(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
“Lord, teach us to pray.” John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. The Jewish people use the prayer from Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel…” Muslims use the Allah prayer every day. Catholic liturgical prayer usually ends, “through Christ our Lord”, while many Protestant Christians end theirs, “in the name of Jesus.” Other peoples and other sub-groups have distinctive prayer forms. The disciples were asking Jesus if he had a special or distinctive form of prayer for his followers to use.
Jesus did have a special form of prayer. He called God his Father. Father was the word the human Jesus used in his prayer to God. He is revealed in the Gospels as the Son of God and, supernaturally, would then think of God as his Father. He also had three things to ask his Father, God.
He would ask the Father to gather his children around his table by giving them the “daily” bread. He would ask that his brothers and sisters would live in harmony, forgiving as they would expect forgiveness. He also asked that his family members remain faithful, even in distress, until the end.
By living this prayer in our daily lives, not only will we be praying to the Father, but we shall also be living as members of the Father’s family, sharing our bread and resources as each has need; interacting with one another with compassion, love and patience, and by encouraging each other to be faithful until the end.
We are learning from this how to address God in prayer and how to live this prayer in our daily living. We must say the prayer and do the prayer.