{"id":5507,"date":"2017-10-02T14:58:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T04:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2017-10-02T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T04:58:19","slug":"the-lords-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/the-lords-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord’s Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The Lord’s Prayer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired from a sermon by\u00a0Father Elijah<\/p>\n

<\/strong>When the disciples stopped Jesus, they asked him: \u201cLord teach us to pray.<\/em>\u201d There is one really amazing book by St Cyril of Alexander called \u201cOn the Lord\u2019s prayer.\u201d St Cyril talks in detail about the Lord\u2019s prayer. Before we get into it, it is interesting to see that, as Jesus was praying, the disciples came and asked him: \u201cLord teach us to pray<\/em>.\u201d This is a very important example for us as teachers or servants. If I want to provoke this question in others, I must be praying. By my prayer, I can provoke that question amongst my family, amongst my servants, amongst my Sunday school class.<\/p>\n

Now we will take each clause from the Lord\u2019s prayer and quickly discuss it. The very first word is \u201cOur Father.<\/em>\u201d In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says that we should not be like the Pharisees who pray on the corners of the streets so everyone can see. We should go into our room, pray in secret and Our Father who sees in secret will reward openly.<\/p>\n

Now, does it make sense to go into your room, by myself, close the door, and then pray \u201cOur Father<\/em>\u201d? Surely it makes more sense to pray and say \u201cMy Father<\/em>.\u201d St John Chrysostom says here \u201cThe Lord knows that in my prayer, I am preoccupied with my needs, my work, my family, my problems and my future. So from the very first moments of prayer, the Lord is telling us, forget \u201cMy<\/em>\u201d and say \u201cOur\u201d<\/em>\u201d. Pray for the needs of others; think outside yourself. Despite the fact that I am by myself in my room, I don\u2019t say \u201cMy<\/em> Father<\/em>\u201d, I say \u201cOur Father<\/em>.\u201d The first word directs me away from myself and towards my brother.<\/p>\n

Now when we think about \u201cFather<\/em>,\u201d St Cyril has a very important message. He says that if God is my Father, then I am His child. If I am His child, then I must behave today in a way that is fitting for a child of God. So when I say \u201cOur Father<\/em>\u201d it reminds me of the behavior that I\u2019m called to have.<\/p>\n

As we pray \u201challowed be your name<\/em>,\u201d we need to ask a very important question. What does it mean to say \u201challowed be your name<\/em>\u201d or \u201choly be your name\u2019? <\/em>\u00a0Lord I pray that I remember and realize how holy your name is. Lord do people see me and say, O what a blessed child, how holy is his father; or is it the opposite?<\/p>\n

\u201cYour kingdom come<\/em>.\u201d What does this mean? St Cyril says: It refers to the end of the world. I\u2019m praying for the end of the world. St Cyril says that those who are honest children of God, can\u2019t wait to return to Him on the last day. It reminds us of God\u2019s words: \u201cCome O faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/em>\u00a0\u201cGive us this day our daily bread.<\/em>\u201d Surely there is an issue with the translation here. Why do we have to say, \u201cGive us this day, our daily bread<\/em>.\u201d Why can\u2019t we say \u201cgive us our daily bread<\/em>\u201d or \u201cgive us this day, our bread.\u201d<\/em> Why repeat \u201cday<\/em>\u201d? St John says that perhaps a better translation is \u201cgive us this day our super substantial bread<\/em>\u201d. Our bread that is not of this world. This refers to the Eucharist or the Word of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d.<\/em> Am I asking the Lord to stop putting me into temptation? St Cyril says: \u201cDo not allow us to be led into temptation\u201d. He brings up Luke 22:46 which is Jesus\u2019 instruction to his disciples in Gethsemane. \u201cWhy do you sleep, rise and pray lest you enter into temptation<\/em>\u201d? The Lord does not tempt us but WE are led away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut deliver us from evil\u201d.<\/em> Save us from evil. Lord, I\u2019m struggling with a particular sin. I\u2019m struggling and I\u2019m tempted and I fall. Save me from the unrest that is in my home. Save me from anger and violence. Save me from sexual immorality, from whatever my vice is. Too often when we are overcoming sin, we think practical. However, we must couple practicality with spirituality. If I\u2019m struggling with pornography, let\u2019s keep the electronics out of my room, but let me beg the lord with tears to remove it from me. Let the practicality be coupled with spirituality.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, the Lord instructs us to pray often. Pray often for others. Pray often that you behave in a manner worthy of your Father. Pray often that His Name is holy in you. Pray often that we experience the power of the Eucharist and the Word of God. Pray often that we forgive others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lord’s Prayer Inspired from a sermon by\u00a0Father Elijah When the disciples stopped Jesus, they asked him: \u201cLord teach us to pray.\u201d There is one really amazing book by St Cyril of Alexander called \u201cOn the Lord\u2019s prayer.\u201d St Cyril talks in detail about the Lord\u2019s prayer. Before we get into it, it is interesting … Continue reading “The Lord’s Prayer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,35],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-lords-prayer","tag-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5509,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions\/5509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}