Faith Daily | 8 March 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 482

O Lord, who for our sake fasted forty days and forty nights:

give us grace to use such abstinence,

that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit,

we may ever obey your godly will

in righteousness and true holiness;

to your honour and glory,

who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, world without end.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 6: 7-15

7 ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 ‘Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread.* 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Peta-Anne Warwick

In times of trouble, or when words fail, the Lord’s Prayer feels like a safe haven, knowing God hears what I am trying to say. But even that can become rote-like - just a heap of empty phrases.

A few years ago, I was introduced to “How to Pray, a simple guide for normal people” by Pete Grieg*. Pete Grieg reinvigorated the Lord’s Prayer for me using the simple steps of P.R.A.Y. This is a resource that needs to be shared, and so I quote from the chapter “How to Read this Book in a Couple of Minutes” (Pages xiii-xv), which gives guidance on how to really pray the Lord’s Prayer:

• Pause. Put down your wish list and wait. Sit quietly. Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).”

• Rejoice. Then say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. The most natural and appropriate response to God’s presence is reverence…Linger here, rejoicing in God’s blessings before asking for any more.

• Ask. Your kingdom come, your will be done…and give us this day our daily bread. This invites us to ask God for help in everything from daily bread to kingdom come, for ourselves and for others.

• Yield. This final step is one of surrender. We yield to God’s presence through contemplative prayer and by listening to his word. We yield to God’s holiness through confession and reconciliation, praying forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And we yield to his power in spiritual warfare, asking deliver us from evil.

And so, it is by surrendering to God that we overcome, by emptying ourselves that we are filled, and by yielding our lives in prayer that our lives themselves can become a prayer – the Lord’s Prayer.

*Pete Grieg. 2019. How to Pray. A simple Guide for Normal People. Hodder & Stoughton.

FINAL PRAYER: (Closing Prayer from Lectio 365 app)

Father, help me to live this day to the full,

being true to You, in every way.

Jesus, help me to give myself away to others,

being kind to everyone I meet.

Spirit, help me to love the lost,

proclaiming Christ in all I do and say.

Amen.