'Father' (Lord's Prayer Lk 11:2)

COMMENT
LUKE'S GOSPEL SIMPLY SAYS “FATHER” (LK 11:2)

COMMENT

Thank you, William.

Your reading of the book highlights some of the path of this “Jesus of Nazareth”. Benedict XVI is unique among so many ‘lives’ of Jesus.
And, as you say, it is he is the perfect introduction for the Pope’s visit to Scotland

Donald

From: William J
Subject: Pope Benedict's book - one (or more) gems

Dear Father Donald,

It is a delight to see Joseph Ratzinger's text from "Jesus of Nazareth" on your Blog. What a perfect introduction to Pope Benedict's visitation to read of his exquisite reflections on Jesus. There is a wonderful directness in his writing, as if he were speaking directly to us.

May I just share one other 'gem' from his book. Writing on the "Our Father", he takes us first to Luke's text (Sunday's Gospel), before studying the fuller text of Matthew's Gospel, and the reason for this - is beautiful: the highlighting is mine...

"Luke prefaces the Lord's Prayer with the following remark: Jesus "was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray..' " (Lk 11:1). .. The fact that Luke places the Our Father in the context of Jesus' own praying is significant. Jesus thereby involves us in his own prayer; he leads us into the interior dialogue of triune love; he draws our human hardships deep into God's heart, as it were. This also means, however, that the words of the Our Father are signposts to interior prayer, they provide a basic direction for our being, and they aim to configure us to the image of the Son... to train us in the inner attitude of Jesus... We must strive to recognise the thoughts Jesus wished to pass on to us in these words, but we must also keep in mind that the Our Father originates from his own praying, from the Son's dialogue with the Father."

My highlights bring me to the 'gem' of thought - that Jesus can hardly be more present to us in prayer than by inviting us to pray with him.

The reflections that flow from Pope Benedict's reflections capture the mind directly... the Our Father is always a prayer of Jesus and communion with him is what opens it up for us... [Father] the Our Father does not project a human image onto heaven, but shows us from heaven - from Jesus - what we as human beings can and should be like... if earthly fatherhood divides, hevenly fatherhood unites..[Our] overcomes all boundaries and makes us one family..[Hallowed be Thy Name] God establishes a relationship between himself and us, putting himself within reach of our invocation.. he enters into a relationship with us and enables us to be in relationship with him...he assumes the risk of relationship, of communion, with us - and the more he gives himself into our hands, the more we can obscure his light.. [Thy Kingdom come] the first and essential thing is a listening heart, so that God, not we, may reign...Jesus is the Kingdom of God in person, and the Kingdom of God is present wherever he is present... this request, for a listening heart, becomes a request for communion with Jesus Christ, the petition that we increasingly become 'one' with him...[Thy Will be done.. as in Heaven]...the essence of 'heaven' is that it is where God's will is unswervingly done. Or, where God's will is done is heaven... Earth becomes 'heaven' when and insofar as God's will is done there...

As you may guess, I can't halt my pencil from jotting quotes when I read such words!

… in Our Lord,

William.