The School of Prayer 1. Absolute Trust in God’s Providence: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Christ’s words are an inexhaustible source of consolation and hope as they encourage us to turn constantly to our Father in prayer. “True piety is not so much a matter of the amount of words as of the frequency and the love with which a Christian turns toward God in all the events, great or small, of his day” (St. Matthew, The Navarre Bible, p. 72). But if our Father already knows our needs, why should we even present them to him in prayer? St. Augustine assures us that while we pray, God is molding our heart and soul so that we will be prepared to receive the good things he desires to give us in answer to our prayers. 2. The Perfect Prayer: St. Augustine affirms that the Lord’s Prayer is so perfect that it sums up in a few words everything man needs to ask God for (cf. Sermon, 56). “It is usually seen as being made up of an invocation and seven petitions — three to do with praise of God and four with the needs of men” (St. Matthew, The Navarre Bible, p. 72). The first two petitions, that God’s name be sanctified among all people, and that his Kingdom may come, should touch us in the depth of our being. We are called to be apostles of that Kingdom, to spread love for Christ among our fellow men. Our apostolic zeal should be enkindled each time we pronounce those words of the Lord’s Prayer. Asking for God’s will to be done means that we seek to conform ourselves with his will in all of our thoughts and actions. 3. Our Spiritual and Human Needs: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Even though we work to earn our daily bread with the sweat of our brow, it is still a gift from God. We ask only for what we need each day. The Church Fathers also see in this petition a request for the Eucharist, the Bread of Life. We strive to live so as to be worthy to receive the Eucharist each day. Christ then instructs us that when we ask God for forgiveness, we, too, must be willing to forgive others in the same way we ourselves are forgiven by our Father. Do I live this teaching fully in my life as a follower of Christ? Finally, we ask to be freed from temptation that is beyond our strength, and to be delivered from evil — or the Evil One. The Father is much more powerful than any temptation the devil can send against us. With what confidence and trust does Christ ask us to conclude the “Our Father!”
Someone once asked the visionary Marija of Medjugorje what the Virgin Mary's voice sounded like. She was hard pressed to answer{and of course they all say her voice is like no other} but finally she answered that the only way she could describe her voice was to say it was musical. I think the language of heaven must be very musical. And even I will be able to sing in heaven!
Pope Francis: "The Key To Prayer Is to Feel Loved by the Father" Pontiff Reflects on the Love of God the Father During Morning Mass By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY, June 20, 2013 (Zenit.org) - In his homily in the Chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae this morning, Pope Francis called on faithful to entrust themselves to God as children to their Father. The Holy Father contemplated on the Gospel of the day, which spoke of Christ´s teaching on prayer, particularly of the “Our Father.” When one prays, the Pope said, “we don't pray my Father, but our Father because we are not an only child, none of us are”. God the Father he continued, is a God who is very close to us and is not an anonymous of cosmic God.” Regarding the prayer of the “Our Father” that Jesus taught to His disciples, the Holy Father explained that Christ also gives advice on how to pray. The Gospel of St. Matthew states: “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.” The Pope commented on Christ´s words, saying that "prayer is not a magical thing, there is no magic with prayer." “Someone once told me that when he went to a "witch doctor" they said a lot of words to heal him. But that is pagan,” Pope Francis said. “Jesus teaches us that we should not turn to Him with so many words because He knows everything. The first word is ‘Father’, this is the key of prayer. Without saying, without feeling, that word you cannot pray". The Holy Father warned that in choosing to pray according to a polytheistic model, rather than to the Father with our hearts, “we cannot pray in a Christian language.” "Father is a strong word but it opens the door,” the Pope stressed. “At the time of sacrifice, Isaac realized that something was wrong because he was missing a sheep, but he trusted his father and confided his worries to his father’s heart. “The key of every prayer is to feel loved by a father.” Not My Father, but Our Father Pope Francis also emphasized the prayer´s focus on communion among all. The prayer states Our Father and not My Father, he said, “because I am not an only child, none of us are, and if I cannot be a brother, I can hardly become a child of the Father, because He is a Father to all.” Concluding his homily, the Holy Father stated that Our Father is a calling for the faithful to forgive others as God forgives us our sins. While acknowledging the difficulty in forgiving one's enemies, Pope Francis said that Christ, through the Holy Spirit, gives us the strength from the heart. “Today,” the Pope concluded, “we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to say 'Father' and to be able to say 'our', and thus make peace with all our enemies."
