The Words from Heaven Spoken by the Lord in The Lord's Prayer - Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

A focus on the Scripture Readings for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent (Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15) is that leads to our fruitfulness in the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The three indispensable Lenten virtues are; prayer, fasting (abstinence), and almsgiving, as addressed in the Gospel Reading of Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). In this Gospel text, Jesus reminds us to pray, fast (abstain), and give alms, not to draw attention to ourselves or to be seen as “holy” or “pious”, but rather in secret to others or anonymously. It is an authentic way to engage in these three Lenten virtues. And through the First Readings of Friday and Saturday after Ash Wednesday (Isaiah 58:1-9a, 9b-14), we have reflected more on the authenticity in our Lenten practice, focusing on the virtue of fasting (abstinence).

Now on Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, we focus on another Lenten virtue, prayer, zooming in on it in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 6:7-15), in which Jesus gives a gift of prayer to those who seek him and his words, during his Sermon on the Mount. Also, this Gospel text is what was “skipped” in the Gospel Reading of Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18).

You certainly recall Jesus teaching his audience not to be like hypocrites, who engage in their prayers in ostentatious manners, but rather to pray in private or when not seen by others (Matthew 6:5-6) from Ash Wednesday’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). In the Gospel Reading today (Matthew 6:7-15), Jesus teaches our we pray authentically.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name (v.9)

We begin the prayer by invoking the name of the Father, which is holy (e.g. Psalm 111:9; Isaiah 57:15). Because His name is holy, we cannot take His name in vain (Exodus 20:7).

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (v.10).

We express our belief that the Father’s will is to be done to us on earth just as it is in heaven, and ultimately, the will of the Father is to be done to bring the heavenly Kingdom on earth. Of course, it is through His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.

Give us today our daily bread (v. 11)

Just as God provided manna from heaven daily to the Israelites for 40 years in the desert (Exodus 16:4-35), we humbly ask the Father to provide us with bread to sustain life every day – day by day, rather than asking for loaves of bread for a week or a month. This means that we are to pray daily for our daily bread.

Of course, the bread we ask is the Living Bread of Life (John 6:35, 48, 51), which is the living flesh (sarx cf. kreas) of Jesus (John 6:53-56). And it is the incarnated Word-God (Theos-Logos) (John 1:1, 14), in the human flesh of Jesus, whose flesh came from the flesh of Mary the Immaculate Conception, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Because our daily bread from the Father is the living flesh, the body, of Jesus, this daily bread from heaven gives eternal life but manna did not (John 6:31-33, 35, 40, 48-51, 53-58). In fact, the provision of the daily bread of life for eternal life in Father’s will (John 6:38-40) to be done.

Though bread, like manna, does not give eternal life, as flesh itself does not, the daily bread from heaven in Father’s provision for us gives. It is because the daily bread from the Father is the living flesh of Jesus, the incarnated Word-God with the Holy Spirit, which gives life (i.e. Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 15; 6:63).

The daily bread also gives an eschatological trajectory to the heavenly banquet (Revelation 19:9; cf. Isaiah 25:6; Matthew 8:11; 22:1-10) through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (i.e. Matthew 26:26-28//Mark 14:22-24//Luke 22:19-20).

and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (v. 12).

“Debts”, in this context, means what we owe God and what we owe to each other, namely, our sins against God and one another, as a result of failing to observe His commandments.

Here, we appeal to God’s mercy, while expressing our willingness to be merciful as He is (Luke 6:36) in forgiving those who have offended us. And forgiving those who have offended us, as Joseph forgave his brothers, who caused him to be sold as a slave in Egypt (Genesis 50:15-21), is a way of loving our neighbors (Leviticus 19:17-18).

Jesus further speaks that not forgiving will be subject to judgment or God’s woes (Matthew 6:14-15).

and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one (v. 13).

We plead to God for His mercy to spare us from the eschatological messianic woes.

Now we can pray more deeply reflective ways, feeling more intimate with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as we pray this gift of prayer given by Jesus. So, this is known as the Lord’s Prayer.

This prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, also humbly reminds that we cannot really live without God – without His providence, his grace. And it is not something like manna or mere flesh, which does not lead to eternal life and eternal salvation but it is what comes out of the mouth of the Lord (i.e. Deuteronomy 8:3).

Just as the earth cannot produce grains on its own but depends on rain and snow from the sky (Isaiah 55:10), we cannot stay alive and become fruitful without grace from God.

By the way, why snow is necessary for the earth to produce food for our sustenance?

Think, for example, how the agriculture in southern California depends on the water from the Colorado River, which finds its source in the snowcaps of the Rocky Mountains. If no snow, not enough water to ligate the farms, fields, and orchards in southern California.

In the Gospel Reading (Matthew 6:7-15), Jesus gives us the gift of his prayer, for Father’s will to be done on us through his words spoken out of his mouth. In light of Isaiah 55:11, not only Jesus’ words on the prayer (Matthew 6:7-15) but in his entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29) make a good example of God’s word that goes from His mouth to us, not to be returned empty but to prompt us to be bear abundant fruits, pleasing to Him (Isaiah 55:11; cf. John 15:1-11).

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), spoken out of the mouth of Jesus to us in his words, is a critical seed that cannot be returned empty but that is to be grown into abundant fruition in our commitment to the Lord – in our intention and action in faith. This way, we shall become firstfruits (e.g. Deuteronomy 26:10) on Paschal Sunday to start celebrating the glorious Resurrection of the Lord, who is the firstfruit from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). All out Lenten commitment to prayer, fasting (abstinence), and almsgiving, are for us to become firstfruits to offer to God – so that we will not turn ourselves to God empty and unchanged – as God has “rain” His words on us – has sent the Word to us, incarnated into the flesh of Jesus, as our living daily bread of life, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Through our commitment to the Lord’s Prayer, we continue to go forward on this Lenten “road less traveled” to become firstfruits of God’s grace upon completing the journey, pleasing to God.

We cannot live by bread alone but by the words spoken by Jesus, coming out of his mouth, in the Lord's Prayer, for the daily bread of life, while removing obstacles to life's sustenance, such as grudges against others.