PRAYER: WORD FROM GOD AND WORD TO GOD
Introduction
God speaks his word to people in many ways: first of all, his word-in-action, that is, his saving deeds; secondly, his words written down in the Bible. Above all, God speaks his living Word, Jesus Christ.
God’s word can be heard only and find resonance when it takes on flesh and blood – when it becomes incarnate – in the lives of people and vibrates with human thought and feeling. If so, one can respond to it with prayerful words of recognition and with the living prayer of deeds. Prayer is our echo to God’s word and so are our deeds.
In this Eucharistic celebration, God speaks his word to us in the readings and he gives us his living Word in the Eucharistic bread.
Opening Prayer
Lord God,
you speak your mighty word to us,
but we cannot hear it,
unless it stirs our lives
and is spoken in human terms.
Keep speaking your word to us, Lord,
and open our hearts to it,
that it may bear fruit in us
when we do your will
and carry out what we are sent to do.
We ask you this through your living Word,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
1 Reading – ISAIAH 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
Responsorial PSALM 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the just.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. R.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him. R.
The LORD has eyes for the just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth. R.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. R.
Verse Before the Gospel MATTHEW 4:4b
Glory and praise to you, oh Christ!
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
Glory and praise to you, oh Christ!
Gospel MATTHEW 6:7-15
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. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This is how you are to pray: 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. “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.”
Commentary
“I dare to call him Father.”
If yesterday’s gospel reading highlighted the Lenten practice of almsgiving and service of the needy, this morning’s gospel highlights another important Lenten practice: prayer. In the gospel, Jesus declares that, when it comes to prayer, many words are not needed.
Today’s passage is a catechesis on prayer. It is a prayer and a lesson on how to pray. In the early Church, the catechumens directly learned this prayer from the mouth of the bishop and prayed it together as a profession of faith. During the Easter Vigil, they recited it for the first time together with the communities after their baptism.
Jesus teaches us to address God as “our Father.” He wants us to stand before the Father confidently and ask for what we need to live as his sons and daughters. No other religion except Christianity presents God as the Father and Mother of the people.
When we ask: ‘Hallowed be your name,’ we declare to the Father our willingness to glorify his name and to collaborate with him in fulfilling his promises of “you shall be my people and I will be your God” (Ezk. 36:23-28).
“Thy kingdom come,” we pray. With Jesus, the Kingdom of God has already come. The time of waiting is over. However, we continue to pray for its coming because it must develop and grow in every person as a seed of goodness, love, reconciliation, and peace. Prayer makes us discern between the values of this world and the values of the Kingdom of God.
We cannot recite the Lord’s Prayer with sincerity if we think only of our own bread, are greedy for possession and anxious about tomorrow, forget the poor, and neglect social justice. Paraphrasing the Lord’s prayer would mean to say, “Help me, Father, to be content with the necessary, to be free from the bondage of greed and strengthen me to share with the poor.”
God’s forgiveness has only one requirement – to love and forgive our brothers and sisters and be reconciled with them first.
The temptation from which we ask the Lord to deliver us does not refer to any minor weaknesses, struggles of life or persecutions. They do make us stumble and can choke the seed of the Word of God in us. But Jesus wants us to pray that we must be kept away from the temptation of abandoning our faith in the loving and merciful Father.
Prolonged prayers are not intended to persuade God to change his plans! Prayer does not change God; instead, it opens our minds and changes our hearts.
Intentions
– That God’s word may be echoed in us in our prayers and in the good we do to others, we pray:
– That we may be always close to God’s living Word, Jesus Christ, and that he may be the center of our life, we pray:
– That we may be prayerful people, who pray not only for our personal needs, but also for those of the Church and of the world, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Our Father in heaven,
you speak to us your living Word,
your Son, Jesus Christ,
and you give him to us as bread to be eaten.
With him, may we respond to you
with words of prayer in our lips and in our hearts
and with the living words
of our loyal service and love.
May this be our offering to you today
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
Our Father in heaven,
we praise your holy name,
for speaking to us in the Scriptures
and in your Son, Jesus Christ.
May your Word not return empty to you,
but give us the strength of your Son
to let our deeds speak to you,
that what we have promised and offered in prayer
may become real in our lives.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
God’s word must take shape in our lives. What we have heard, we must live. God’s Son must become visible and speak in what we are and do. May God bless you all for this, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!