20-01-21 Doa yang Berkuasa: Mengubah Hati dan Mengantar Kemenangan

Tuesday 1st week of Lent "Mt 6:7-15" "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Today's Gospel reminds us that prayer is one of the legs of Lent, along with sacrifice and charity. During Lent we are offering sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. We are charitable towards others as we considered yesterday, because everything that we do for them we do for Our Lord. Now we do the same when we pray. Jesus told us to say, Our Father, and not simply Father; and in the four last petitions we say, "give us" ... "forgive us" ... "lead us not" ... "deliver us". For God loves it when we are united in prayer, when we pray together and we pray for each other as a family. During Lent you can go slowly over the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father. In her autobiography, St Thérèse of Lisieux says "Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the 'Our Father,' or the 'Hail Mary,' and these prayers suffice to take me out of myself, and wonderfully refresh me." Let's ask ourselves: how many times do I pray these prayers every day, and how many times do I not pay attention to what I am saying? Pray the Lord's Prayer today with St Thérèse, slowly, to get the most out of it, rather than rattling it off on auto-pilot, as we all do sometimes! "Slowly," St Josemaría wrote, "Consider what you are saying, who is saying it and to whom. For that hurried talk, without time for reflection, is just noise, the clatter of tin cans. And with Saint Teresa, I will tell you that, however much you work your lips, I do not call it prayer." Mary, my Mother, help me to be focused in my prayers so that I can follow St Josemaría's advice.