Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.

Luke 11:2-3

Luke 11:1-4

Reflection

Jesus teaches his disciples the “Our Father” prayer in today’s Gospel. How many times have we prayed this prayer in our lives? Certainly too many to count. While there is comfort in knowing the familiar words by heart, how often do we really reflect on what they mean?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes into detail about this important prayer, breaking down each line and its meaning, but here, I’d like to offer a few, less theological points of reflection. Jesus tells us to call to our heavenly Father daily – first to praise him and then to ask for our daily bread. Notice that our petition for daily bread comes after our worship and praise to the Father. It is fitting that we first acknowledge and praise God before asking him for things.

Many times, we tend to pray and only ask – ask for better health, a new job, answers to troubling questions – without ever thanking God for the good we have in our lives. While Jesus wants us to pray for all those things and sincerely petition him, it must be done with a humble heart. We can’t ask Jesus to ‘fix’ all the broken things in our life and simply end the relationship there. Our prayer must consist of praising God, thanking him, and adoring him, too.

Ask Jesus to help you truly praise and adore him, not only ask for prayers to be answered and then walk away. Let him love you, and you will come to better understand how he answers your prayers in his divine and perfect way.

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Saint of the Day

St. John Henry Newman: 1801-1890

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

St. John Henry Newman