Weekend Mass

Dear Beloved Family of St. Anselm,

In last week's Gospel, the Lord insisted that prayer was the "one thing necessary." This week, the disciples ask the Lord to teach them to pray. In answer, the Lord gives us three basic prescriptions for prayer:

I. Pattern of Prayer –In giving the "Our Father," the Lord Jesus is not simply giving us words to say, but a pattern or structure for prayer: 

1. RELATE – Our Father who art in heaven – Relate to the Father with family intimacy, affection, reverence, and love. 

2. REJOICE – hallowed by thy name!God gives every good and perfect gift, and our Praise is due to Him. God created us so we…might live for his Praise and glory (Eph 1:12). 

3. RECEIVE – thy kingdom comes, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – When Jesus lives in us, we hunger for God's word and strive to know his will and have it operative in our lives. 

4. REQUEST – Give us today our daily bread – Our greatest need, of course, is to be fed by God; thus, bread also points to the faithful reception of the Eucharist, asking for God's help in every need – ours and others. 

5. REPENT – and forgive us our trespasses... and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. – Sin is understood at two levels here: 1: sin – (lowercase) our personal sins, also referred to as our "trespasses." 2. Sin (upper case) – refers to the whole climate of sin that reinforces and underlies our sins. Recognizing the sins and deep drives of sins in our lives, we must beg deliverance from them and mercy.

II. The Persistence of Prayer – Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the importance of persistence in prayer and a similar parable in Luke 18 of an unjust judge and a persistent widow. If even a grouchy neighbor and an unfair judge will respond to persistence, how much more will God the Father, who is neither unjust nor grouchy, respond to those who call out to him day and night. St. Monica prayed for thirty years for Augustine to accept the Faith. God sometimes requires persistence for some things, and we dare not give up or become discouraged. 

III. The Point of Prayer –Jesus then concludes If an earthly Father knows how to "give good gifts" to his son, then we expect Jesus to say that the Heavenly Father also knows how to give "good gifts" to those who ask. But Jesus does not say "good gifts." He says the Father gives "The Holy Spirit." Why is this? Because it is the highest gift that contains all others. To receive the Holy Spirit is to accept God Himself, who comes to live in us as in a temple. And with this gift comes every other gift and consolation. By the Holy Spirit, we begin to think and see more as God does. Ultimately, the point of all prayers is deep communion with the Lord. 

Amen.