Tuesday, August 28, 2007 Alipio: When you pray, don't heap up empty phrases By Fr. Jose Alipio The Yoke
Matthew 6:7-15
AFTER telling his disciples not to rely on lots of words for their prayers, he then gave them a set of words that we disciples have been using ever since.
Matthew took the rather bare bones list of things to pray about in Luke's gospel (Luke 11:2-4) and smoothed it out, adding a Jewish prayer doxology, so that it would be a proper liturgical prayer.
But if we're not to rely on lots of words, why did Jesus give his friends some more words to say? Look at the prayer again. Notice that it is not simply good thoughts to have toward God. It describes a way of being and a way of living.
God is glorified in the beginning phrase then the prayer is about action: (1) God's Kingdom to come to us; (2) God's will to be done here on earth; (3) that we and all people receive the bread we need; (4) that God will forgive our sins in the same way we forgive others; (5) that God will save us from tribulation and the testing of our faith; and (6) that God will deliver us from evil.
This is a list of things we ask God to do, but it also is a listing of our call to action in our time and place. We are called to work to bring in God's kingdom, to enable his will to be done here on earth, to provide daily bread for all people, to forgive others as generously as God forgives us, to save people from the trials of life, and to work for the justice and peace in this world that can save people from evil.
For Jesus, prayer is action and action is prayer. We pray the Lord's Prayer and as we pray, it gives us our agenda for action in this world. Then our prayer will be more than words and we will be living in the Spirit of Jesus.
