Prayer: The Way To Heaven

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝟒:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟖𝟔:𝟑-𝟔, 𝟗-𝟏𝟎 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟏:𝟏-𝟒

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚” (𝒗.1) 

         This gospel reading may just be a short four-verse teaching of Jesus on prayer, but its importance cannot be overemphasized as prayer can be likened to a key that unlocks the heart of God.

         We can spend a lifetime talking about prayer and not see the end of it. Why? Because prayer is at the heart of every Christian and no disciple can ever expect to go through life without prayer. As Mary found the “one thing that is needed” when she sat at the feet of Jesus, prayer is also the “one thing” that we will all need to get connected with Our God.

         In today’s Gospel Jesus was again praying in a certain place as he normally does after a hectic day and before he rests for the night wherever that might be. If Jesus and his disciples will spend the night before reaching the next town, he would find a secluded place and there pray. If he happened to be in whatever town he was teaching, Jesus would always find a place to pray.

         When Jesus stopped praying, one of his disciples said: “𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔.” (𝒗.1) This disciple knew what he was saying because it was customary for Rabbis to teach their disciples even a simple prayer and John the Baptist had done this for his disciples.

         But this time, the disciple did not just want to know how to pray because his request to Jesus was interpreted by many religious scholars as a desire to pray like Jesus because the disciples see a connectedness to God in the way Jesus prays.

         This is the whole point of this Gospel today because prayer is our lifeline to God. Prayer establishes a connection with God and it’s like there is an imaginary path that we can tread leading to the Kingdom of God. Prayer is in fact entering into a conversation with God.

         As when we are in a conversation with someone, like a relative, a good friend and, a loved for that matter, there is in us a tendency to forget everything else as we seem oblivious to what is going on around us and this is what we should do when we talk to God.

         As prayer is an elevation of our hearts to God, we must find a way that will allow us to direct all the powers of our soul to God. The mere thought of God is not a prayer because the devil also thinks of God but they do not pray to Him. So, when we pray, we must use our understanding because we must think of Him in prayer. We must use our memory because we must forget our worldly concerns and we are to use our affections because we must take delight in Him when we pray.

         Though Luke has a shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer compared to that of Matthew (𝐌𝐭 𝟔:𝟗-𝟏𝟑), it is by no means insignificant as we should not be so concerned as to which of the two versions is right. The Lord’s Prayer (𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫) has been described by the 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 (𝐂𝐂𝐂𝟐𝟕𝟔𝟏) as the “𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥.”        

        In today’s Gospel, Jesus said: “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒂𝒚: 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆.” (𝒗.2) 𝑪𝑪𝑪2787 also says that: “𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚 ‘𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’ we recognize first that all his promises of love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the new and eternal covenant in his Christ: we have become “𝐡𝐢𝐬” people and he is henceforth "𝐨𝐮𝐫"God. This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of belonging to each other: we are to respond to “𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡” given us in Jesus Christ with love and faithfulness.”

         Thus, St. John Chrysostom said that “𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐦, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲.”        

        While there is also no doubt that we can obtain all things from God through prayer, we must also be resigned to God’s will: “𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆.” (𝑳𝒌 22:42) We must all remember that our prayers are never in vain, but the time and manner of its fulfillment lie in the hands of God which means that everything depends upon the will of God.

         And when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he made forgiveness as the cornerstone of their relationship with God. As God has forgiven our sins, we too are also obliged to forgive those who may have wronged us without conditions. To persist in unforgiveness only shows that we do not understand that we ourselves need to be forgiven.

         It is by means of prayer that sinners can become saints because prayer earns for sinners the graces of contrition and amendment and, prayer enables the just to continue in a state of grace because prayer is a safeguard against temptation and sin. Prayer is actually an antidote to the poison of temptation.

         As 𝐒𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐬 once said: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝.” Thus, failure to pray is the first step to unbelief and, eventually to hell. “𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬.” (𝐒𝐭. 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦) and prayer unites the created with His Creator.

         The Lord’s Prayer which Jesus taught to his disciples is the simplest of all prayers yet rich in meaning. It is so simple that a child’s lips can recite it with devotion and yet, theologians have never stopped searching for the depth of its meaning since time immemorial.

         The Lord’s Prayer also unites all men because it is a prayer that can be availed of by all regardless of race, color or creed. In it we ask for all things that we need for our soul and body as it teaches us what we need to ask and the proper way of asking them.

         𝐂𝐂𝐂𝟐𝟕𝟔𝟏 says the Lord’s Prayer is the foundation on which all other desires of the heart is rooted. Such is the importance and significance of this prayer, and we can only thank Our Lord Jesus Christ for teaching us how to pray this prayer.

         There will be some who will struggle in their prayer life, but we all must persevere in this regard because prayer is an opportunity to bring our will into line with God’s plan. We can draw from the exchange that Abraham had with God with regards to God’s plan to destroy Sodom and it was because of Abraham’s persistence that God relented and spared Sodom his wrath.

         This is the same with us. There is no doubt that God will answer our prayers. As to when, it is God who will determine that, but we should not stop praying to God because it is an opportunity to demonstrate not only our trust and dependence in Him but more importantly it restores our relationship with God. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 8, 2025)