Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 6:7-15
June 16, 2022 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom, come, your will, be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.

Today’s Reflection:

In prayer, we have this common mistake: we sometimes think of God as an ATM machine or a vending machine. If we need money or something, we just push some buttons and right there and then, money is provided. We can say that we automatically have what we want. God is not like an ATM machine or a vending machine that gives us automatically what we want whenever we want it.

Today, Jesus warns us not to be like the pagans who are fond of saying many things to God. We need not say many things because ultimately, God already knows what we need before we can even say it. Prayer, as Augustine puts it, is our relationship with God. It is through prayer that we establish our relationship with our Lord who in turn, listens to the true desires of our hearts. Prayer teaches us patience and trust in the perfect timing of God. In our Gospel, Jesus gives us a short formula for our prayer by introducing to us the “Our Father.” /Vulnerasti, 2022