Matthew 6 v 9: This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy… and deliver us from the evil one…
John 12: 31-33
Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
John 14:30 -31
I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go…
John 16: 8 - 11
I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
After teaching us to pray to our “Abba” confidently, Jesus is teaching us the Our Father as the pattern for all our prayer. He is showing us seven things to ask: the first three have all been to do with God (“hallowed be your name”, “your Kingdom come”, and “your will be done”). Then we prayed for three things for ourselves: food (spiritual and physical), forgiveness (for ourselves and others) and to overcome temptation.
Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s protection from evil even before his crucifixion: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one."” (John 17:15) The reflection today is on three short passages from the gospel of John where Jesus speaks of his victory over the devil – so he is teaching us to pray every day that we can have the victory over evil which he has already won.
The “Evil One” (the Devil or Satan) is a real person and not merely an idea or concept. The church teaches us that he is a real spiritual person in the Catechism (2851): “In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God...” In the gospel (e.g. John 14:30) Jesus says that Satan is the “prince” of this world - but that he is not the King! …because he also says “I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).
We need not fear because “’Victory over the "prince of this world’ was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life.” (Catechism 2853). We can therefore pray that in following Jesus we will experience his victory over evil and the Devil. This prayer can include asking for freedom from all the effects of evil, including oppression by Satan and his forces, peace from his attacks, healing of our bodies and minds, and God’s light to fight the confusion and doubt he puts in our minds. (If we are really struggling with these we should ask for help from other Christians, and especially the Sacraments).
The mass continues after the Our Father with a beautiful prayer which expresses this hope for our final victory before we see the Lord in Heaven: "Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."
As we finish reflecting on the Our Father, let’s not fear evil, and let’s look forward to Jesus coming in victory to take us to Heaven!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Our Father Reflection 8: “…and lead us not into temptation…”
Matthew 6 v 9: This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy… and lead us not into temptation…
Luke 4: 1-14
After teaching us to pray to our “Abba” confidently, Jesus is teaching us the Our Father as the pattern for all our prayer. He is showing us seven things to ask: the first three have all been to do with God (“hallowed be your name”, “your Kingdom come”, and “your will be done”).
What should we pray for every day, for ourselves? We have already prayed for ourselves for “our daily bread” and for forgiveness from God for ourselves (“as we forgive others”). Maybe it’s easy to know that we need food (natural and spiritual) and forgiveness every day. But now Jesus also teaches us to ask every day for our Father’s help in the fight with temptation. “Our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to "lead" us into temptation… the Greek means both ‘do not allow us to enter into temptation’ and ‘do not let us yield to temptation’” (Catechism 2847)
Fighting temptation is hard. There are evil spirits who try to get us to do wrong and it can be hard to know when we are being tempted, so there is often a battle in our minds between what we know Father wants us to do, and our weak and sinful nature. A gift we need for this is discernment: “The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials [difficulties], which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a "delight to the eyes" and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death.” (Catechism 2847)
Having discerned that we are being pulled towards something evil, our hearts need to decide to be faithful to following Jesus: “ ’Lead us not into temptation’ implies a decision of the heart: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’. . . . ‘No one can serve two masters’." (Catechism 2848)
In today’s passage Jesus is tempted and shows us by example that the Word of God is the weapon that that we use to fight temptation.
Let’s pray that like Jesus, we discern when we are tempted, that we decide to be faithful, that we fight the enemy with the Word of God, and that we continue every day to obey our Father “in the power of the Spirit…”!
Luke 4: 1-14
After teaching us to pray to our “Abba” confidently, Jesus is teaching us the Our Father as the pattern for all our prayer. He is showing us seven things to ask: the first three have all been to do with God (“hallowed be your name”, “your Kingdom come”, and “your will be done”).
What should we pray for every day, for ourselves? We have already prayed for ourselves for “our daily bread” and for forgiveness from God for ourselves (“as we forgive others”). Maybe it’s easy to know that we need food (natural and spiritual) and forgiveness every day. But now Jesus also teaches us to ask every day for our Father’s help in the fight with temptation. “Our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to "lead" us into temptation… the Greek means both ‘do not allow us to enter into temptation’ and ‘do not let us yield to temptation’” (Catechism 2847)
Fighting temptation is hard. There are evil spirits who try to get us to do wrong and it can be hard to know when we are being tempted, so there is often a battle in our minds between what we know Father wants us to do, and our weak and sinful nature. A gift we need for this is discernment: “The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials [difficulties], which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a "delight to the eyes" and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death.” (Catechism 2847)
Having discerned that we are being pulled towards something evil, our hearts need to decide to be faithful to following Jesus: “ ’Lead us not into temptation’ implies a decision of the heart: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’. . . . ‘No one can serve two masters’." (Catechism 2848)
In today’s passage Jesus is tempted and shows us by example that the Word of God is the weapon that that we use to fight temptation.
Let’s pray that like Jesus, we discern when we are tempted, that we decide to be faithful, that we fight the enemy with the Word of God, and that we continue every day to obey our Father “in the power of the Spirit…”!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Our Father Reflection 7: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us”
Matthew 6 v 9: This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, …, Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us...
Matthew 18: 21-35
After teaching us to pray to our “Abba” confidently, Jesus is teaching us the Our Father as the pattern for all our prayer. He is showing us seven things to ask: the first three have all been to do with God (“hallowed be your name”, “your Kingdom come”, and “your will be done”). Last week we prayed for ourselves for the first time, for “our daily bread”.
Jesus now teaches us now to pray for forgiveness from God for ourselves: (Catechism 2839) “With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.”
However Jesus teaches us to pray “…as we forgive…” to make it very clear that for us to be forgiven we must forgive others. (Catechism 2840) “This outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” He also teaches this in two other places in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:14-15; 5:23-24; Mk 11:25.)
Today’s passage for reflection is a very strong parable told by Jesus about the absolute need for us to forgive those who sin against us “from our heart”. The parable Jesus told answers St. Peter’s question in that we who have been forgiven much must identify with the first servant, and in humility should recognise our obligation to forgive those around who by comparison are to be forgiven much less.
Let’s pray that the grace of forgiveness will flow to us, and through us, as Jesus wanted!
Matthew 18: 21-35
After teaching us to pray to our “Abba” confidently, Jesus is teaching us the Our Father as the pattern for all our prayer. He is showing us seven things to ask: the first three have all been to do with God (“hallowed be your name”, “your Kingdom come”, and “your will be done”). Last week we prayed for ourselves for the first time, for “our daily bread”.
Jesus now teaches us now to pray for forgiveness from God for ourselves: (Catechism 2839) “With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.”
However Jesus teaches us to pray “…as we forgive…” to make it very clear that for us to be forgiven we must forgive others. (Catechism 2840) “This outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” He also teaches this in two other places in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:14-15; 5:23-24; Mk 11:25.)
Today’s passage for reflection is a very strong parable told by Jesus about the absolute need for us to forgive those who sin against us “from our heart”. The parable Jesus told answers St. Peter’s question in that we who have been forgiven much must identify with the first servant, and in humility should recognise our obligation to forgive those around who by comparison are to be forgiven much less.
Let’s pray that the grace of forgiveness will flow to us, and through us, as Jesus wanted!
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