Prayer Reflection and Spirit

The Lord has done great things for us is a realization which can initialize a few moments of prayer and contemplation. Charlie Wester is able to reflect on how the life circumstances in his Catholic family helped prepare him to live wisely in our consumerist culture. The introduction to the Book of Sirach indicates that author, Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem, wrote this text to instruct the people of the 3rd century BCE of the value for life of knowing and following the Law. Friar Jude Winkler comments that the closing chapters of the Book are an eulogy to the heroes of Jewish tradition as a counterbalance to the Greek heroes who were presented to the population during this time of Greek control of the region. The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew provides the guidelines for living as disciples of Christ. Friar Jude notes that the passage today follows the instructions of Jesus about how to act in prayer, almsgiving and fasting. The Lord’s Prayer is presented today as the model of our prayer to the Divine. The version in the Gospel of Matthew differs from that in Luke 11. David Lose comments that the elements of Jewish prayer, doxology followed by petition, are present in Luke and Friar Jude discusses the necessity of believers to praise God and to turn around our tendency to seek praise rather than give it. Matthew’s version reminds us to seek the Will of God as we desire our daily bread, the Providential Sustenance which we also need to live. The role of forgiveness as something we extend to others because they need it opens our being to acceptance of forgiveness from God and others. One of the greatest gifts we know in our spiritual journey is forgiveness. Our prayer as disciples fittingly concludes in this manner.