I often wonder what it would have been like to walk and talk with Jesus as he made his way across Galilee. Imagine if you could have personally been standing right next to the master when He raised Lazarus from the dead, walked on water, and when He healed so many afflicted people. I am sure we all would have been amazed, inspired, and overwhelmed with His power to do so much good for so many. When the disciples saw Jesus perform miracles and teach, they didn’t demand that He teach them to do as He did. They never asked for “power” to perform miracles or to raise the dead. They simply wanted Jesus to teach them ‘How to pray. Let us listen to the opening lines from our Gospel again. “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” While the miracles, the expulsion of demons, and healings left them with a sense of awe, it was Jesus’ praying that touched them even deeper and gave them the courage to ask Jesus to teach them how to the same. The most perfect prayer, the definitive answer to ‘how’ to do it, and the most profoundly simple way to live our lives are all answered in “The Lord’s Prayer.” We can mistakenly think prayer is complicated and requires things like rosaries, Bibles, prayer books and the like. The Lord’s Prayer shows us that prayer is more than just a moment of communication in time with the Lord or the Blessed Mother – it’s a way of life! It’s reception of the Eucharist (give us this day our daily bread), it’s all about forgiving those who have done wrong to us (forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us), and its about the Kingdom of God here and now and the kingdom yet to come (Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven). Offer the Lord’s Prayer sometime today very slowly and think what you are praying. If your serious about it, this most perfect prayer will not only keep you in communication with Jesus, but will change your life – if you let it!. Fr. Roach
