Our Lord here instructs us on the proper dispositions that we are to have when we pray,
and so we are to call upon God as our Father, and by that we humbly recognize that we are the adopted sons of God,
and in doing so, we recognize that we had lost union with the Blessed Trinity through our sins,
and so our Lord tells us that we are not to pray like the pagans do.
Essentially, the pagans prayed by the multiplication of words because they thought God was ignorant,
and so they thought to enlighten God as to their state and their needs,
but our Lord instructs us today that we can be confident that God our Father knows our needs,
knows all that we need in order to save our souls.
He knows our desires, both the good and the bad,
and we merely need to pray to Him in order that our desires always remain good
and that we do not act on those things that we desire that will separate us from union of God.
And indeed, in the hour...
Therefore, Father, we also see an allusion to consecrating ourselves to the Blessed Mother,
for we pray, give us this day our daily bread,
and often in our modern day and in our modern age, many think of that as our earthly bread,
and while that is included, the original translation called it the super-substantial bread,
and so first and foremost, it was a prayer that we receive our Lord in Holy Communion,
and we receive our Lord most earnestly and most fruitfully
when we have our daily bread.
We have the dispositions of the Blessed Mother,
for we see very clearly, because she always prayed for the coming of God's Kingdom,
and she always hallowed His name from the first moment of her conception,
she became the Mother of God,
and so we should seek to imitate her by way of consecration,
so that we are always prepared to receive our Lord in the most holy sacrament,
that is, in the blessed sacrament, the super-substantial bread,
which is the food for our souls.
And so...
Let us not pray like the pagans, for the Lord truly knows our needs.
Let us pray like true Christians, giving to God the affections of our heart,
for true prayer is none other than a conversation with God,
and when we pray with God our Father, we pray with a Father whom we must know to be omnipotent,
that is, all-powerful, omniscient, all-knowing, and omnipresent,
that is, He is present everywhere,
and so He does not need to be enlightened by our human knowledge,
for He knows all things,
but we are to give Him the dispositions of our heart,
humbly submitting ourselves to Him by way of children,
knowing that He knows our needs,
and we need only to show Him that we are sorry for what we have done to Him,
and the best way to do that is to always thank Him for the wonderful things that He has done for us,
most especially the sending of His Son in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
in order that He may be sacrificed for our sins.
And so...
we can forgive ourselves and we can forgive each other because Christ has first forgiven us,
and He came only, as it were, to destroy the reign of sin so that all souls may find their way safely to heaven,
and so let us strive always and everywhere to have these dispositions of the heart,
giving ourselves in the affections of our heart to our Lord, knowing that He understands our needs,
and so when we ask Him, let us pray humbly, knowing that if we do not receive what we ask,
knowing that if we do not receive what we ask,
knowing that if we do not receive what we ask,
it is not because God is ignorant or doesn't know our needs,
but that perhaps what we are asking for is not good for the soul,
and so, being a good father, God wishes to only give us those things that are beneficial to our souls,
and ultimately, that means He wishes to give us the grace to prevent us from falling back into our sinful ways,
so that we may always be on that journey to heaven,
and always manifesting to others that we can forgive them their sins,
because God has first forgiven us our sins,
and so, let us truly pray not to be led into temptation,
but knowing that in all temptations we suffer and undergo,
the Lord will deliver us from evil,
as long as we humbly beseech Him in prayer to protect us,
who alone is all-powerful, who alone is all-present,
who alone knows all things and needs no enlightenment from the human family,
but He only seeks that we give Him the affections of our heart,
that we give him our love, so that in giving him our love, he will give us his grace, and we have
nothing to fear in this life, no temptations, no trials, no tribulations, for God is more powerful
than all the legions of devils and all those who would lead souls astray by false philosophies
and false ways. God can overcome them all, and we must enter into prayer humbly believing that
there is nothing that God does not know, nothing that God cannot deliver us from, if it is not
beneficial to our soul, and that he will give us only those things that are beneficial to our soul,
and ultimately, that means the life of penance, and so it means suffering, for in order for us to
save our souls, we must imitate Christ and his most holy mother, and they traveled the
royal road of suffering because they knew that it was only sacrificial suffering that would deliver
up for them.
So, as we prepare more earnestly to enter into that great mystery of our salvation, the passion,
death, and resurrection of our Lord, let us always meditate on what he has done for us, and most
especially, that has revealed to us the true nature of his Father, and so we no longer have to
fear the wrath of God our Father, because he has sent his Son in order to deliver us from the
wrath of God, in order to give us his love, in order that we may truly, with confidence, call upon
him as our Father, and let us always strive like the mother of God to hallow his name in this world,
in order that his kingdom may come, not only in this world, but in the world to come, that is,
Christ reigning in our hearts in this life, we show ourselves to be true members of his mystical
body, so that we may be incorporated into the angelic choirs, and we may be incorporated into the
at the end of time, praising our good God for all eternity together in that blessed abode of heaven.
And you will be blessed with the fruit of your womb.