What It Means To Say "Our Father" (Mt 6:7-15)

          Three traditional practices associated with Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Our first model for prayer is Jesus himself.  He must have thought that prayer was vital, for he often went out alone to a secluded place and prayed.  Rarely is the content of his prayer revealed to us, however.  What we do know suggests that during his prayer time Jesus spoke openly and honestly with his heavenly Father, holding nothing back.  Since he came to do the Father’s will, we can be sure that he spent time in prayer discerning what that might involve. 

          If Jesus found it necessary to spend time in prayer with the heavenly father, surely we can do no better. Indeed, when his disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he offered what has become a classic model for genuine prayer.  The Lord’s Prayer offers a loving and beautiful way to talk with our heavenly Father.  This prayer also is a brief description of how we are to conduct ourselves in relation to God and to each other.

          To begin with the salutation “Our Father” is to proclaim and acknowledge that we are all children of God—Jew, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and Muslim alike.  With this opening remark, Jesus unites all of us in the same spiritual family with the same relationship to one another in God.  Thus, to suggest that God prefers Christians over Muslims, for example, is opposed to what God wants.

          To say “Hallowed by thy name” reveals the meaning of our unity with others.  The holiness of God compels a ministry of inclusion based on justice and compassion. Indeed, through his own life and mission, Jesus established an agenda of justice in all of society that will make God’s name holy. 

          To say “Thy Kingdom come” unites our plea with the plea that Jesus has for the kingdom to be made present and for the Father’s Will to be done on earth here and now.  When we promote healing, reconciliation, justice, and compassion, we in fact carry out the Father’s will and our effort makes the kingdom present here and now.

          To say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” reminds us of our complete dependence on God and our interdependence on each other.  How else can we receive our daily bread except through our combined effort?   This is also God’s way of calling us to a compassionate response to the needs of others. 

          To say, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive others” is a powerful request for the same measure to be used against us.  This request is thus a sure guide for our response to those who need our forgiveness.  It also serves to remind us of the observation that Jesus made:  blessed are those who show mercy, for mercy shall be theirs.

          In short, we might say that the Lord’s Prayer beckons us to promote economic, political, and legal justice in whatever way we can, starting with our own families.  Although doing so can be a challenge at times, the Holy Spirit is eager to show us how to meet this challenge, if we but listen with our hearts.

A New Idea of Family and Faith (Mk 3:31-35)

            When the crowd tells Jesus that his mother, brothers, and sisters are outside asking for him, Jesus responds in a way that expands the idea of family in connection with the will of God.  His response shows that our true family is a spiritual bond that stems from and depends on our relationship with God.  Because family and faith for the ancient Hebrews were interconnected, the response of Jesus also reveals two things about faith itself.  Although he never uses the word faith, his response shows that faith is first about doing something, and second about right relationships.  Jesus shows that faith is first a matter of doing the will of God, for he says that those who do this are in fact his brother, sister and mother.  In other words, faith is expressed in what we do in relationship with God and with others.  And, what we do as a matter of faith is the will of God as best we can.

            We are not without help in this regard, however.  Throughout his life and mission, Jesus indicates in many ways what the will of God means, but one important way is that we show mercy to others in the way that we expect to receive mercy.  To take this a step further, showing mercy also means that we do not destroy or tear at the worth and esteem of others with vile gossip, constant criticism and judgment. We also know that God wants us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger.  In other words, the will of God is that we love others as we love ourselves. 

            This is why Jesus used familial terms to show that faith is about right relationships.  Faith in God binds us together in a spiritual relationship that can only be described in human familial terms.  And yet, the spiritual family that we belong to by virtue of our faith functions like a human family.  In this way, Jesus shows us that faith is a matter of living in a close, loving relationship with others.

            But, we cannot love each other in a proper sense if we do not care for God’s creation.  Creation is the environment that God provides for our benefit and welfare, both for those who live in the present and for those who will follow.  This is why creation does not belong to us.  It is ours to care for in a way that brings joy and meets our present needs, and benefits future generations as well.  In fact, the first commandment God gave to humans is to care for creation (Gen 2:15). This commandment is found in the Book of Genesis and shows the importance that God placed on caring for creation from the very beginning.

