Reflection On Mathew 6: 7-15

When someone opens a meeting with the Our Father these days, others may think that person isn't very innovative and that traditional prayer isn’t as fitting as a spontaneous one. That, of course, is foolish thinking, for how can you improve on the prayer taught by Jesus himself in response to the appeal of the Apostles: “Lord teach us to pray?” if we do use the Our Father, I think it should be said slowly and in a very meditative manner. Jesus himself places into this prayer our common needs. “Our Father” – Imagine God wants to be known and called Our Father. The phrase “in heaven” is such a lofty concept that we can linger over it for a very long time. Where is heaven? And what is it? Then there’s the request for necessary food for body and spirit and the plea to be spared from harm. There are so many deep and wonderful ideas which this prayer addresses within us. We should allow ourselves at least two minutes to say this prayer privately and publicly we should never rush through it.
Prayer is not a matter of telling God our needs, but of allowing God to tell us. There are no magic formulate for our speaking with God the Father from our hearts, and our listening to Him in the silence of our hearts. The all embracing need of a Christian is that God’s kingdom comes in our lives and that everything in us should be wholly conformed to His will. And the one specific requirement for this to be so is forgiveness. God will not forgive us if we do not forgive. He will not because He cannot. His love cannot penetrate a heart that has hardened itself. Deep- seated resentments and bitterness petrify the heart and block every prayer we utter.
Lord Jesus, the most beautiful thing you ever told us about God is that He is our loving Father. Until you came to reveal this truth, humanity knew God at best as a taskmaster who had to be feared. You alone told us that God’s nature is love and we can relate to Him as children to their Father.  The prayer you taught your disciples begins with ‘Our Father.’ When we acknowledge the Universal Fatherhood of God we realize that all human beings are our brothers and sisters. Following your invitation, when we pray to God our Father, we feel united to you Lord, as well as to all our brothers and sisters on earth. How wonderful is this experience of being part of God’s universal family that embraces heaven and earth!
Question Yourself:
What is my attitude towards ‘Our Father’?
Do I say the prayer? Or pray?
Do my prayer is self-interested or welfare of all?


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