Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu dạy
chúng ta biết cách cư xử với Thiên Chúa như cách nguời con cư xử với người cha của chúng ta. Khía
cạnh đầu tiên là chúng ta phải
nên
có sự tin tưởng và niềm tự tin vào nơi Thiên Chúa khi chúng ta tâm sự với Ngài. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu cũng cảnh báo chúng ta: “Khi cầu nguyện, anh em đừng lải nhải nhiều lời..” (Mt 6:7). Khi chúng ta nói chuyện với cha mẹ của chúng ta, chúng ta
không bao giờ lý luận phức tạp, cũng không phải
nói nhiều, nhưng chúng ta chỉ đơn giản là xin cha me cho chúng ta những gì chúng cho cần và muốn xin. Chúng ta nên luôn luôn
biết rằng Thiên Chúa sẽ nghe những lời cầu xin của chúng ta bởi vì Thiên Chúa cũng là người Cha yêu thương chúng ta-và nghe lời chúng ta. Trong thực tế, cầu nguyện không
phải là việc trình bày, phúc
trình hay việc báo
cáo cho Thiên Chúa những gì chúng ta muốn làm, những gì chúng ta dự định làm và những thành quả mà chúng ta đã làm, nhưng cầu nguyện với Chúa là để khẩn khoàn
cầu xin Chúa ban cho chúng ta những gì chúng ta cần, như “Cha của anh em biết rõ
anh em cần gì trước
khi anh em cầu xin” (Mt 6:8). Chúng ta sẽ không phải là ngưới Kitô hữu tốt lành nếu chúng ta không cầu nguyện, như người con không thể là một đứa con tốt, có hiếu, nếu anh ta không nói
chuyện với cha mẹ của mình.
Trong
Mùa Chay, Giáo Hội nhắc nhở chúng ta nên biết dùng thời giờ để lắng đọng tâm hồn
và
cầu nguyện một cách sâu đậm hơn
như
Thánh Gioan Kim Khẩu đã nói: “Lời cầu nguyện, là những cuộc đối thoại trực tiếp giữa chúng ta với Thiên Chúa, là kho tàng quý báu nhất của chúng ta, bởi vì nhờ đó mà
chúng ta được
kết hợp với Người”. Điều cần nhất là để chúng ta cần phải biết sống trong đức bác ái thì lời cầu nguyện sẽ mang lại sức mạnh cho chúng ta để chúng ta sống thánh
thiện
hơn mỗi ngày. Những lý do tại sao chúng ta cầu nguyện với Chúa mỗi ngày là vì cầu nguyện giúp chúng ta biết tha thứ không phải chỉ là những vấn đề xích mích nhỏ thôi, Nhưng giúp chúng ta có thể đối diện với những vấn đề to lớn khác, nhưng không thể bằng những lời nói và thái độ thù nghịch, tấn công và còn hơn thế nữa, Cầu nguyện giúp ta có khả năng chịu đựng, không có ác ý hay
làm tổn thương đến người nào khác, Và chúng ta có thể thành thật nói với người thù nghịch của chúng ta là chúng ta đã thật lòng tha thứ cho hô với những gì mà họ đang mắc nợ với chúng ta. Và chúng ta có thể làm được điều đó vì có Chúa Thánh Thần nâng đỡ và hướng dẫn chúng ta và Đức Maria, mẹ Thiên Chúa cầu bầu cho chúng ta có được sức mạnh để phấn đấu.
Ôi
lạy Chúa! Xin Chúa giúp chúng con để chúng con biết con cần phải học biết làm thế nào để cầu nguyện
và làm thế nào để thâu hoạch những ơn ích cụ thể cho cuộc sống
của riêng của chúng con mỗi ngày
qua việc cầu nguyện.”
