Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

Lectionary: 225

This is how you are to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name....

The Season of Lent is a festival of the finest spiritual food. The Church never sets pablum in front of us, but during the season of penance she gives us a selection of her finest. Today we find Isaiah’s song of God’s word and the Lord’s own prayer.

First, Isaiah assures us the Word of God is never ineffectual. Every farmer, and especially those of the ancient world, knows that not all seed germinates. You plant it, you water it and you hope something happens. It doesn’t always happen. But the word of God is always effective. It is more like the rain than the seed. When it falls on dry land the desert blooms.

Not only has this effective word of God come upon us, it has been given to us for our administration. When we pray God listens. When we bless God blesses. We have only to watch and believe.

The Our Father, as Catholics call it, is a prayer pregnant with hope and possibility. It begins with great confidence, “Our Father.” This was not a Jewish expression; Jesus gave it to Christians as a profound expression of faith. Our God is approachable, hospitable, willing and eager to embrace us and our concerns. Jesus says to us what the crowd said to Bartimaeus, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in his book Introduction to Christianity, shows how remarkable it is that we should know the name of God. The pagan Greeks had discovered by reason there should be a supreme deity; but without a name they could not approach him. The Lord has given us a name of great fondness, “Our Father.”

Working in the VA I meet a lot of people who assure me they know “God,” and even pray to him. I wonder if they know his name.

It could be an aquarium scene
but it grows in our wintry woods. 

It makes a difference. The relationship changes people. We become more available, friendly and useful to others. We are less frightened, more confident and self-assured. We can give to others because we have deep resources. We can hear criticism from others because the only judge (whose opinion matters) is Our Father. We feel more at home in this world than its own denizens although we are only passing through. Because we have been forgiven, we can forgive others. There is mercy enough for everyone.

Such is the power of the name, Father. Let us use the Name often in prayer, and with great reverence.