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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
People have lots of prayers they would like to have answered. Whether it is petitions written into the Book of Intercessions at church, requests made of a priest or a friend, entreaties offered to God before bed, or appeals made in the midst of a crisis, we are always looking for an answer. Sometimes we pray knowing what we want, like a child sitting on Santa's lap with a list of Christmas toys. And many times we pray with the expectation that God will see things our way and give us what we ask for.
In this week's Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer. Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer is a little different from Matthew's, but it is essentially the same. In Jesus' methodology, prayer starts with praising God (hallowed be your name) and then asks God to do what God wants (your kingdom come). Only then does prayer move on to posing our requests for God's consideration (give us each day our daily bread). And finally we ask for God's help (forgive us our sins) The Lord's Prayer became so much a part of Christian praying that the Fathers of the Church (early Christian writers like St. Augustine, St. Leo the Great, and St. Gregory) recommended that if a person couldn't remember any other prayer (like a psalm) he or she should just pray the Lord's Prayer instead.
The method of prayer that Jesus lays out for his disciples includes one final aspect-one that we like to forget. Luke's version puts it this way, "for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us." More commonly we say, "as we forgive those who trespass against us." Are we ready to have God act that way toward us? Do we really want God to treat us the way we treat others? That is the challenge, if we continue to pray the Lord's Prayer day after day. “…...and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
©2010 St. Mary of Mount Virgin Church.org Prepared by Digital Pro Quo LLC
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