Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bruno Santana, OHC
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 27, 2025
Brothers and Sisters .The Lord prayer, also know as ”Our Father”, can be found in Mathew and Luke. We just heard in Luke the shorter version. This prayer is recited probably a million times a day, all over the world, at every Mass. Here in our monastery, we pray in Matins and Vespers, So 3 times a day.
What this prayer, great prayer is about?
Let’s walk slowly through Luke’s version now and see what we’re asking for, when we pray “ Our Father.”
First at all, the Lord’s prayer comes from Jesus 'own life of prayer. Jesus’s been praying and the disciples notice that. And they asked Jesus: Lord, teach us how to pray, help us to pray as you do.”
This prayer it reflects Jesus’ own prayer, his own life of prayer.
So, Jesus said: “When you pray, “say: Father.
Father.
We could call God as Lord, Master, all powerful, etc...But Jesus invited us to call God, Father. ABBA (in Aramaic ), like Daddy in US. He reveals to us a unique relationship with God. He is inviting us to share to have this intimacy with God as he had.
And then we ask: “hallowed be your Name.”
God’s name is always holy. but Jesus invites us to consider God, a value so supreme then the other values. We value all kinds of things. Family, Friends, Job, money, our country. We desire all kinds of worldly things – pleasure, power, honor. But the only way to hallowed God’s name is to place Him in the highest of all values in our lives.
In Mathew 22:37 says: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. If we get this right, we will get everything else right. (in our life)
Then we ask: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
The kingdom stood at the very center of Jesus Life and teaching. It is the Reign of God for which Israel had longer for a thousand years.
The great Church Father, Origen, said: Jesus is “autobasileia.” means that He is the kingdom in person. His teaching and indeed his whole manner of life gives us a very good idea that the kingdom is : Love , mercy, justice, forgiveness, peace, inclusion, compassion etc… We pray for this kingdom ( that is already in heaven) to become normative, reality here and now in our lives.
And now comes a mysterious petition: Give us today (each day) our daily bread.
The Greek phrase that stands behind this is: “tov arton tov epiousion” . Arton refers to bread. And epiousion, in the literal sense of the word mean “super substantial: gives us “super substantial” bread.
St. Jerome in the old Vulgate, translates this as “Panem supersubstantialem,”. (supersubstantial bread).
This is the heart of the Lord’s Prayer. We are asking for the “Panem supersubstantialem,” for the super substantial bread. In other words, The Eucharist , The Holy Communion , not ordinary bread. Not simply symbolic representation of Christ, no. Christ is truly present in the Holy communion, in the Eucharist, that we will receive later. It is a mystery, a spiritual reality that transcends a physical explanation and we want to be drawn into him because this is the bread of eternal life.
Then, “Forgive us our sins.”
The forgiveness of sins is at the heart of what Jesus is about. The first and most important thing was to forgive our sins. To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said “Go and sin no more. For the man at the Pool of Bethesda he said “Pick up your mat and walk. We heard in Mark 2:5 , “Son , your sins are forgiven” or “ in John 8;11 Neither do I condemn you.”
The British writer, scholar, Anglican theologian : C. S. Lewis emphasized that Jesus , who is indeed offended in every sin, can say to us, “My son, my daughter, your sins are forgiven.”
So, Ask God, to forgive all you sins, he is the only one that can do that, but it has some implications because we pray, forgive our sins and next : as we forgive those who sin against us.
I invite you to think and remember now, someone who sinned against you . Someone that offended you, hurt you in some way.
Jesus invites us to become Christ for others and forgiven. I recognize that this is one of the most challenging elements in the whole spiritual life but if we truly assimilated Christ’s forgiveness, this become part of our life .
I invite you to make a little exercise, call to mind your sins and think, how generous God has been to you.
So, now, we are praying for the grace to forgive that person as we have been forgiven.
We continue with the prayer: “Save us from the time of trial.”
In the first century. Some of the apocalyptic language in the New Testament reflects the idea that before the Messiah comes to set things right, there will be a terrible time of trial.
Jesus comes into our messy, dysfunctional world and the World is going to rise up in resistance.
As Christ comes into our life, we start resisting.
As Christians, we all have Challenging moments. We are like the Israelites in the desert when they said take me back to the flesh pots of Egypt. I don’t like this new spiritual liberty.”
That’s the point here. Every time we pray the Our Father, don’t be shocked, don’t be surprised when a resistance to Christ rises up in you. That is the old sinful self (human Nature).
And so, the last thing we ask for is: (This is from Matthew version) deliver us from evil.” In other words, Lord, protect me from my resistant self.”
If you read many of the spiritual masters as they talk about the Lord’s Prayer, it will help you to open up windows , doors to spiritual life.
soon , we will pray here “ our father”. But next time you pray it, whether in the liturgy or just privately, I invite you to do it very slowly. As you do, meditate on each of these phrases. You will find the whole spiritual life is displayed before you. Amen.
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