Luke 11:1-4
Lord, teach us to pray
1 He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread; 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation."
What a beautiful reading for today. And since the world that allows me to write this blog was not terribly cooperative today, this reading comes as a gift and a blessing. This will be short.
When I speak of devoting time to prayer, to self and a comittment to spend time with the God who created us and loves us dearly, I have no specific prayer or form of prayer in mind. That is a highly individual thing and it varies even within our own lives, our needs and our maturity. I find scripture rich material for prayer but I also like to pray in a labyrinth as much as I use guided imagery and total silence.
Having said that, one of the first prayers I ever learned, and the subject of this reading, can be an incredibly rich source of prayer that can last many days, if not weeks. I have on occasion, taken to praying the Our Father word by single word. Each day or session becomes a meditation, a journal entry or time spent thinking about successive words. So first, I would meditate on the "our" in the Our Father. The next day or session, I would do the same process for the word "father". Then on to the word "who" and so on. You'll be amazed at where this will take your prayer, your thoughts. For example, who really is the "our" in the prayer? It's like asking who is our neighbor but yet it defines us as part of the whole because it says our , not just my father. get the idea? The possibilities and rewards are boundless.
If you have a rich prayer life, this is a great addition. If not, this is a great place to begin.
Lord, teach us to pray.
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