Give Us This Day - Let Prayer Flow – Sr. Pat Kozak, CSK
My father converted to Catholicism when I was in the third grade. I remember how proud I was and eager to help. After all, I had three years studying Catholicism while Dad had only a few meetings with the parish priest. I remember the day I asked whether he had studied the rosary yet, eagerly explaining how it is prayed. I still recall Dad’s gentle, almost curious response. “Why would I say something fifty times to God, when I know he heard me the first time?” I was left speechless, my theological studies to date leaving me unprepared for the question.
I am reminded of that moment when reading today’s Gospel, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask . . .” and its clear guidance about prayer.
Our familiarity with the Lord’s Prayer might cause us to miss the amazing flow present throughout the prayer starting from the grand and vast, and moving to the personal and daily. We begin with awe and wonder at the coming reign of God’s love on earth as in heaven. The prayer then moves to the personal: bread for this day, our failings acknowledged, and forgiveness sought, before turning outward to the need to forgive others. We pray for our own safety, and again, turn outward and pray that all people be delivered from evil.
This inward-outward turning, like the intake and release of breath, is the stuff of prayer. Both movements are needed in prayer; they nurture and support each other. The next time we pray, what if we pay attention to our breath, and allow this breath to support the inward-outward hopes of our prayer? This prayer and the next, like this and every breath.
-Sr. Pat Kozak, “Let Prayer Flow,” from the March 2025 issue of Give Us This Day giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2025). Used with permission.
Reading this short message brought to mind my own questions regarding how and what we pray. The meaning behind the words of memorized prayer and are we truly praying or simply reciting. Yes, even the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven…" given to us by Jesus (Matthew 6:9-13), what meaning does it hold for me? Am I truly praying with understanding and fervently believe that which I am reciting?
I did a Google search in hopes of finding a simple interpretation of The Lord's Prayer, so that I may better grasp the meaning. I found this at: The Lord's Prayer Meaning (Explained Verse by Verse) | Ryan Hart. The end of the article provides a version of this prayer in modern English. I have copied it below:
Lord, we are loyal to you in heaven. You are in charge and we will do exactly what you say. Thank you for what you give us each day. I will forgive others for their mistakes. Please forgive my mistakes. Help me avoid making bad decisions. Set me free from my sins. You have all the power and deserve all the praise. Amen.
Clearly, not the beautiful language used in the Book of Matthew. But the prayer, regardless the wording, carries heavy meaning. As I contemplate on this prayer, I must ask myself, do I live this prayer? To recite the word is easy, to actually mean and live is something much greater.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 calls us to "pray always without ceasing". This call to prayer is not a call to mindless recitation but a call to live a life in response to God's will. His will for us to honor and be true to Him. His will for us to obey Him and keep His commandments. His will for us to be fair, kind, understanding, and forgiving to all, just as He is with us. His will for us to learn and understand, to grow and prosper, and to trust in Him. His will for us to know that he will always be present to us. His will for us to be thankful and love Him, for we are His children and He is our Father and He will never abandon us. That he wants for us and of us a true and full relationship enduring without end.
Our life, our prayer, our very existence is a call to this relationship. Job 10:8-12 reads:
Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
"You have granted me life and steadfast love…" This is the relationship our Father forged with each of us. When we pray, when we devote time to this relationship, it is not to make known our needs, to plea for help. Our Father already knows what our needs are. I think it is a time for us to be present with Him and to nurture our relationship. To get to know Him. To understand our need for Him. To understand the depth of his desires for us and our wellbeing. It is a time to look toward him and simply say YES. Yes, I love you. Yes, I trust in you. Yes, I thank you. YES.
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