Wednesday, October 9, 2002
27th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gal 2:1-2, 7-14
Gospel: Lk 11:1-4
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place
and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord,
teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." And Jesus said
to them, "When you pray, say this:
Father, hallowed be your
name,
may your kingdom come,
give us each day the kind
of bread we need,
and forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive all who do us wrong,
and do not bring us to
the test."
Commentary
We are in a Lucan turf; namely, prayer. Jesus, the Master, who is asked by the disciples to teach them how to pray, is himself praying. Such is a true master. What he teaches is what he himself has learned and practiced. This type of teaching is what our times need: we teach first of all by our deeds and, if and when necessary, also by our words. For, prayer is something not caught through lectures but by praying itself. More than anything else, we learn to pray when we know to whom we are related. That is why Jesus enjoins the disciples to know who God is and who they are before God. We need to experience first being addressed, so that in prayerful response we can utter: Abba/Imma! (Papa/Mama!). The rest is just a result of this. Such is the pre-requisite for Christian prayer, or any prayer for that matter. And Jesus, the Master, has consistently shown this to be the dynamics of his human life. Follow, therefore, this dynamics and you will learn how to pray.