Welcome to Reflections

The Our Father

By Deacon Malcolm Lunsford

It doesn't take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon, to figure out that today's gospel passage is about prayer.

The daughter of Karl Marx once told a friend, that she had never been brought up in any religion, and had never been religious.

"But," she said, "the other day I came across a beautiful prayer, which I very much wish could be true."

"And what was that prayer?" she was asked. Slowly the daughter of Karl Marx began repeating in German, "Our Father, who art in heaven ..

Do we understand God as "our Father" merely as a metaphor or as reality? Remember that at his resurrection Jesus said to Mary Magdalene,"Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

God is our Father. Shouldn’t we pray to Him as Jesus taught us to pray?

But what does prayer mean to us? For some it might be like the child in this story:

A mother was listening to her son say his prayers one evening before bedtime. "Thank you, Lord, for mom and dad, and please make St. Louis the capital of Missouri."

The surprised mother interrupted him and asked, "Why did you pray for St. Louis to be the capital of Missouri?"

He answered, "Because that's the answer I put on my test at school!"

Now I don’t know if God will change the capital of Missouri, from Jefferson City to St. Louis, but prayer does work.

If you remember, last week we heard about Mary and Martha, specifically how Martha "lost her cool", when Mary sat at our Lord's feet listening to him, and didn't help her to prepare a meal for Jesus and his disciples.

And we have already heard from Luke, that this happened while Jesus is making his final journey to Jerusalem, where he would be put to death by being crucified.

Knowing that the end is rapidly approaching, Jesus wants to maximize his time on earth to the utmost, and do what he most needs to do:

which is lead others to the Father.

That’s why he told Martha that Mary had chosen the better part. And now he is teaching his followers to pray:

"Our Father, who art in heaven, etc."

We say these words at every Eucharistic liturgy, and, I hope, many more times in our own prayers.

Have you ever dissected the Our Father?

Like, “Our Father”

What does “Our Father” mean to us?

“Who art in Heaven”

What and where is Heaven?

Etc.

In other words, how often have we really thought about what we are saying? Are the words just words and now habit ---- and no longer have meaning? We all probably need to work on this.

To do the Father's will is why Christ came to earth. Christ came to undo the effects of Adam's sin of "my will be done".

We need to trust in the mercy of a loving Father. And we need to pray with sincere hearts: "Thy will be done".

I am a member of the Serra Club of Gary. If you are not aware, the Serra Club, not Sierra Club, is a group of people who pray for vocations, and offer support to the Diocesan Office of Vocations.

At our annual Bishop’s Burse dinner this year ---------- Bishop Melczek said:

“We will not get vocations unless you pray for them continually.”

It was only then that I realized the only time I was praying for vocations was at our gatherings.

I have corrected this and I now pray daily for vocations. I do this in addition to my obligatory Liturgy of the Hours prayers.

Whatever our needs we need to pray constantly. And surprise, surprise, there is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. In fact we need to pray daily for guidance and any needs we may have.

One more thing, There is no “Right Way” to pray. Prayer should be as individual and unique as you are.

Just pray and pray often!