Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 11:1-4

The Gospel of Luke presented seven occasions when Jesus prayed. Luke also wrote five prayers of Jesus addressed to the Father, including the prayer that he taught his disciples. Luke presents the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus – He was in constant conversation with the Father and his prayers were all expressions of a deep relationship between the Son and the Father. The early Church regarded this prayer as the ultimate form of profession of faith, before the Creed was formulated. In the early Church, the catechumens directly learned it from the mouth of the bishop. It was the surprise, the gift he gave to those who had applied for baptism and were accepted to be Christians. He would teach the Lord’s Prayer to the catechumens eight days before their baptism, and during the celebration of the Easter Vigil, they recited it for the first time together with their communities. God as the Father is a the gift of Jesus. No other religion address their god as father. We dare to call God, Our Father because that is how Jesus introduced Him to us. He taught us to approach him without fear, but with confidence and love. Even when we behave like the prodigal son and run away from his presence, we have the assurance that the Father’s House is open for us and His embrace awaits us. Hallowed be thy name” (v. 2). It is the first greeting that emerges on the lips of a Christian when he turns to the Father. When we pray: ‘hallowed be your name,’ we declare to the Father our faith and certainty that all our prayers will be heard, and promise him not to profane his Holy Name through our infidelities. The Kingdom which is the centre of the preaching of Jesus is the “reign of God”. He says: “But if I cast out demons by the finger God would not this mean that the Kingdom of God has come upon you?” (Lk 11:20) and he proclaims: “Kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21). We continue to pray for the coming of the Kingdom, as it must develop and grow in every person as a seed of goodness, of love, of reconciliation, of peace. The Lord teaches us to pray for our daily bread. Bread is both a gift of God and fruit of man’s sweat and toil. In order to have our bread blessed by the Lord, ensure it is the fruit of our hard work and it does not contain the tears of the exploited poor. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer is a constant check on oneself, because we cannot pray it with sincerity if I think only of my own bread, forgetting the poor, and neglecting social justice.