Comment: When you pray, do not
use a lot of words; your Father knows what you need
Today, Jesus —the Son of God—
teaches us how to behave like a son of God. A first aspect is our trust and the
confidence we should have when we talk to him. But our Lord warns us: «When you
pray, do not use a lot of words» (Mt 6:7). When we talk to our parents, we do
not resort to complicate reasoning, nor to using a lot of words, but they
simply ask for what they need. We should always know God will listen to us
because God —who is also the Father— loves us and listens to us. In fact, to
pray is not so much to inform God, but to ask him for all we need, as «Your
Father knows what you need, even before you ask him» (Mt 6:8). We will not be
good Christians if we do not pray, as a son cannot be a good son if he does not
talk to his parents.
The
Lord's Prayer is the prayer that Jesus himself taught us, and it is just a
compendium of our Christian life. Each time we say the Lord's Prayer we let the
Father to take us by the hand and we ask him what we need everyday to become a
better sons of God. We need not only the material bread, but —more than that—
the Celestial Bread: «Let us beg we never lack the Eucharist bread». We need
also to learn to forgive and to be forgiven: «To be able to receive the
forgiveness God offers us, let us to address ourselves to the Father who loves
us», as it is said in the Mass in the preliminary introduction to our Lord's
Prayer.
During
Lent, the Church is asking us to deepen in our prayers. «The prayer, our
colloquy with God, is our best treasure, because it means (...) being united to
him» (Saint John Crisostom). Oh Lord! I need to learn how to pray and how to
draw specific benefits for my own life. Mostly to live the virtue of charity:
the prayer gives me strength to live it better every day. And this is why I ask
him daily to help me to forgive not only the small troubles I may have to face
from others but, also, the offensive words and attitudes and, more than that,
to bear no malice to my fellow men, so that I can sincerely tell them I have
forgiven from the bottom of my heart those who are in debt with me. I will be
able to achieve it because God's Mother will help me at all times.
TUESDAY, 1st Week of Lent 2024
Jesus
said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think
that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Matthew 6:7–8
Recall that Jesus used to go
off by Himself at times and spend the whole night in prayer. Thus, it’s clear
that Jesus is in favor of long and sincere times of prayer, since He gave us
His own example as a lesson. But there is clearly a difference between that
which our Lord did all night and that which He criticized the pagans for doing
when they “babble” with many words. After this criticism of the prayer of the
pagans, Jesus gives us the “Our Father” prayer as a model for our personal
prayer.
The Our Father prayer begins by
addressing God in a deeply personal way. That is, God is not just an
all-powerful cosmic being. He is personal, familial—He is our Father. Jesus
continues the prayer by instructing us to honor our Father by proclaiming His
holiness, His hallowedness. God and God alone is the Holy One from which all
holiness of life derives. As we acknowledge the holiness of the Father, we must
also acknowledge Him as King and seek His Kingship for our lives and for the
world. This is accomplished only when His perfect will is done “on earth as it
is in Heaven.” This perfect prayer concludes by acknowledging that God is the
source of all of our daily needs, including the forgiveness of our sins and
protection from all evil.
Upon the completion of this
prayer of perfection, Jesus provides a context in which this and every prayer
must be prayed. He says, “If you forgive men their transgressions, your
heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will
your Father forgive your transgressions.” Prayer will only be effective if we
allow it to change us and make us more like the Father in Heaven. Therefore, if
we want our prayer of forgiveness to be effective, then we must live what we
pray for. We must also forgive others so that God will forgive us.
Reflect, today, upon this
perfect prayer, the Our Father. One temptation is that we can become so
familiar with this prayer that we gloss over its true meaning. If that happens,
then we will find that we are praying it more like the pagans who simply babble
the words. But if we humbly and sincerely understand and mean every word, then
we can be certain that our prayer will become more like that of our Lord’s.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola recommends pondering every word of that prayer very
slowly, one word at a time. Try to pray this way, today, and allow the Our
Father to move from babbling to authentic communication with the Father in
Heaven.
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in
Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. Amen. Jesus, I trust in You.
TUESDAY, 1st Week of Lent 2024
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, I do not know how to pray as I ought.
Guide my prayer today. Help me to praise you and thank you. Help me to ask for
good things and to seek forgiveness for my sins.
