HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT.
THEME: PRAY THEN LIKE THIS!
BY: Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr).
* Is 55: 10 – 11, Mt 6: 7 – 15.
The OUR FATHER is a prayer full of spirituality, comprehensiveness, brevity, simplicity with both divine and human elements. Our prayers do not need to be self centered ( St James made that point in James 4: 1 – 4) and they do not need to be extrinsic ( Jesus made that point at his sermon on the mountain, Matt 6: 5 – 7).This prayer sample that Jesus gave us can at best be simply divided into 2 sections of interest;
RELATED: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT
1. DIVINE ELEMENT; The attention we should pay to our father in prayer should focus on hallowing HIS NAME, enthroning HIS KINGDOM and surrendering to HIS WILL.
2. HUMAN ELEMENT; Our prayer should also address our human needs as follows; our basic material needs and our basic spiritual needs ( forgiveness of our sins) and grace to overcome all temptations ( both from the devil, ourselves and our society).
But quite unfortunately, most Christians have got the entire project of praying all wrong; they are too selfish about prayer, too hypocritical about it, too regimental, too passionate and even lacking the requisite faith in God as our father and to make matters worse, they pray without forgiving those who trespass against them. Some Church authorities also try to over rubricate prayers forgetting that what Jesus gave us is a sample for us to creatively replicate in form of praises, prayer of surrender, petition, forgiveness and deliverance.
The real Christian is the doer of the Word. Today’s 1st reading affirms the fact that all that God has said in his Word must be fulfilled. None shall return to him void. His will is that true believers excel in the quality of their prayer life, fasting and offering. We must trust God truly as our father. We must bear in mind that every temptation is a challenge on our sonship and prayer is the best way of maintaining the quality of this sonship. May God bless you today!
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