Homily For Tuesday of the First Week of Lent Year B, 20th February, 2024

Readings: Is. 55:10-11, Ps.34, Matt. 6:7-15

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

PRAYER AS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

 

One of the three traditional dimensions of the Lenten season is prayer. This is important because it is how we communicate with our God. So we are called today to reflect on the meaning and right principles of prayer as we progress through this season of Lent.

 

Little wonder, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus knowing how important the act of prayer is to humanity, taught his disciples the principle and pattern of all prayers when he said: “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we also have forgiven all who trespassed against us. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from evil one”.

 

Here, Jesus knowing that prayer is an essential part of our faith through which we grow in our relationship with God, gave us seven principles that should guide all our prayers. This prayer contains a series of statements and petitions in which we affirm our relationship with God, with the people around us and with the world in general. It contains a statement of faith, obligations and commitment as the foundation through which these seven principles are fulfilled.

 

The first principle is to acknowledge God as “Our Father”. This is a call for unity that requires faith, obligation and commitment. Here we acknowledge God not just as my Father, but as Our Father and the ‘Our’ includes every single person who lives or has ever lived on this earth. The second principle calls us to reverence the name of the Lord as we say: “Hallowed be thy name “Yes, God’s name is holy no matter what we say or think of him. However, we make this prayer for our sake more than for his sake. Because from the holiness of his name comes the root of our faith and strength, we are praying that God’s name be held in deepest respect by people everywhere.

 

The third principle calls us to have the vision of God’s kingdom, hence we pray to say: “Your kingdom come”, that is, we pray that humanity should consciously and willingly embrace the love and kingship of God that he is offering us. The fourth principle invites us to dispose ourselves to embrace the will of God as we pray saying: “Your will be done on earth, as in heaven”. This is very important because it helps us to discern and be disposed to pray and live by the will of God.

 

The fifth principle calls us to learn how to be contented with what we have and reject all forms of selfishness and greed as we say: “Give us today our daily bread,” which God surely provides. The sixth principle calls us to make an examination of conscience and to seek reconciliation knowing how weak we are, hence we pray saying: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we have forgiven those who trespassed against us”. Here we make serious commitment and obligation, asking that the condition for God’s forgiveness of our sins should based on our readiness to forgive those who have offended us.

 

Finally, the seventh principle calls us to have total confidence in God’s providence, protection and guidance as we pray saying: “And do not put us to the test, but save us from evil”, so here we acknowledge our weaknesses and our total dependence on God’s help against all the evil forces of this world.

 

Dear friends, I have no doubt that we know how to say Our Lord’s Prayer, but knowing it is not enough, we have to pray it devotedly, but praying it is not, we have to believe in what we pray for, but believing is not enough, we must put it into practice in our daily lives because prayer is a form of relationship with God. This is why Jesus is always praying with God the Father a sign of the importance of this relationship. But oftentimes time we treat prayer wrongly when we consider prayer as a means to only achieve what we desire, without considering what God desires for us. Some of us spend lots of time reciting the prayers and yet we do not often mean what we say because we have wrong dispositions born from unforgiving hearts which must be redirected before we can get a positive response from God.

 

Therefore, it’s time for us to embrace these seven principles and change our perspective and wrong disposition towards prayers. It is time for us to spend more quality moments in prayer and be connected with God. We must make our prayers to be meaningful and genuine from our hearts. It is time for us to improve the quality of our prayer life by imitating Jesus, who always prayed to his heavenly Father at every possible opportunity.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, in prayer we build a strong relationship with you, teach us how to pray more devotedly, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you God’s favour and blessings.