to enter Easter joy. We continue our journey in the wilderness to deepen our relationship with the Lord by coming face to face with our sinfulness, our challenges, our sufferings. 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. During the Gospel message  offered on Tuesday of this past week, we sit at the Master’s feet as He teaches us to reach our to Our Loving Parent, His Father, Our Father.

In the Hebrew faith tradition, the Lord taught the children of Israel the Great Shema, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love your God with your whole being and with your whole strength . . . “  For the Jewish people, like the Our Father for Christians, the Great Shema is considered the most  important of all Jewish prayers. These words found in Deuteronomy 6:4 are the first words of prayer in a declaration of faith and a pledge of allegiance to God. Twice daily, the recitation of the Shema is done upon rising in the morning and going to sleep at night. The Shema is the first prayer taught to Jewish children and it is the last words said around a Jewish person at their deathbed. Jesus gives us the prayer to His and Our Father, “Abba” (Daddy), in Heaven, an intimate prayer that we can always go to as we enter into our conversations with our God. The Our Father is given by Our Lord, the first one often taught by parents and grandparents to their children, and often the last one on the lips of our loved ones as they are preparing to pass from this world.

Next week you will find prayers of thanksgiving, prayers for relationships, prayers for better days, prayers for healing and others, as well as suggested Sacred Scripture passages to help us in our daily prayer.
                             
This Lenten Season,  Let us Pray . . .                  
Blessings and Graces upon You and Your Loved Ones,
Fr. John
 
“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