杏MAP导航

By Devin Watkins

杏MAP导航 Francis continued his reflection on the Our Father during the Wednesday General Audience, calling it 鈥渁 bold prayer鈥�.

鈥淚 say bold because, if Christ had not suggested it, none of us would probably have dared to pray to God in this way,鈥� he said.

The Holy Father noted that there are no prefaces to the prayer. Jesus, he said, invites us to pray directly to the Lord without the barriers of subjection or fear. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 tell us to call God 鈥極mnipotent鈥� or 鈥楳ost High鈥� or 鈥榊ou, who are so distant from us...鈥� but simply to use the word 鈥楩ather鈥欌�� expressing closeness and filial trust.鈥�

7 questions for daily life

杏MAP导航 Francis said the Our Father is made up of seven questions, saying the number seven represents fullness in the Bible.

He said each of the seven supplications are rooted in the our experience of daily life and its basic needs. We ask for bread, said the 杏MAP导航, to remind us that 鈥減rayer starts with life itself.鈥�

鈥淧rayer 鈥� Jesus teaches us 鈥� begins not when the stomach is full but wherever any person hungers, cries, fights, suffers, and asks themselves 鈥榳hy鈥�.鈥�

杏MAP导航 Francis said our first prayer 鈥渨as the cry that accompanied our original breath as a new-born child, for it announced our life鈥檚 destiny: our continual hunger and thirst and search for happiness.鈥�

Suffering becomes dialogue

Jesus鈥� prayer, the Holy Father said, turns every pain and disturbance into a dialogue with God, rather than snuffing out our humanity or anesthetizing our suffering.

鈥淔aith,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渋s a habit of shouting.鈥�

He gave the example of the Blind Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46-52), who cries out to Jesus, despite the scolding of those around him, and is healed. Jesus, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, seems to say that 鈥渢he decisive factor in his healing was his prayer 鈥� his invocation shouted out in faith 鈥� that was stronger than the good sense of those who would have had him be quiet.鈥�

An authentic prayer

Finally, 杏MAP导航 Francis warned against embracing the theory that the prayer of supplication 鈥� or asking something for oneself 鈥� is a weak form of faith. 鈥淣o!鈥� he said, 鈥淎 faith that asks is authentic. It is spontaneous and an act of faith in God who is Father鈥�.

鈥淕od is truly a Father who has an immense compassion for us and wants his children to address him directly and without fear.鈥