εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
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.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.” (Luke 11:1-4).”
θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
Do you remember when you learned Jesus’ prayer known as The Lord’s Prayer or The Our Father? Perhaps you were blessed to take this Prayer to heart after hearing it from your Mom or Dad. Perhaps a catechist in school or other catechetical opportunity imparted the communing words of Jesus. Often, though, when we talk about prayers such as The Lord’s Prayer, the Doxology (“Glory be...”), Act of Contrition (a prayer that certainly deserves a special reflection in the future) or any other fixed prayers, our language is often academic. We learn the prayers, we memorize the prayers, the prayers are taught to us. We approach the prayers the way we approached poetry, the Preamble of the United States Constitution, various mathematical formulae such as the Pythagorean theorem or multiplication tables in grade school along with the accompanying levels of anxiety when it came to reciting the text before a group of classmates. The recitation was voiced with a cadence approaching the speed of light and if a part of the recitation was forgotten, we tended to start over. This, however, is not to say that memorization is negative.
As we mature especially in the trades and professions, we draw upon memorized knowledge that has become second nature to us in order to accomplish a number of tasks, some of which are life-restoring or life-sustaining. An electrician draws upon his or her rote knowledge of Ohm’s Law when running electrical lines. Plumbers generally know innately what size pipe to use for drain, waste, venting and gas runs as well as the appropriate slope or rise. EMTs, nurses and doctors act on protocols that have been imprinted into their very being when life is at stake. If one of these medical persons had to Google the proper procedure when someone is bleeding from a major blood vessel, chances are the patient would die. Memorization is good and proper.
When it comes to memorized prayer, there are good and not-so-good points to consider. On a number of occasions in hospital ministry, I have experienced first-hand comatose patients voicing the Lord’s Prayer during the Anointing of the Sick. People in the midst of crisis have been drawn to a more peace-filled state with a reflectively paced praying of the Lord’s Prayer. Yet there are other times when we race through these memorized prayers without any thought as to the meaning of the words. Consider, for example, the pace of the Lord’s Prayer and other sacred Texts at Mass in your parish. How much attention and reflection do we bring to the voicing of these awesome words?
With the Gospel proclamation of the Lord’s Prayer and Jesus’ additional teaching on prayer this Sunday, it is a wonderful opportunity to consider reflecting on this gift of Jesus to us. In many places of the world this weekend, temperatures are blisteringly hot so it is not a good idea for much running around. Use the gift of Sunday - the Lord’s Day (ergo, not my day, not our day but His day) - to be led to a deeper experience of prayer. While our introduction to the Lord’s Prayer may have been academic and rote, growth in the spiritual life demands that this prayer and all prayer emanate deeply from our heart. Consider the following:
“Matters which are so immense and so beyond humanity, so surpassing and exceeding our perishable nature that they are impossible for those of a rational and mortal class to comprehend, have, in the vast and immeasurable grace which is poured from God toward humanity, become, by the will of God, comprehensible through Jesus Christ, the minister of boundless grace to us, and through the collaborating Spirit.” This is how Origen of Alexandria begins his treatise On Prayer (third century) that involves a constant reference to and commentary upon The Lord’s Prayer.
Known for his prayerful and insightful commentaries on Sacred Scripture, Origen most probably would have composed this translation of the sacred prayer as the basis for his work:
“Father, let your name be hallowed,
let your Kingdom come.
Give us our supersubstantial (or superessential) bread.
And release us from our sins,
as we ourselves release all indebted to us.
And do not bring us into testing.”
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| Rembrandt’s Face of Jesus |
As Origen begins his commentary on
The Lord’s Prayer, he is intrigued by the question posed by one of the disciples: “teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” Jesus’ disciple would certainly know about prayer from the Synagogue experience.
Psalms as well as the ritual prayers chanted on various festivals together with domestic feasts such as Passover gave Jewish people of Jesus’ day familiarity with prayer. The disciple then who asks about being schooled in Jesus’ way of prayer recognizes that there is something different about the way Jesus Himself prays. Origen notes: “Since the discussion of prayer is such a task that the illumination of the Father is needed, as well as the teaching of the firstborn Word and the inner working of the Spirit, so that it is possible to think and to speak worthily on such a topic, as a man (for of myself I do not claim capacity for prayer) I am entreating the Spirit before I begin to discuss prayer, so that a discourse which is full and spiritual might be granted to us, and that the prayers which are recorded in the Gospels may be clarified.” For Origen, a fundamental difference that marks the uniqueness of
The Lord’s Prayer is its grounding in the life of the Divine Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This Prayer is about communion flowing from a graced relationship providing the one who prays all that is needed for the relationship.
The Evangelist Luke’s recording of this ‘short prayer’ with its powerful imperative petitions does offer much for Christian living. We can begin to be schooled in the ways of prayer by voicing these words of Jesus slowly, giving time to reflect on the words we are using. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church offers an in-depth commentary on The Lord’s Prayer as well. We call upon the Holy Spirit this day, for ‘we know not how to pray’ and ask for the grace to pray as Jesus did and be drawn into the depths of the Father’s love.
