COLLECT: “O GOD, STRENGTH OF THOSE WHO HOPE IN YOU, GRACIOUSLY HEAR OUR PLEAS, AND, SINCE WITHOUT YOU, MORTAL FRAILTY CAN DO NOTHING, GRANT US ALWAYS THE HELP OF YOUR GRACE, THAT IN FOLLOWING YOUR COMMANDS WE MAY PLEASE YOU BY OUR RESOLVE AND OUR DEEDS. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Sir 48:1-14; Ps 96:1-7 and Mt 6:7-15.
In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us the ‘Model Prayer’/‘The Lord’s Prayer’. The ‘Lord's Prayer’ contains all the necessary or right ingredients for any true and effective prayer, namely, (1) Adoration and invocation (“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”). God is majestic and the Creator. He is to be exulted above all. His name should also be given proper reverence and honour. (2) Petitions: (a) ‘Thou/You Petitions’ (“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”). God’s kingly reign may be extended over the entire universe and the entire universe may obey God now and in the future. (b) In the ‘We Petitions’: (“Give us this day our daily bread…, Forgive us our trespasses…Lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil”), we address our needs to God, the cheerful Giver. These “We Petitions” conclude with a plea that even if we do not receive what we ask for from God, He should not allow us to abandon Him and become servants of the evil one.
The “Our Father” is indeed, a simple straightforward prayer and if our prayers take this form with all the necessary ingredients, we are sure, they will effectively be answered by God according to His will. Let us always pray this way from our hearts. Stay blessed.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, THURSDAY, ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT: ‘THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, THE WEDDING AT CANA, THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM, THE TRANSFIGURATION, AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST’. (WE PRAY FOR OPENNESS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, PRAY TO JESUS THROUGH MARY, FOR REPENTANCE AND TRUST IN GOD, THE DESIRE FOR HOLINESS, AND WE PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT OF ADORATION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “AS THIS RECEPTION OF YOUR HOLY COMMUNION, O LORD, FORESHADOWS THE UNION OF THE FAITHFUL IN YOU, SO MAY IT BRING ABOUT UNITY IN YOUR CHURCH. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.”
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana. (00233-0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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