Encountering the Word of God
1. God’s Word Does Not Fail: Isaiah teaches us that God’s Word accomplishes
God’s will without fail. When we read this passage in the light of Jesus
Christ, we know that Jesus is the Word sent out by the Father to humanity.
Jesus tells his disciples that his food is to do the will of the Father. He
always does what is pleasing to the Father. In the Garden, Jesus offers to do
the will of the Father (Matthew 26:29). The will of the Father was that his
Son, Jesus Christ, die in such a way as to obtain the definitive and complete
victory over death itself. Jesus obeys the Father’s will and conquers death by
dying and offering himself as an innocent sacrifice in love.
2. The Three “Thy Petitions” of the Lord’s Prayer: One of the most important things Jesus does to
accomplish the Father’s will is to teach us how to pray. The prayer he taught
us, in Matthew’s Gospel, has seven petitions. The first petition, “Hallowed be
thy name,” asks that God’s holy name be recognized and treated as holy. It asks
that God’s plan of salvation be realized and that the holiness of God be made
known to all the nations. God’s name is “hallowed” when his people are
delivered from evil and saved. The second petition asks that God’s Kingdom be established.
We are asking that God reign in our hearts and in the world. As the Kingdom
expands throughout the world and history, we look forward to and ask for the
definitive establishment of the Kingdom at the end of time – when evil will be
vanquished, sin will be eradicated, and death will be no more. The third
petition, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” asks that God’s will
be accomplished here on earth. What God wills for us is our holiness – that we
partake of and attain his eternal and divine life.
3. The Four “Us Petitions” of the Lord’s Prayer: While the first three petitions are “thy
petitions” and refer to the hallowing of God’s name, the establishment of God’s
Kingdom, and the accomplishment of God’s will, the next four petitions are “us
petitions” and ask God to give us bread, to forgive us, to spare us, and to
deliver us. The fourth petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that God
providentially care for us this day and provide us with the supernatural bread
of the Eucharist. Just as God fed his people every day in the desert with
manna, so we ask that today God feed us with New Manna, the Body and Blood of
his Son. The fifth petition asks for the forgiveness of our sins. By sinning,
we accrue debt. By doing righteous deeds, we store up heavenly treasure. Our
debt incurred by sinful deeds needs to be forgiven and, through the
righteousness of Jesus, this is possible. The sixth petition, “lead us not into
temptation,” recognizes that tribulation mysteriously precedes the great day of
salvation. The petition is a prayer for divine mercy and is a plea that God
spare us the sufferings of the great trial and tribulation that precede the
coming of the Kingdom of God. The seventh petition asks that we be protected
and delivered from evil and the evil one. Satan has been cast out of heaven and
now only seeks to thwart the divine plan by bringing as many people as possible
to reject God and become his slaves. In our prayer, we acknowledge that we do
not want to be slaves of sin or the devil. What we truly want is to enjoy the
freedom of the children of God!
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you gave us the supreme model of prayer. You
taught us to call God our Father. You truly sanctified your Father’s name. You
established your Father’s Kingdom. Your Father’s will was your food. As an
obedient Son, you resisted temptation and conquered the evil one.
Resolution: We can be tempted to reduce our prayer to petitions for material
things or to be relieved from suffering. We need to pray as Jesus taught us.
The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to ask for greater things – that God be known by
all people, that his Kingdom be definitively established, that human beings
attain eternal life, that every person has what they need for daily life and
eternal life, that our sins be forgiven, that we receive divine mercy, and that
God protected us from the evil one and his works.
TUESDAY, 1st Week of Lent
Opening
Prayer: Lord, teach me to pray
simply, sincerely, and with an open heart. Give me the grace to surrender to
you in prayer.
Encountering
Christ:
1.
