Tuesday March 3, 2020
1st Week of Lent
1st Reading: Is 55:10–11
Gospel: Mt 6:7–15
Jesus said to his disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do, for they hold that the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
holy be your name,
your kingdom come
and your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
“Give us today the kind of bread we need.
“Forgive us our debts
just as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
“Do not bring us to the test
but deliver us from the evil one.
“If you forgive others their wrongs, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A little boy texted God the following prayer: “Our Father thou art in heaven, Harold be thy name…” An angel replied: “Missent! God is not Harold.” The boy texted again: “Give us this day our daily bread with French fries and a drink of marmalade…” The angel replied: “You are ordering, not praying!” One last time the boy texted: “Do not bring us to the test but deliver us some email. Amen”.
None of us adults misspell or mispronounce the “Our Father” unless we dare make fun of this prayer. But pronouncing the “Our Father” well in perfect diction does not necessarily mean tht one is praying as he should. It boils down to the basic question of whether or not we really know how to pray at all.
Do we really know how to pray? A story is told of three men who even made an issue out of the body’s position while praying. One said kneeling is the best praying position, while the other insisted that lying prostrate on the ground is the most effective body position in praying. The electrician gave this thought-provoking answer: “The best position in prayer is when I am up there hanging up-side-down held only by cables at my waist repairing a live electric transmission line.”
The first thing to consider in checking it out if we really know how to pray is not body posture but attitude. The electrician’s disposition of total self-surrender is the best attitude at prayer. On this point many of us fail for treating God like a vendo machine. Vendo machines pertain to entrepreneurship while prayer is about relationship. One who is in a genuine relationship cannot afford to treat the beloved as a milking cow. At prayer our hearts should remain open to the Holy Will of God believing that even before we pray the Lord already knows our needs (Matthew 6:8). – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., JD, DM, MAPM