Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Intention: That God may bless and protect all those who work to bring peace and healing to victims of war, violence, and injustice throughout the world.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 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 men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
A Brief Lenten Reflection
Surveys conducted on religion and spirituality have produced interesting results regarding the practice of praying. In one survey, 55% of all respondents indicated that they pray daily. Asked what they prayed for, at the top of the list were praying for family or friends, for enemies, and in thanksgiving. However, reasons also included praying for a sports team to win, for someone to suffer personal misfortune, and for not getting caught speeding. In his ministry, Jesus encountered many such instances of people who said many prayers but knew little of how or why to pray. It is telling that he started off teaching his disciples how to pray by introducing them to whom they should pray. Prayer, it seems, is primarily about the experience of finding ourselves in an attentive, life-giving dialogue with a loving God. This moves us from using prayer egocentrically to being more humble and welcoming, to sometimes speaking while always listening. On this, author William McGill wrote, “The value of consistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will hear Him.” As with any loving exchange of thoughts and feelings, prayer creates a space in which we can tell and be told the truth. There, we can be both affirmed and admonished in ways that lead and lift us to our best and truest selves. Lent is a time for renewing our prayer lives, for re-centering our minds and hearts on the redeeming conversation that is remembering how to live in the holy presence of God.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your son taught us how to pray so that we might know how to live. In this time of Lent, may we find life in the words of his prayer. Guide our thinking and our doing, so that we may serve you faithfully. Teach us both how to forgive and how to accept forgiveness. May we take up our cross and follow your Son on his path from death to life. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.