Homily for the Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year B - 10/9/2024)

Good morning. Pope Francis said that the Mass is “the prayer par excellence, the highest, most sublime, and at the same time, the most ‘concrete’. . . it is an encounter with the Lord [Real Presence in the Eucharist]. . . a privilege moment to be with Christ, and, through Him, with God and with our brothers.” The Holy Father went on to say that prayer is “first of all dialogue, a relationship with God,” because each of us was “created as a being in personal relationship with God, who finds his full realization only in the encounter with His Creator.” In other words, through prayer, we encounter God, and, it is in this encounter with our Creator, that we discover our purpose in life in relationship with God and with one another.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer (or the Our Father). In the Lord’s Prayer, we boldly proclaim “Our Father” because, through Baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters of the Father in heaven through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and incorporated into his Mystical Body - the Church. Saint Augustine wrote that “‘Our Father who art in heaven’ is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the just,” that we who pray should desire the one we invoke to dwell in our hearts. “Hallowed be thy name” reminds us that “at the [holy] name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Moreover, when we pray “thy kingdom come,” we eagerly await the “final coming of the reign of God through Christ’s return” while we commit ourselves to carrying out the mission of the Church in the present world (CCC 2818). Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing “the will of my Father in heaven” and so when we petition God that “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we can discern “what is the will of God” and obtain the endurance to do it (CCC 2826). The Eucharist is our daily bread and so we pray for God to “give us this day our daily bread” because we desire to become what we receive - our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to do the will of the Father (CCC 2837).

Furthermore, although we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. With bold confidence, we petition God to “. . .forgive us our trespasses,” because our hope is firm in Jesus Christ, in whom “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (CCC 2839). Our petition for forgiveness will be heard but our response must come first, to “. . .forgive those who trespass against us” (CCC 2838). Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another (CCC 2844). God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one; therefore, we pray “and lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin (CCC 2846). In the final petition, “. . .deliver us from evil,” the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. . . and implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ’s return (CCC 2854). We end the Lord’s Prayer with “Amen” to express our “fiat,” our “yes” to what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us.

. . .

Gospel (Lk 11:1-4)

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."

He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,

your Kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins

for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test."