Reflection on the Lord's Prayer

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Sometimes we think that our prayers are a private matter between us and God; between me and God. And it is true that sometimes it is. And it is important that we have that personal prayer time with Lord. But not all prayer is that way.

I have talked to many people who no longer go to church. One reason they give for this is that they don’t need the “church” to pray to God. They don’t need to pray with other people to be spiritual.

This is not the lesson of the Lord’s Prayer. This is not a private prayer, although we often say it privately. Jesus didn’t give us a prayer that is just for ourselves. He gave us something to pray with each other. He gave us a community prayer and by doing so he teaches us that praying in community is an important part of our spiritual lives. That it is an important part of our relationship with the Living God.

• Jesus did teach the disciples the “My Father, who art in heaven” - it’s the OUR Father.

• Jesus didn’t pray for his own needs but for “our” needs. Give us this day our daily Bread.” It’s not “my daily bread.” It’s not “give me.”

• In the prayer that Jesus gave us it’s “forgive us” – not “forgive me.”

• He leads US away from temptation and delivers US from evil.

Some prayer is private, between me and God. But if that takes on a life of its own outside the community of believers we are actually driving a wedge into our relationship with the Lord. We need each other to support us on our journey; to pray for each other; to be one with one another.

Jesus showed us this in other ways as well.

• He gathered a community of apostles and disciples around him.

• He sent out the disciples to preach and heal not individually but in pairs.

• He founded on the rock of Peter not a loosely connected bunch of individuals but a church.

• We believe in the communion of saints – that is a holy community of saints – past, present and to come.

To separate ourselves from the church or to separate ourselves from each other – in any way, to refuse see the dignity in each person, is to separate ourselves from Christ. As we pray the Lord’s Prayer at Mass or with the Hail Mary in our rosaries, or as we say our prayers before we go to bed, let’s keep in mind that our prayer is one of community and for the well being of us all.

Excuses - Excuses

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Somewhere along the line we got the idea that if we didn’t like church we didn’t have to go. There are a lot of excuses. One of the most frequent reasons I here is, “I don’t get anything out of it.”

Other reasons include:

• I don’t like the priest/minister
• Preaching is lousy (I don’t like message)
• I don’t like the music (the style, it’s not performed well, too slow, too fast, to old, to contemporary)
• I don’t like what they teach
• The people are hypocrites
• It's not warm and fuzzy (It's too warm and fuzzy)
• All they do is ask for money

The list could go on. But we miss the point.

We shouldn’t be going to church on Sunday in order to get something out of it. The reason we go to Church is to put something into it.

“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day.”

Did we forget that  it’s not about me - it’s about HIM. We go to Mass (church) to worship not be entertained. We go because we love the Lord not because we like or don’t like a particular priest. We go to hear God’s word and be with the community He formed, even with its imperfections.

We honor the Sabbath because we were commanded to. God said it - not me. And it isn’t as though God needs our worship. He doesn’t, but as I’ve said before, when God asks something of us, when we’re commanded to do something, it’s for our good. God doesn’t need our worship, He doesn’t need anything from us, but we have a need to worship Him. Our worship of God puts us in a right relationship with Him. Through our worship we communicate our love of God and God communicates his love for us.

The Church teaches us that Christ is present at Mass in four ways. He is present sacramentally in the Eucharist. Christ is also present in the His Word proclaimed in the midst of the people. He is present in the sacramental priesthood and in the people who have assembled to worship.

How can we, how can anyone, walk away from the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the Word? How can we be accepting of a relationship with God and reject a relationship with His people, His body the Church?

Perhaps we don’t get anything out of Church because we don’t put anything in, garbage in, garbage out as they say.

Perhaps we so easily judge the community as hypocritical because we see the speck in our brother’s eye and not the plank in our own.

Perhaps it isn’t warm and fuzzy because we are icy cold.

When we attend Mass with our mind set on worship it won’t matter who the priest is. It won’t matter if the preaching is bad because the “Word” is good. We’ll sing the music because it gives praise to God even if the choir is out of tune.

Our purpose in going to Mass needs to be first and foremost the praise and worship God. But that doesn’t mean that God won’t give us something in return. When our heart is in the right place; when we give God primacy, we are indeed filled with every grace and blessing, with every spiritual gift under the heavens. The music will have a richness we never expected, the priest might not be the lunk-head we thought he was, the teachings of the Church will become clear and meaningful and our love for the community of hypocrites will increase. We just might see everything in a new light.

It is God’s nature to love us and to desire what is good for us. Won’t that day be wonderful when, gathered at Mass with the Body of Christ; having listened to God’s Word; having received Christ in the Eucharist; having raised our voices in praise and thanksgiving, we cry out together as St. Peter did on Mount Tabor, “It is good for us to be here,” in church.

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