Isaiah 55:10-11 / Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus teaches about prayer
“This is how you are to pray."
Two men
were arguing about religion.
As the
argument heated up, the one man shouted at the other,
"1'll bet
five bucks you don’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.”
"I’ll
take that bet," the other shouted.
Then he
began praying, "Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray
the Lord my soul to keep.
If I
should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
The
other man looked at him in amazement and said, "I'll be darned! You win! I
didn't think you knew it.”
Sometimes
we might just as well be praying “Now I lay me down to sleep” as praying the
Lord's Prayer.
For we
pray it without really thinking about what we are saying. (M Link)
*****
How
attentively do we pray the Lord’s Prayer!
"In
praying, do not babble like the pagans.” Mt 6:7
****
Very often, it seems to us that the forces of evil are victorious and even overwhelming. Men of violence assert their power and might over innocent people and even kill them.
It seems that justice is slow in coming, if ever at all.
The movie industry will take advantage of this fact by churning out all those kinds of "pay-back" movies. Justice is done only in reaching out for the gun. But it is only confined to the dream-world of the movies.
So where is justice? Is there any justice?
Yet, we know that there is justice. At least, we will remember Jesus saying this: He who draws the sword will also die by the sword.
Yet, Jesus also did say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.
Those are the profound of truth, profound words of life, words which, as the 1st reading puts it, does not return to the Lord empty without carrying out His will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
We can only understand what justice is when we know what the truth is about.
In the gospel, Jesus taught us a prayer. It is a prayer of truth.
It is a prayer for justice. When we pray the Lord's prayer, we are also praying that the truth of God will bear fruits of love in our lives so that we will work for justice in the world.
Truth goes before justice. Because there can never be justice without truth. (SY)
Very often, it seems to us that the forces of evil are victorious and even overwhelming. Men of violence assert their power and might over innocent people and even kill them.
It seems that justice is slow in coming, if ever at all.
The movie industry will take advantage of this fact by churning out all those kinds of "pay-back" movies. Justice is done only in reaching out for the gun. But it is only confined to the dream-world of the movies.
So where is justice? Is there any justice?
Yet, we know that there is justice. At least, we will remember Jesus saying this: He who draws the sword will also die by the sword.
Yet, Jesus also did say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.
Those are the profound of truth, profound words of life, words which, as the 1st reading puts it, does not return to the Lord empty without carrying out His will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
We can only understand what justice is when we know what the truth is about.
In the gospel, Jesus taught us a prayer. It is a prayer of truth.
It is a prayer for justice. When we pray the Lord's prayer, we are also praying that the truth of God will bear fruits of love in our lives so that we will work for justice in the world.
Truth goes before justice. Because there can never be justice without truth. (SY)
