The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to ground our relationships with others and God in prayer.
Directed in Prayer
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Galatians explains the relationship of Paul and the other Apostles. The reading explains why Paul rebukes Peter at Antioch.
* [2:11–14] The decision reached in Jerusalem (Gal 2:3–7) recognized the freedom of Gentile Christians from the Jewish law. But the problem of table fellowship between Jewish Christians, who possibly still kept kosher food regulations, and Gentile believers was not yet settled. When Cephas first came to the racially mixed community of Jewish and Gentile Christians in Antioch (Gal 2:12), he ate with non-Jews. Pressure from persons arriving later from Jerusalem caused him and Barnabas to draw back. Paul therefore publicly rebuked Peter’s inconsistency toward the gospel (Gal 2:14). Some think that what Paul said on that occasion extends through Gal 2:16, 21.1
Psalm 117 is a universal call to Worship.
* [Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God’s supremacy. The supremacy of Israel’s God has been demonstrated to them by the people’s secure existence, which is owed entirely to God’s gracious fidelity.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches “The Lord’s Prayer.”
* [11:1–4] The Matthean form of the “Our Father” occurs in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 6:9–15); the shorter Lucan version is presented while Jesus is at prayer (see note on Lk 3:21) and his disciples ask him to teach them to pray just as John taught his disciples to pray. In answer to their question, Jesus presents them with an example of a Christian communal prayer that stresses the fatherhood of God and acknowledges him as the one to whom the Christian disciple owes daily sustenance (Lk 11:3), forgiveness (Lk 11:4), and deliverance from the final trial (Lk 11:4). See also notes on Mt 6:9–13.3
Angela Maynard is pondering the notion of prayer.
Coincidentally, today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. The rosary is one of my favorite prayers. It’s my favorite because it brings me such calm. I feel such an incredible sense of protection when I make time to pray the rosary. I’ve been praying it frequently of late as It is a prayer of peace and protection. The world needs peace now more than ever. So, here’s the challenge…if you are a praying person, take some time to reflect on your prayer journey. If you are not a praying person, consider giving it a try.
Here are some words that may help…
"Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God."
-Teresa of Avila
"Prayer is not an old woman's amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action."
- Mahatma Gandhi4
Don Schwager quotes “The privilege and responsibility of calling God Father,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"For the Savior said, 'When you pray, say, 'Our Father.' And another of the holy Evangelists adds, 'who art in heaven' (Matthew 6:9)... He gives his own glory to us. He raises slaves to the dignity of freedom. He crowns the human condition with such honor as surpasses the power of nature. He brings to pass what was spoken of old by the voice of the psalmist: 'I said, you are gods, and all of you children of the Most High' (Psalm 82:6). He rescues us from the measure of slavery, giving us by his grace what we did not possess by nature, and permits us to call God 'Father,' as being admitted to the rank of sons. We received this, together with all our other privileges, from him. One of these privileges is the dignity of freedom, a gift peculiarly befitting those who have been called to be sons. He commands us, therefore, to take boldness and say in our prayers, 'Our Father.'"(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 71)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 11:1-4 shares that Jesus came to reveal the Father so that we all could know him and experience his love. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” he told his disciples (John 14:9). When he prayed, Jesus addressed the Father directly, and he taught his disciples to do the same.
Through the gift of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus assures us that we can relate to God as his children, using the very words that Jesus taught us. He has given us simple, familiar words to say, along with the promise that our Father will hear us. We don’t need to speak eloquently or possess deep theological understanding. We just need to come to him. Today try to visualize Jesus with you as you’re praying. You could use an icon or a picture, or just imagine him in your mind. Look at his face as he leads you “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Come to him, and you will find your heavenly Father. “Our Father, help me to see you as you are.”6
Friar Jude Winkler recalls the contact of Paul with the Church in Jerusalem. The simplicity of Peter is contrasted with the astuteness of Paul. Friar Jude reveals intimacy, praise, surrender, and openness in the “Lord’s Prayer.”
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that true Franciscan evangelization is not preaching at or to people, but just making the truth beautiful, attractive, and also challenging.
Truth be told, both Jesus and Francis were revolutionary and radical. Those are not bad words. Radical comes from radix, which means the root. Both Jesus and Francis were prophets; and like the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures and John the Baptist, they struck at the roots of evil (Matthew 3:10). These are the very systems of the world that have lost their way, robbing us of the “straight path and open highway” (Matthew 3:3) to God. Francis and Clare were not so much prophets by what they said as in the radical, system-critiquing way that they lived their lives. The “dirty rotten system” that Dorothy Day critiqued is the very one that Francis and Clare avoided. When Francis said, “I left the world, [1] after being among lepers, he was saying that he was giving up on the usual payoffs, constraints, and rewards of business-as-usual and was choosing to live in the largest Kingdom of all. To pray and actually mean “Thy Kingdom come,” we must also be able to say “my kingdoms go.”7
In our prayer and meditation, we seek direction in our evangelization efforts.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment