Gospel
Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'
"If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

Reflection
Jesus is saying in this passage, It's not important what we say when we pray or how many prayers we offer. But what's our intention in the prayer? Well, the intention is to be open when we pray to whatever God is going to say to us. And so this most important prayer in our tradition, the Our Father is saying the first thing we need to do is recognize who the father is and what his kingdom is about.
And we want to be a part of making it happen. And we know that the things that we are in touch with, are the same things in heaven, which means we do this work in the truth and we need his help. So we ask for his help. And it's interesting, the one thing He says that you need to really pray for is the ability to forgive others, it’s hard and difficult.
We can only do it with his grace, and that grace is His forgiveness. He wants us to recognize that the only way you can forgive another person in a sense, is that, you know, somehow in you, you are forgiven. That's what He’s saying when he says something so contradictory.

Closing Prayer
Father, prayer is our conversation with you. We are talking to you and we are listening to you. What we hear is the power that you give us to overcome the evil in the world. And we need to pay attention and listen attentively and know what it is that is really at the heart of our work. And I love the fact that in this prayer you focus on one thing, that you are empowering us to do. To forgive evil, because without it, evil has the upper hand. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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