A mother has instincts to know what her baby needs. Sometimes the child cries because it is hungry, other times because it needs a diaper change, other times it just needs to be held or given a nap. Amazing how mothers can interpret what her baby is trying to tell her.
Jesus said that our Father in heaven has parental instincts beyond those of a mother (Matthew 6:7-15).
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘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.”
The pagans thought that to get their gods to give them what they wanted they had to bombard them with noisy prayers. They figured that their gods were reluctant to grant them what they wanted, so they had to wear them down, the way a persistent child wears its mother down with the hope of getting its way. Jesus made it clear that our Father in heaven is not like the pagan gods, and therefore our prayers need to be different. He cares for us more than a mother cares for her infant. He does not play “hard to get,” but, rather, is eager to feed us, love us, protect us, and “give us naps” when we need them.
If this is so, then why bother to pray, since God is going to give us what we need anyhow? This takes us back to understanding what authentic prayer really is. If we are “not to be like them” then what are we to be like? We can start by making acts of trust in our heavenly Father. When the Enemy starts sowing seeds of worry, we say “Father I trust in you.” Whatever we worry about is already being taken care of by our loving, all-powerful Father. We can add prayers of thanksgiving: “Father, thank you for the hundreds of ways you provide for me each day, and for the plans you have for me life.” And, we can get down to “help me” prayers like: “Father, I love you. Help me to love you more and get closer and closer to you every day.” Prayer is about deepening our personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when unpleasant things happen in our lives to slow us down, we pray: “Thank you Father for making me take a nap, even though I’d rather be playing with my toys; you know what’s best for me.”
And, so, Jesus says:
“This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…’”
The first two words summarize the entire prayer that follows. Our God is not like the gods of this world. He is a loving Father and we are all his children. He is in heaven which means he is right here with us though we can’t see him, the way a blind child cannot see its mother but knows she is there.
As we move forward in Lent, the Church begins to develop its teachings on almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. Today’s lesson is perhaps the most important one; it is on prayer. Maybe we’ve become complacent in our prayer lives and need refurbishing. Maybe we’ve regressed into the pagans’ style of prayer and into the way they approach their gods. It may be that we need to start from scratch and let our Teacher the Holy Spirit teach us how to pray.
“Come Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray.”
