Lord, teach me to pray. It never occurred to me to ask that of Jesus. I’d assumed that after years of Catholic education and church-going, I should just know how to pray. I could rattle off some rote prayers but I don’t think I understood what it is to pray until a friend shared that the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer. Not only does it come from Jesus himself, it offers us a prayer plan for all our non-rote prayers.
It begins simply with praise. We know that God doesn’t need our praise, but we need to praise him and remind ourselves how good he is, how hallowed his name is. I am of the opinion that sincere praise (and gratitude) cannot be overdone.
We express our desire for God’s will to be done just as his will is done in heaven where all are in perfect communion with God. We want his Kingdom to come. We want that perfect communion for ourselves. We need that in this broken world.
We ask for what we (think) we need – our daily bread – that which sustains us. What do you need? A friend to understand? Patience and love for a challenging family member? Strength to witness God’s truth? We can go to our loving Father and ask for these things. He longs to give us what we need and sometimes he gives us things we didn’t even know we needed.
We ask for forgiveness and promise forgiveness toward others. We know we sin and we trust in God’s mercy. We ask for it, maybe beg for it. We also offer it to those who hurt us. Jesus has some clear words on how important this is (Matthew 18:21-25, Matthew 6:14, and Luke 15: 11-32 to name a few).
Finally, we ask him to keep us safe from the tricks and the lies of the enemy. We can be confident that if we keep our gaze focused on Jesus, strive for holiness, and run to him in prayer, we will belong to him and all will be well with our soul.
The Lord’s Prayer stands on its own as an excellent prayer and also serves as a framework for our personal conversations with God. I encourage you to use it as a guideline for organizing your own prayer time, and see what happens!
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Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
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