            All of this is just another way of saying that faith is really a matter of seeking justice—giving God, his creation, and each of his children their due.  We give God his due when we love him and all that belongs to him.  And, we give each other our due when we acknowledge and promote the worth and dignity that each of us has by virtue of our membership in the family of God (Ep 2:19; Rm 12:5).  This is how we love each other in a just way.  In this sense, love, justice and family are different aspects of faith itself.  Jesus said it far more succinctly, however—faith is about doing the will of God.             

The Baptism of the Lord, Year C 2016 (Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Lk 3:15-16, 21-22)

The baptism of the Lord begins a new kind of life for Jesus.  At his baptism, Jesus gives up his anonymity and takes on his public mission.  The baptism of Jesus is his public anointing to bring about justice and peace. His only motivation in taking on this mission is his love for God and for all that belongs to God.  The heart and soul of his mission is to show that love is a matter of living in a right relationship with God, with all of creation, and with each other.  In this way, Jesus proves that love is a matter of justice, and the fruit of justice is peace.  This is the peace that Jesus left us, the peace of heart that comes from living the right way. Because we unite ourselves to Christ in baptism, love and justice are the heart and soul of our own baptismal call as well.           

God himself bears witness to this call in the first reading from Isaiah.  In that reading, God testifies on behalf of an unnamed servant, whom He has chosen and anointed with His Spirit to carry out his justice.  On one level, we know that God is testifying about Jesus.  On another level, however, God is also testifying about us.  By virtue of our own baptism, we become followers of Christ and servants of God, chosen by Him and upheld with His Holy Spirit to carry out His mission of justice and peace.

Through his own life and mission, Jesus shows us that the servant of justice opens the eyes of the blind and sets captives free.  A true servant of God lives in peace, neither breaking a bruised reed, nor quenching a smoldering wick (Is 42:3).  All the while, the servant works quietly without attracting needless attention.  Jesus makes this clear when he goes to the synagogue after his baptism and sojourn in the desert.  Once there, Jesus declares that he is anointed by God to bring glad tidings to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for captives and the oppressed (Lk 4:18-19).  In this way, Jesus reveals himself to be the true Servant of Peace and Justice, the Son in whom the Father is well pleased.  This is the new life that Jesus took on with his baptism. 

For us, baptism also means taking on a new life.  Through baptism, we are consecrated to God in a formal way and anointed to embody the values of Jesus in our words and our deeds, to bear witness to the truth of his message.  Our calling therefore is to seek justice and peace by giving of ourselves to each other through ministry in our families, in our faith community, and in society.  With gentleness and patience and without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves, we heal the bruised reed and protect the smoldering wick; we do not destroy them.

In Jesus’ time, the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks were the poor, the outcast, the oppressed, and the sinner.  We might ask who are the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks in our own time.  And, how can we open the eyes of the blind, bring prisoners out of captivity, and free those who live in darkness?           

We might think of the bruised reeds in terms of those who no longer stand as strong and straight as they once did.  This might include the old and those who are mentally and physically weak due to infirmity, disease, or lack of resources.  It might include our parents when they are infirm, or family and friends who seem to always have their hands out.  These are the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks in our own time, while those who live in darkness are those we think of as stubborn or arrogant; those who give the appearance of refusing to see the light of truth.  They are not inherently blind, however.  Their stubbornness or arrogance arises from their fear of others or fear of failure. 

Prisoners are those we hold captive with our criticism, our judgment and condemnation. This might include our children when they do not meet our expectations or follow our advice.  It also might include those who are different from us, the homeless, the foreigner, the immigrant, or the poor. Because these persons do not measure up to our standards, they never escape the captivity of our scrutiny.  In our day, the bruised reed and smoldering wick are our vulnerable brothers and sisters wherever and whenever we meet them. 

A very human response is to shun those we find different and unacceptable.  Our baptism with Christ, however, calls for a different response.  The example of Christ requires that we not turn our backs on our own.  We give others their just due because they are children of God.  We are selfless in the pursuit of our own goals.  In everything we do, our goal is to be like Christ by doing our part to fulfill his mission on earth.  Peter claims that Jesus fulfilled his role in God’s plan by doing good works and healing the afflicted.  God calls all of us through our own baptism to continue that same mission inaugurated by Jesus.  For that reason, we respond to those around us, especially those closest to us, with the love of Christ.  This is our new life in Christ, and it begins with baptism.