HOLY IS THIS TIME - #7
Father Pius was an older man when I met him. He had an unviable job. Each week he called around to various Passionist communities in an attempt to get priests to go out on the road to talk up subscriptions to The Sign, a magazine that the Passionists sponsored from the 1920s to the 1960s. Fr. Pius used an interesting technique. If he kept you on the phone long enough, he figured that you would weaken and say yes to his request - even if it were the only free weekend you had for the year.
Some people approach God in the same way. They figure that, if they use a lot of titles, God will tire out, weaken, and say yes to them. But, interestingly enough, Christians quickly learned that they were to pray simply. St. Luke's Gospel indicates that, when we pray, we simply say, "Abba". . St. Matthew's Gospel offers an expanded rendition of the Lord's Prayer. "When you pray, say: "Our Father"....The adjective is "our." God belongs to all the baptized, indeed to all creatures and creation. God is the creator of humankind, yet close to and intimate with each person. God is not addressed by stringing together many titles. While God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise, God is, first and last, "Our Abba." God is as dear to us as a mother cradling her child or a father holding his lovely little one. Some people have thought that this title, Abba, was innovative and unique. But there are hints of such intimacy in the covenant relationship that God had enjoyed with Jewish believers.
The focus is on God: hallowed be thy name. We stand in profound reverence before the name of the Holy One. Knowing and uttering the holy name puts us in profound solidarity with the God of all ages. The Lord's Prayer asks that the kingdom come: a time of justice and peace, a reign of mercy and compassion. We pray: may your will be done on earth as in heaven. We ask for a harmony between heaven and earth.
The prayer shifts its focus. It gives direction to our mission in the world. "Give us this day our daily bread." This refers to real bread, the staff of life that is needed for nourishment and sustenance. It also is a cry for daily wisdom and points us to the Eucharist, the super-substantial bread we need for our spirit. We then pray for forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgive us as we forgive others. We are to forgive seven times seventy- times. God will hold us to this petition. Pray it like you mean it. The prayer concludes with a petition that we be kept from temptation and delivered from evil and the evil one. We pray that we will remain true to our Christian faith to the very end, that we will persevere and not lose hope. No wonder this prayer made its way into the morning, evening and Eucharistic liturgies. It sums up the whole Gospel. It instructs us in rightful praise and wholesome intercession. It is the foundation for or prayer for the world.