Reflecting on The Our Father - Your kingdom come

 

In praying the Our Father, we should realize that God’s interest comes first, God’s reign.  The 1st three “Your” - petitions: 1. hallowed be your name, 2. your kingdom come and 3. your will be done urge us to make God’s interests number one in our lives.  The second four “Asking” petitions: 1. give us today our daily bread, 2. forgive us our trespasses, 3. lead us not into temptation and 4. deliver us from evil deal with the disciples’ interests and now our interests.

 

 

 

So today we reflect on the second petition, “Your kingdom come” is the second of the asking petitions and it deals with reign.  St. Cyprian offers us this insight, “We pray that God’s kingdom will become present for us in the same way that we ask for his name to be hallowed among us ….  What we pray for is that the kingdom promised to us by God will come, the kingdom won by Christ’s blood and passion …. in accordance with his promise: Come, O blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  However, my dear friends, it could also be that the kingdom of God whose coming we daily wish for is Christ himself, since it is his coming that we long for. He is our resurrection, since we rise again in him ….”  [From a treatise on the Lord’s Prayer by Saint Cyprian, bishop, and martyr – Office of Readings 6/16/2021]

  

We are called to Live Jesus, which means live the kingdom while we wait for the kingdom to come, always putting God’s interests first in our life.

 

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!

Reflecting on The Our Father

The disciples of Jesus said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus taught them to say, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

 

Gerhard Lohfink observed that “The Our Father is primarily for the disciples” it leads the disciples, and it leads us to desire only what God wants.  [The Our Father: A New Reading, p.2]

 

The first part of the Our Father offers us three petitions: Hallowed be Your name,

Your kingdom come, and Your will be done.

 

In the early Church the Our Father was loved and treasured that it was fully given when the catechumenate was completed, then just before their baptism the catechumens were presented both the Creed and the Our Father.

 

We pray the Our Father so often we rarely reflect on what it means and what we are asking the Father to give us.  In Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer we begin, “Father”, while in Matthew’s version begins, “Our Father in heaven.”  In the prayer, Father [Abba], originally comes from intimate family life, containing both tenderness & confidence.

 

Its’ meaning is far more precious than Daddy, it implies a loving, tender father and a relationship based on trust lived in a new family, God’s family.

 

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!  

 

 

 

 

John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach from UCLA offered us this important insight, “Talent is God-given.  Be humble.  Fame is man-given.  Be grateful.  Conceit is self-given.  Be careful.”

 

 

The Greek Playwright Aeschylus wrote, “All men make mistakes, a good man yields when he knows he is wrong and repairs the evil, the only sin is pride.”  Pride isn’t the only sin, but Pride is often the root of many of our sins.

Lord God, open my heart to praise your Holy Name, cleanse me from any worthless, evil, or distracting thought.  Hear my plea, fill me with Your Love that I may shine forth Your Radiance to the world.  Lord, listen to my petitions, hear my requests, my pleas and answer me.  You are our refuge and hope, we turned to You during the COVID 19 Pandemic and pleaded for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and compassion, You carried the dead home with You and gave us the grace to comfort each other.  As the Pandemic eases and we look to return to “normal” life, may that “normal” be based on prayer and thanksgiving for You and for the many blessings You gave us during these difficult times.  May we allow Your light to guide us as we continue our earthly journey and prepare for the gift of eternal love.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.

May God Be Praised!

 

Indifference

St. Maximilian Kolbe said, "The most deadly poison of our time is indifference. And this happens although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise him to the greatest extent of our powers."

Jesus responded to the Indifference of His time by showing us the Way, the Truth, and the Light.  Saint Leonie Aviat reminds us about Jesus and the Cross, “When Jesus died on the cross, He was thinking of you!  When He rose from the dead, He was thinking of you.  Now in the Kingdom He is thinking of you!  You are precious to Him!  So, Let us work for the happiness of others.”

Indifference blocks God’s grace from having its full impact and the love of God that we share eliminates or removes indifference.  I believe that It isn’t the greatness we reach, the wealth we accumulate or the worldly fame we achieve, BUT the love of God that we share by word and action that prepares us for eternal life.  When we are prepared for eternal life, the world is a better place.

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!

A Look at our Sinfulness

Origen said, “… the man whom the Gospel describes as going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and falling into the hands of brigands is an image of Adam being driven out of paradise into the exile of this world.”

 

Today think about the times you disobeyed God, ask for Forgiveness and Mercy and be filled with Gratitude because God love you.  Jesus, the Son of God, and Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man to make sure you knew that Forgiveness and Mercy are God’s gift to those who ask for it.

 

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!

 

A Singular Privilege and Reflecting on the Eucharist

 

 

At the Consecration Jesus is made present, and heaven meets earth, once again.  When we receive the Eucharist, God blesses us with knowing and loving His Real Presence.  Yesterday I had a singular privilege of giving my grandson Declan his first Holy Communion, the Bread of Life.  

 

I was filled with emotions of gratitude, thanksgiving and love of God and love of my family.  After offering Declan his 1^st Holy Communion I was able to give communion to my daughter Elizabeth [Declan’s Mom] and bless my son-in-law Kyle [Declan’s father] and two of their other children Deacon George & Maren.

Assisting at the First Holy Communion Mass was profound blessing.  Msgr. John Hopkins, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church, was a gracious host and offered a beautiful homily on the Gospel of the day.

 

My wife Joanne, Declan’s grandmother affectionately known as “G” was there for the great celebration, she is pictured here with Declan and me.  God’s blessings are many, this was a memorable one.

Remember Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, “Holy Communion is Jesus’ way of saying as Christopher Robin once said to Pooh, ‘Forever isn’t long at all when I’m with you.’’        [America, “The Gospel according to Winnie the Pooh”, Terrance Klein, 4/24/19]

Jesus is with us in the Eucharist and in His Word, maybe forever isn’t that long after all.  Today take some time to reflect on the Eucharist: Jesus instituted the Eucharist at His Last Supper, He purified it with His Crucifixion, He Perfected it with His Resurrection, and He Completed it with His Ascension and now He offers it to us.

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!  

God Calls Us to Holiness

 

 

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us how we will be judged 25: 31 – 46.  The way we live, our words but more importantly our actions, presents Jesus to the world or casts “doubt” on Christianity.  Christianity is hard work, hard work filled with joy but, hard work nonetheless.

 

 

Josh Groban sang a beautiful song, You Raise Me Up

“You raise me up…to more than I can be.”

When I am down, and oh my soul, so weary.

When troubles come and my heart burdened be.

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence.

Until you come and sit a while with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up…to more than I can be.

You raise me up…to more than I can be.”

 

Really God raises us up to be all that we can be, children made in God’s image and likeness.  Think about the disciples on the Road to Emmaus “…were not our hearts burning…”, their hearts burned with love for Jesus, Lord and Savior.  In his 1^st Encyclical “Deus Caritas Est”, [God Is Love] Benedict XVI quoted the 1^st Letter of St. Peter, “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, for it is written, ‘Be holy because I [am] holy.’”  [1 Peter 1:15] 

 

Francis Thompson offers us this profound insight, “To most, even good people, God is a belief. To the saints God is an embrace.”  We pray not so much to God, as inside God, Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Today reflect on your call to Holiness and allow God’s embrace to guide you.

 

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Andre Bessette intercede for us. 

May God Be Praised!