Simple Words
for Perfect Prayer: These
words of Jesus are perfect, simple, and concise. Each precious phrase invites
us to a conversion of heart, soul, and mind. Christ tells us we should begin
our prayer with a surrender to the divinity of God, our almighty Father. We
then ask our loving Father for seven petitions: 1) Hallowed be thy name, 2) Thy
kingdom come, 3) Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, 4) Give us our
daily bread, 5) Forgive us our trespasses, 6) Lead us not into temptation, and
7) Deliver us from evil. Christ’s words are eloquent in their simplicity and
clarity, yet they contain challenge upon challenge to our fallen human nature.
2.
A Synthesis
of Scripture: Each phrase of
the Lord’s Prayer touches upon truths found in other parts of Scripture. Only
Jesus could have spontaneously provided such a beautiful synthesis of the
Divine Word for us! For example, when we say “Our Father in heaven,” we echo
Isaiah 66:1 and Acts 7:49: “Heaven is your throne and the earth is your
footstool.” “Hallowed be thy name” is reflected here: “From the rising of the
sun to its setting, may your name be praised and be great among the nations!
Let your glory be over all the earth!” (Psalms 113:3-4). “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil” is similar to,“For the glory of your
name, deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! (Psalms 79:9).
(For a more complete look at the scriptural roots of the Our Father, see Expanded
Lord's Prayer with Scripture References.) The Lord’s Prayer, awesome in its depth and scope,
offers a perfect framework for our daily prayer.
3.
Grace for
Our Prayer Lives: The Our
Father is one of the most familiar prayers in all of Christianity. In our
fallen human state, we can easily speak the words of the Lord’s Prayer
mechanically, but to truly surrender ourselves to our Father, we need his help.
Only the grace of the Holy Spirit can conform our hearts and minds to the
aspirations of this prayer. Like children, we must ask for our Father’s
assistance in a task that we can not hope to accomplish alone.
Conversation
with Christ: Oh Lord, how easy
it is to speak the words to the Lord’s Prayer. I have known it all my life. How
hard it is to open my heart and mind and pray as I should. Please give me a
childlike trust in you, my beloved Father. I humbly ask you to send your Spirit
upon me, and to unite my soul to each and every word of this perfect prayer.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will write out the
Lord’s Prayer, leaving space between each line. I will use those blank spaces
to jot down inspirations from the Holy Spirit on how I can better pray each
part of this most perfect prayer.
TUESDAY, 1st Week of Lent
In the Gospel
reading Matthew recounts how Jesus taught us to pray. The Lord's Prayer is a
beautiful and complete prayer.
First, it acknowledges that God in heaven is our Father. Not only
is he holy; his name is also holy.
Second, it is always better to enter into his will. Yet how many
times do we ask God to do our will, rather than we do what he wills? Most of
the time, we are unhappy because we deviate from God's will and plan for us; we
often think our plan is better than God's.
Third, we must put our trust in God's providence. We always worry
we do not have enough money or food to eat. But our Father will sustain and
take care of us.
Fourth, it is very hard to forgive those who have wronged us. When
treated badly or unfairly, we want to get even. Yet how can we ask for God's
forgiveness if we do not forgive those who have wronged us?
Last, we ask to be delivered from the test and from evil.
The Lord's Prayer is the prayer to our Father in heaven who loves
and cares for his children, who knows what each one needs even before he I she
asks.
Finally,
we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who
need our prayers the most.
REFLECTION
Friends, the Gospel for
today is of great moment, for in it the Son of God teaches us to pray. Our
teacher is not just a guru, a spiritual sage, or a religious genius, but the
Son of God. This is why the Our Father is the model of all prayer. A desire to
pray is planted deep within us, the desire to speak to God and to listen to
him. We can forget to pray, neglect to pray, become lazy in prayer, but we can
never really lose the desire to pray.
And so let us
attend carefully to the first words of Jesus' great prayer: "Our Father
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Our basic problem is getting our
priorities mixed up. We seek all kinds of worldly things—money, pleasure, power,
honor—all of which are unsatisfying.
What we should
desire, first, is God. This is precisely what the prayer to hallow the name of
God is all about. It's not that God's name isn't in fact hallowed, but we're
praying that we might keep it that way, that we might honor God in all things.
We're praying for a radical reorientation of our consciousness.
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