Sirach 48:1-14, Psalm 97:1-7, Matthew 6:7-15

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:  Sirach 48:1-14, Psalm 97:1-7, Matthew 6:7-15

Matthew 6:7-15 

My Beloved Jesus, In order to be forgiven from all our sins, You put one condition before us - we have to first forgive before we in turn can expect or receive forgiveness.

The disciples asked You to teach them to pray.  They had observed You at prayer, they saw how You spent the entire night alone in prayer and they also saw how energised and empowered You became after You had spent time with Your Father.  You not only taught them how to pray but You also taught them the attitude that we must have have when we come before God.  

The Our Father or the Lord's Prayer is a complete prayer.  It begins with first estabishing our relationship with God - our attitude must be one that is childlike only then can we trustfully address God as Father.  We acknowlege that He is all holy. We then pray that He may establish His Kingdom and reign here on earth where His will is the rule of our life and we accept and execute it just as joyfully as the angels and saints in heaven do.  We must seek His will alone in everything.  We ask the Father to provide for us just as He provides for every living creature.  We ask for both spiritual and physical nourishment - bread that gives life and sustains life for our body and the Eucharistic Bread that gives us spiritual life and sustains our soul.  Lastly if we expect God to hear us and forgive us then the condition is that we too must first forgive wrongs done to us.