Suggested Meditation For Second Week Of Lent

Reflection On The Our Father for Lent
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry

My suggested focus meditation point for the second week of Lent is found in the Gospel of Matthew 6: 7-15 where Jesus teaches the Apostles how to pray and then gives them the prayer we know as THE OUR FATHER. His first instruction is on how we should pray at all times, Jesus tells us “ In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
In this first part of the reading Jesus is telling us not to rattle off our prayers in a hurry and to actually take time to think about what we are saying. Prayer is not just a recitation of the words but is a conversation with Almighty God, Christ or Our Blessed mother. We are talking with them as though they were there in the room with us. This applies to all prayer especially the great prayer, the Mass. Christ reminds us that God knows what is in our hearts and our minds even before we speak them. The purpose of praying is not the words but in centering ourselves to and with God. I often tell people that taking time alone with God and talking to him as though He were sitting opposite them is a calming and centering exercise and it brings us closer to God.
By taking the time to actually focus on what we are saying and to speak the words that come from our inner being we enter into a reverent communication with Almighty God.
Jesus then goes on to teach us words that we should use when we pray which we now know as THE OUR FATHER.
"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
In this simple prayer we sum up all our beliefs and our wishes. Christ reminds us again, in no uncertain terms, on what our request to God depends when he said; For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Therefore, when we pray the Our Father, we are acknowledging many of our beliefs as Christians because we concede:
1. God is our Father, in other words, like our paternal father whose seed brought us into being, God brought us and all things into being by willing them into existence.
2. We affirm that the name of Almighty God is Holy and needs to be revered above all persons and things.
3.. We are acknowledging that the kingdom of heaven is something to come and is not to be found in this mortal world.
4. We acknowledge that we agree that God’s will must be done in all things, not only in heaven but here on earth. God’s will, not our own desire and will. This is often very difficult for us to embrace and it is also one way that we so often find ourselves in troubling by insisting on getting our own way in spite of all other things.
5. We next go on to ask God to provide us with our daily necessities of life. The key in this part of the prayer is ‘DAILY NECESSITIES’. when we ask to win the lottery or get a flat screen TV or new car God may not consider them to be necessary for our existence and if fact, God may see that in getting them we would be endangering our eternal salvation.
6. In asking God to forgive us our debts we are asking Him for forgiveness of the things we might have done that separated us from Him and put us in debt to God. What we need to remember is that we also need to be willing to forgive those who have hurt us. That is a very important part of this prayer. If we are unwilling to forgive others how can we expect God to forgive us. Christ even reiterates this when He cautions “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
7. Finally, we then plead with God to not put us in a position of being tempted by the guiles of Satan, but to deliver us from all evils, those imposed upon us by others and those which come out of our own selfishness, greed, anger, prejudices and stubbornness.

When Christ repeated the caution a second time about forgiving others He did so, I am sure, because He knew how difficult it was going to be for us mortals. One of the most difficult things for people is to admit they are wrong. It is even more difficult to go to someone you have done wrong to and ask for their forgiveness and even more difficult to forgive someone who has wronged you. Many people just cannot admit to another they are wrong. We see this daily on the news and TV. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence that a decision one made was wrong, some people cannot admit it.

During this time of preparation for the Paschal Banquet, we might want to reflect on how we pray and whether or not we are doing all that we can to reach out to those we might have wronged and seek their forgiveness and even more especially have we forgiven those that have hurt us and extended to them the love of Christ.
I have suggested this meditation for the second week of Lent because it may require some time for us to digest. Lent is a time of cleansing and purification as we evaluate ourselves in preparation to follow Christ along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary and on to His glorious Resurrection on Easter morning which provided us the promise of Eternal Life with God and all the heavenly elect. Amen