GOSPEL REFLECTION OF POPE FRANCIS - 06/22/23 (Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

Matthew 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This is how you are to pray: 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'

"If you forgive others their transgressions,

your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others,

neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

For the full readings, click here: 

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

The ‘Our Father’ prayer sinks its roots in the concrete reality of mankind. For example, it has us ask for bread, daily bread: a simple but essential request, which indicates that faith is not a matter of an ‘adornment’, detached from life, which arises when all other needs have been satisfied. If anything, prayer begins with life itself. Prayer, Jesus teaches us, does not begin in human life after the stomach is full: rather, it settles in wherever a person is, anyone who is hungry, who weeps, who struggles, who suffers and who wonders ‘why?’. (…) In prayer, Jesus does not seek to extinguish the person (…) He does not want us to tone down the demands and requests, learning to bear all things. Instead, he wants all suffering, all distress to soar heavenward and become dialogue. (General Audience, 12 December 2018)

Amen +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +