Thursday June 22, 2017
We pray because we have needs. We pray because we have desires. But there is always a hierarchy of needs and a proper ordering of human desires. Jesus assures us that God already knows what we need and provides for them. Hence our prayer does not need to be a continuous litany of needs aimed at reminding God of our desires, rather we pray so that we can remind ourselves of the right order of our needs and desires. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us what to pray for and how to pray. Tertullian of Carthage called it “the foundation of further desires” of human beings. Thomas Aquinas would agree: “The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers. . . . In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.” Let us take a look at the ordering of desires in the Lord’s Prayer and see if it matches our priorities.
