DAILY REFLECTION BY REV. FR. AWOYEMI EMMANUEL, ILORIN DIOCESE, NIGERIA

 HOMILY FOR THURSDAY {20/06/2024}, 11TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME B

Sirach 48:1-14; Matt 6:7-15

Jesus continues to tell us basic things that we need to know concerning our relationship with God. Today, we see Jesus giving us the pattern of how our prayer should be however, we must take note of some important things such as repeating empty phrases. It is only when we do this we become like the Gentiles. Just like I have said prayer is the raising of our minds and hearts to God, thus it is not so much on the number of words that we use.  

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus teaches us a model of all prayer. This is the “Our Father,” which consists of two parts. In the first part, we praise and worship God, addressing Him as our loving, caring, and providing Heavenly Father and asking Him to help us to do His Holy Will in our lives as obediently and lovingly as His Will is done in Heaven and, thus, to remain remaining in His kingdom. 

In the second part, we present our petitions before the Triune God. First, we ask God for our present needs, food clothing, and shelter, (“give us this day our daily bread”), then for our past h, especially for forgiveness of our sins (“forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”), and finally, for our future needs, protection against the tempter and his temptations (“and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”). In this part, we also bring the Trinitarian God into our lives. We bring in: 

1) God the Father, the Provider, by asking for daily bread; 

2) God the Son, our Savior, by asking forgiveness for our sins; and 

3) God the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Who is our Guide, Advocate, Comforter, and Illuminator, by asking for protection and deliverance from evil. Special stress on the spirit of forgiveness: We are told to ask for forgiveness from others for our offenses against them, and to offer unconditional forgiveness to others for their offenses against us as a condition for receiving God’s forgiveness. Jesus clarifies, “If you forgive others their wrongs, your Father in Heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either” (Mt 6:14-15).

Let us now examine something very spectacular. The phrase: “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, now and forever. Amen.” The manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew do not contain this phrase, nor do any of the Catholic translations. Martin Luther added this doxology to the Our Father in his translation of Matthew’s Gospel, and the King James editions of the Bible keeps it. The doxology is taken from the Divine Liturgy or Catholic Mass. Known as the final doxology, it takes up the first three petitions to our Father. By the final “Amen,” which means, “So be it”, we ratify what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us.

Pax Vobis

Rev. Fr. Awoyemi Emmanuel,

Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Kwara State,

Nigeria.

awoyemiemmanuel@gmail.com