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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

Gospel/Homily

  • Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

     

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    Gospel text (Mt 6:7-15): Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

    “This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

    “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

    “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him”


    Today the Lord wants to help us grow in a main issue of our Christian life: the prayer. He warns us not to pray like pagans trying to convince God about what they want. Many times we try to achieve what we want through insistence, being "annoying" to God, believing that we will be heard with our verbosity. The Lord reminds us that the Father is constantly solicitous of our life and that he knows what we need before we ask him at all times, (cf. Mt 6,8). Do we live with this kind of confidence? Am I aware that the Father is constantly washing my feet and that he knows better than anyone what I need at all times (in big things and small things)?

    Jesus opens for us a new horizon of prayer: the prayer of those who address to God with the conscience of being children. The type of relationship I have with a person is determined through the way I ask for things to that person and also what I can expect from him. From a father, and especially from the heavenly Father, I can expect everything and I know that he takes care of my life. For this reason, Jesus, who always lives as a true son, is telling you: "do not worry about your life, what you will eat and drink" (Mt 6:25). Do I really have this son’s consciousness? Am I addressing God with the same familiarity as I do with my father or mother?

    Later, Jesus opens his heart to us, and teaches us what his relationship / prayer with the Father is like so that we also make it ours. With the "Our Father" prayer Jesus teaches us to live as children. Saint Cyprian has a well-known comment about the “Our Father”, telling us: “We must remember and know that, when we call God “Father”, we have to act as his children, in order for him to be pleased with us, as we are pleased to have him as Father.”

     
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