Father, hallowed be your name

Jol 4,1-11; Ps 85; Lk 11,1-4

9 OCTOBER

Not only does the prayer taught by Jesus contain all the requests contained in ancient prayers, but it also brings to the purest truth the required ones in and in addition puts man as the sole responsible for the fulfilment on the part of the heavenly Father. There is a big difference in the heart. The heart of Jesus is different than any other heart. Most pure heart and most pure prayer, most holy heart and most holy prayer, imperfect heart and imperfect prayer, unclean heart and unclean prayer, repented heart and prayer of request for forgiveness. Heart rich in God, prayer all aimed at magnifying the Lord. Every man elevates his prayer to the Lord. Different heart and different prayer. Zechariah and the Virgin Mary pray with a different heart, even their prayer is different. Christ prays with a heart given to the Father and his prayer is also different from any other prayer. His is a prayer of confession of his heart given to the Father and also of his will to always give his heart to the Father.

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever” (Lk 1,46-55). “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people. He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant, even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that, rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Lk 1,68-79).

Man is placed at the centre of Jesus’ prayer. The name of God must be sanctified in man and so also the kingdom of God must take place in man. The bread is given by God to man on condition that man also gives bread to his brothers. This also applies to sins. God forgives, if man has already forgiven. God does not abandon to temptation on condition that man does not abandon himself. Man must strongly want what he asks. Not only that. He must first give what it asks for. He must commit himself so that the grace of God does not fall in vain in his heart. It all depends on the man. The Lord looks at the heart of man. If his grace falls into a heart willing to make it fruitful, he gives it with joy. Instead, if he sees the lazy and idle heart, without any will, never might he listen to prayer. He would give his grace in vain.

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.”

Christian prayer is the presentation of the heart to the Father so that he may fill it with his heart. God will fill him with his heart, if the heart that we present to him is poor in spirit, meek, pure, humble and eager to be filled with the heart of the Father. It is not perfection in the sanctity that matters, but the strong conviction of the will that desires the heart of the Father to act in the most pure obedience to him. Heart of God and will of God.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us to empty our hearts to be all of God.