July 24th, 2022

seventeenth Sunday in ordinary time

by Fr. Clement Dickie, O.P.

—

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our fearless leader, Fr. Boniface, is away for a couple of weeks of rest in glorious New England. This is last weekend our two younger student brothers will be with us. Brs. Raphael and Thomas will have some time with their families later this week before they return to Washington, D.C. to resume their studies. We still have another week with Fr. Bartholomew and two with Br. Brendan.

In today’s Gospel, the Apostle’s ask Jesus a pretty common question: how do we pray? I wonder what kind of answer the disciples expected to hear. Today we’d probably be expecting to be recommended an app or book or technique. We’d certainly expect to have to use our words and involve our own self-expression.

Jesus’s answer, however, is confoundingly simple:

He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."

He just gives us the Our Father (the version we’re used to comes from Matthew’s Gospel). Praying can be a simple as using words that we have been given that have memorized as children. However elaborate our life of private prayer might become, we will never have words as perfect as what Christ gave us.

There is obviously a time and place to tell God our thoughts and fears, to ask him for specific needs, to pray the psalms or devotions composed by saints for specific occasions, but not finding the right words should never by reason to avoid a life of prayer.

In Christ,

Fr. Clement Dickie, O.P.
Parochial Vicar