Give us each day our daily bread

9 OCTOBER (Lk 11,1-4)

The prophecy of Isaiah on the fatherhood of God is moving. He is the true source of life for Israel. He is more than water for the fish of the sea and more than the air for birds.

Look down from heaven and regard us from your holy and glorious palace! Where is your zealous care and your might, your surge of pity and your mercy? O Lord, hold not back, for you are our father. Were Abraham not to know us, nor Israel to acknowledge us, You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Why have the wicked invaded your holy place, why have our enemies trampled your sanctuary? Too long have we been like those you do not rule, who do not bear your name. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you. As when brushwood is set ablaze, or fire makes the water boil! Thus your name would be made known to your enemies and the nations would tremble before you, While you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; For you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands. Be not so very angry, Lord, keep not our guilt forever in mind; look upon us, who are all your people. Your holy cities have become a desert, Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a waste. Our holy and glorious temple in which our fathers praised you Has been burned with fire; all that was dear to us is laid waste. Can you hold back, O Lord, after all this? Can you remain silent, and afflict us so severely? (Is 63,15-64,11).

This truth becomes even more poignant always with this other prophecy of Isaiah.

For our offenses before you are many, our sins bear witness against us. Yes, our offenses are present to us, and our crimes we know: Transgressing, and denying the Lord, turning back from following our God, Threatening outrage, and apostasy, uttering words of falsehood the heart has conceived. Right is repelled, and justice stands far off; For truth stumbles in the public square, uprightness cannot enter. Honesty is lacking, and the man who turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw this, and was aggrieved that right did not exist. He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was none to intervene; So his own arm brought about the victory, and his justice lent him its support. He put on justice as his breastplate, salvation, as the helmet on his head; He clothed himself with garments of vengeance, wrapped himself in a mantle of zeal. He repays his enemies their deserts, and requites his foes with wrath. Those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord, and those in the east, his glory; For it shall come like a pent-up river which the breath of the Lord drives on (Is 59,12-19).

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, turning to God and calling him Father. This is a special, particular and unique prayer. It springs from the heart of Christ Jesus, who is the Only Son of the Father, generated by him in today of eternity.

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.”

In this prayer, the Agent is the Father. Everything is asked to him. He is the one who has to do everything. Man makes him one promise: to always forgive. To always love his brothers. He, the heavenly Father, is the one to do everything else in return for our love for those who live with us and beside us. Wonderful power of love. We love our brothers and God fills us with his love of salvation, redemption and all abundance.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us to love our brothers.