Often times in confessions the priest assigns a certain number of prayers to say…
perhaps a few Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
One of the most meaningful penances I ever received
was the day the priest said to me:
Go, and pray the Our Father very slowly…
one phrase at a time…
for as long as it takes…
and reflect on the meaning and power of each word.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives to His disciples the model of all prayer.
The Our Father, named by Saint Thomas Aquinas “the perfect prayer”
is like a summary of the whole Gospel of Jesus.
Its seven petitions…
three which give glory to God, and four which beg His grace…
give to us in the form of a prayer…
the essence of the Good News.
Yet, Jesus gives us more than the words to pray…
He taught His disciples, and us, how to live as people of prayer.
Authentic prayer demands a purity of heart that prays “Thy kingdom come”
not only as a future event…
but as a living, present reality…
that forgives the faults of others…
that seeks to be holy for love of God…
and not to be seen.
Real prayer demands faith that goes beyond what we see and understand…
a faith filed with hope of eternal realities.
Saint Thomas More, whose feast we celebrate today…
was a model of such faith in the midst of adversity.
He stands as a model for us today…
when again the sanctity of marriage is under attack
While he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, he wrote this prayer…
Give me the grace, Good Lord
To set the world at naught. To set the mind firmly on You and not to hang upon the words of men's mouths. Gladly to be thinking of God, piteously to call for His help. To lean into the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him.
Prayer is essential to our Christian life…
and to our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
In prayer we raise our minds and hearts to God…
it's as if we are having a conversation with God…
telling Him our joys and sorrows and seeking His love and grace.
Prayer is communal, and reaches its highest form in the Liturgy of the Church…
but it is also deeply personal.
Prayer is the meeting of persons who love one another…God and His children.
Our Heavenly Father loves us and desires that we remain close to Him…
that our relationship grow ever stronger.
As children of God, each of us is called to converse with Him in prayer often…
to set aside a place and a time that is just for us and the Lord…
whether that be before the Blessed Sacrament…
or in a special place at home.
I encourage each of you to do as that priest asked me to do…
pray each petition of the Lord’s Prayer, one at a time…
reflect deeply on what God desires to say to you through those words.
May we who meet Christ’s this morning in this Mass…
strive always to people whose hearts never cease to praise the Lord!
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