One September day, unbeknownst to Clara or to me, I gave her her last Eucharist, the communion that was to be her “food for the journey,” her Viaticum. Clara was in the very last campaign of her battle with Alzheimers. Parts of her brain were functioning at 23% capacity. Yet, when I began to say the “Our Father,” Clara joined in. This prayer, learned during her first years, carried her through her last days. Her eyes, that afternoon, could not focus on me, but they looked at the Host with a recognition that said in effect, “My Lord and my God!” Two days later Clara had a massive stroke, and her Lord and her God took her home to be with him.
Clara’s ability to remember the Our Father and to remember God is not unusual in those whose faith is long and strong. The words of the prayer are an anchor for them. The words open up their hearts and minds to recall and recover Faith, even if almost everything else is gone.
Remembering Our Relationship
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives his disciples the Our Father. He introduces it this way, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray:”
We Catholics say the Our Father so often: at every mass, at every Word and Communion service, six times in every rosary, once in every Divine Mercy chaplet, throughout the day in the Liturgy of the Hours. It is possible to say it “like the pagans do”—babbling many words to get the prayers said, FORGETTING WHO it is we are speaking to.
St. Teresa of Avila wrote a book on the Our Father, The Way of Perfection. In the book she makes the point again and again that the key to vital, living prayer is REMEMBERING WHO we are speaking to. In the book she says that mental prayer is great, but those who can’t concentrate on praying from scripture or recollection can say the Our Father with love expressed to God—and God can move them in a heartbeat to deep prayer, prayer where God takes over and we simply receive. That was the prayer Clara had, even in the final stages of Alzheimers.
Deepening the Words into Our Heart
Nonetheless, maybe because my path tends to be mental prayer from Scripture, it seems good to THINK about the words of the Our Father, to pray the Our Father through my thoughts, feelings, concerns, and desires.
Today as I have considered the reading, these words from Jesus’ introduction are the words that reach out to me: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
If God knows what I need before I pray, why does Jesus tell me to pray?
That is a serious question to ponder.
I think it is because I NEED TO KNOW what I need—and that I can depend on God to provide it.
This afternoon I spent some time with Genevieve. Genevieve is 93. Her mind is pretty good, but her body is giving out. We prayed together—and Genevieve gained some energy. For the second time this week prayer made her hungry. And she ate!
What is that about? I don’t know. But I see again and again that shared prayer—the Our Father or the rosary or conversations with God from the heart—gives people a sense of faith and strength. It enables them to recall their faith—and their dependency—and their trust in God. It is as if the Our Father itself feeds us and brings us into the deep prayer which is the Presence of God.
Letting God Speak to Us Today
At different times, on different days, different words of the Our Father jump out at me. Recently it has been “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” that rings through me. Through my life it has perhaps most often been, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness can be hard for me.
Read the Our Father slowly. What word or phrase draws your attention?
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.”
Elijah
The Old Testament reading today is from the book of Sirach. Sirach is considered one of the Wisdom books of Hebrew scripture. It was written less than 200 years before Jesus’ birth. Most of it is a collection of Hebrew wise sayings and guides for the development of virtue. However, toward the end, the author describes the lives of several key Hebrew heroes—Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah. We’ve read the adventures of Elijah since June 12. Today’s reading from Sirach summarizes Elijah’s story.
The Carmelites consider that Elijah was the originator of their religious order and of contemplation. In that context, St. Teresa was a spiritual descendant of Elijah. As I read the summary of Elijah’s life in Sirach this week, I was struck by how thoroughly Elijah lived the Our Father—even though he came hundreds of years before Jesus taught it.
Elijah talked to God in a father-son relationship way. He “hallowed his name”—think of how Elijah responded to the still, small voice in the cave. He did his best to follow God’s will—even when he was the only prophet of the Lord left and he had to run for his life. God took care of him and gave him his daily bread through famine, manhunt, and repentance of a king. He ran from God, and God sought him out and confronted him, saying to him: “Why are you here?” God forgave him for running (actually more than once) and then showed Elijah that God could forgive Ahab, too. Through it all, God delivered Elijah from evil—and led Elijah to deliver the Kingdom of Israel from at least some of the evil its king and queen led them into.
Thankfully, I don’t have Elijah’s adventures. But I honor and respect God. I seek to do God’s will and build his Kingdom. More and more I depend on God and see his work in the ordinary events of the day. I need and receive forgiveness, even as I work to give forgiveness. I am troubled by temptations and cry out to God to deliver me from evil.
I, too, can both pray and live the Our Father.
You, too.
Through the Our Father God still calls us in that still, small voice. Wherever we are. Whatever we are doing.
Today, let’s listen to the whisper.
Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.”
