Lord, teach us to pray

10 OCTOBER (Lk 11,1-4)

Never in the Ancient Scripture there is a similar request. Never has a man asked his God to teach him how to pray. Instead they asked insistently to God that he taught his law and how to give it a speedy, prompt, and immediate obedience. The blessing of God was for who observed his Commandments.

Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths (Psalm 24, 4). I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 26). The earth is full of Your loving kindness, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 64). Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments (Psalm 119, 66). You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 68). O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Your ordinances (Psalm 119, 108). Deal with Your servant according to Your loving kindness. And teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 124). Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 135). Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground (Psalm 143,10). So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90,12). Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice (Psalm 51,8). Let my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes (Psalm 119, 171).

However, we find some valuable indications that are a true teaching on prayer. They are some revealing news on the true relationship that must reign between God and men and men with each other. Prayer is the essence, and the substance of all life.

Samuel then gave orders, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, that I may pray to the LORD for you” (1Sam 7, 5). Then when you are about to have intercourse with her, both of you first rise up to pray. Beg the Lord of heaven to show you mercy and grant you deliverance. But do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the world existed. You will save her, and she will go with you. And I suppose that you will have children by her, who will take the place of brothers for you. So do not worry” (Tb 6, 18). Then this vile man vowed to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him (2Mac 9, 13). For if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death (2Mac 12, 44). When Judas learned of this, he urged the people to call upon the Lord night and day, to help them now, if ever, when they were about to be deprived of their law, their country, and their holy temple (2Mac 13,10). Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins? (Sir 28, 4). You, now, do not intercede for this people; raise not in their behalf a pleading prayer! Do not urge me, for I will not listen to you (Jer 7, 16).

Today, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. They see that Jesus prays. But not as the scribes, Pharisees, chief priests, and every other man. In the prayer, Jesus also stands by all. What is the secret of Jesus’ prayer?

He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

Prayer for Jesus is the delivery of his life to God so that he is the one to model it according to his divine will. For Jesus, prayer is very similar to a “mold”, a forge in which God who is the “Divine Master” takes our lives, places them in the fire of His holiness, mercy, truth, compassion, piety, providence, and omnipotence; and after having put them back in place, because they were repaired in all their faults, gives them back so that we can show the beauty of his truth and the power of his grace. The prayer must last for all the necessary time for the Lord to repair the damages caused by our sin, and those imperfections that always hurt them. Only God can heal our lives and only He can give them their truth. If He does not heal them, because we do not go to his “mold”, it is the end for us. Our life remains unhinged, dysfunctional, broken, unable to function, and devoid of its truth. The time spent in prayer is the most necessary, because is in it that life comes together.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints teach us how to pray.