The scripture for today's reflection can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030320.cfm
In our gospel for today, our Lord is teaching his us how to pray in an effective way. He's telling us to not be "wordy", but to keep it simple. He's saying: "Do not babble." Filling up prayer time with a laundry list of things that we want to say to God is not the best way to pray. God already knows what we need even before we ask. Jesus then goes on to give us the Our Father.
The Our Father has everything we need to say to God. If we pray that prayer in a simple and sincere way, and be open to what God is trying to tell us, then we will find that peace that can only come from Him.
Our Lord goes on to remind us that, in addition to developing that relationship with Him through prayer, we are to develop good and positive relationships with those in our lives, whether they are family, friends, or co-workers. Our Lord says, "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." (Matthew 6:14-15)
Starting with today, keep your prayers to the Lord simple and short, and then go from prayer to those in your life with a spirit of love and forgiveness.
Yes, the Our Father is not only the perfect prayer but, even more, it is an example of how we should pray. Sometimes if we just pray the exact words of the Our Father without thinking it could become rote & mechanical. But if we model our own individual prayers on the Our Father: (1) we will acknowledge Who God is & our relationship to Him--He is our beloved daddy & we are His beloved children, (2)He is holy & worthy of our praise & worship, (3)He has a kingdom that is higher than this world & we are to help transform this world with the help of His grace, & someday His Son JESUS will return to reign, (4)We can & should ask Him to help us & our loved ones with our needs & we know that He is willing to hear us & provide for us, (5) we are sinners in need of forgiveness & mercy that He desires to extend to us, but our ability to accept & receive the forgiveness & mercy He longs to give us depends on our openness to extend forgiveness & mercy to those who offend us & need it, (6)we are vulnerable to the temptations presented by the world, the flesh & the devil & it is only with the help of His grace that we can resist & overcome temptation & we need to be delivered.
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