Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Luke 11: 1-4
Roadmap for our lives

In today’s Gospel, the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They had seen Him pray often, and they longed to share in that intimacy with the Father. Jesus responds by giving them the prayer we now call the “Our Father.” Simple, brief, yet containing everything.

Prayer begins not with fear but with trust. We approach God not as a reluctant giver but as a loving Father who delights in our needs. Already, Jesus changes the way we understand prayer: it is not a technique, but a relationship.

The order of the prayer is also important. Before asking anything for ourselves, we place God first: “Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.” When God is at the centre, our needs find their proper place. Then we pray for daily bread—not tomorrow’s or next year’s, but today’s. We ask forgiveness for our sins, as we forgive others. And we ask for strength to face trials, knowing that temptation and testing are part of life, but never beyond God’s help.

This prayer speaks to all of life: our present needs, our past failings, and our future struggles. It reminds us to live one day at a time, always rooted in God’s mercy and care.

The first reading from Jonah highlights the same truth from a different angle. Jonah was angry when God spared Nineveh, because his heart could not yet grasp God’s boundless compassion. How different from the “Our Father,” which places forgiveness and mercy at the centre! Prayer is not about bending God to our will, but about allowing God to bend our hearts to His mercy.

Today, let us pray the Lord’s Prayer not as routine words but as a roadmap for our lives: trusting the Father, seeking His kingdom, receiving His forgiveness, and extending it to others.

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025