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Today, 4th of December, we celebrate
Saint John Damascene
First Reading: Is 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
R./ From all their distress God rescues the just.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R./ From all their distress God rescues the just.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R./ From all their distress God rescues the just.
The LORD has eyes for the just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
R./ From all their distress God rescues the just.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R./ From all their distress God rescues the just.
Gospel Reading:Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples, "When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do, for they hold that the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.
This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
holy be your name,
your kingdom come
and your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts
just as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
Do not bring us to the test
but deliver us from the evil one.
If you forgive others their wrongs, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either."
“I dare to call him Father.”
If yesterday’s gospel reading highlighted the Lenten practice of almsgiving and service of the needy, this morning’s gospel highlights another important Lenten practice: prayer. In the gospel, Jesus declares that, when it comes to prayer, many words are not needed.
Today’s passage is a catechesis on prayer. It is a prayer and a lesson on how to pray. In the early Church, the catechumens directly learned this prayer from the mouth of the bishop and prayed it together as a profession of faith. During the Easter Vigil, they recited it for the first time together with the communities after their baptism.
Jesus teaches us to address God as “our Father.” He wants us to stand before the Father confidently and ask for what we need to live as his sons and daughters. No other religion except Christianity presents God as the Father and Mother of the people.
When we ask: ‘Hallowed be your name,’ we declare to the Father our willingness to glorify his name and to collaborate with him in fulfilling his promises of “you shall be my people and I will be your God” (Ezk. 36:23-28).
“Thy kingdom come,” we pray. With Jesus, the Kingdom of God has already come. The time of waiting is over. However, we continue to pray for its coming because it must develop and grow in every person as a seed of goodness, love, reconciliation, and peace. Prayer makes us discern between the values of this world and the values of the Kingdom of God.
We cannot recite the Lord’s Prayer with sincerity if we think only of our own bread, are greedy for possession and anxious about tomorrow, forget the poor, and neglect social justice. Paraphrasing the Lord’s prayer would mean to say, “Help me, Father, to be content with the necessary, to be free from the bondage of greed and strengthen me to share with the poor.”
God’s forgiveness has only one requirement – to love and forgive our brothers and sisters and be reconciled with them first.
The temptation from which we ask the Lord to deliver us does not refer to any minor weaknesses, struggles of life or persecutions. They do make us stumble and can choke the seed of the Word of God in us. But Jesus wants us to pray that we must be kept away from the temptation of abandoning our faith in the loving and merciful Father.
Prolonged prayers are not intended to persuade God to change his plans! Prayer does not change God; instead, it opens our minds and changes our hearts.
Bible Claret
