Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 2022

The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Today’s Gospel is St. Luke’s version of the most beloved and popular prayer in the Christian tradition, widely known as The Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer offered millions of times everyday around the world. Luke says Jesus was praying in a certain place, and at the end of the exercise, one of his disciples approached him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Replying Jesus says, “When you pray, say: Father…” We begin our prayer by calling God Father, not Boss, not King, not Governor even though he is all those things. We first call him Abba, which is Jesus’s unique way of addressing God. It’s like a child calling his father dad or daddy. So, in the recitation of Our Father, we acknowledge that we are being invited to partake in the same intimacy that exists between Jesus and his Father. We are not meant to simply memorize the prayer but to enter into it with the attitude of Jesus. The Father is Jesus’ Father, but he is inviting us in a lesser degree to share in that intimacy. So, the next time you say this prayer, don’t rush it. Think about its implications. 

Then we say “…hallowed be your name…” This means “may God’s name be held holy.” After calling God Father, the very first thing we ask is that we might honor God, make him first in our lives and set him apart from anything else. Actually in Hebrew context, “holy” means “set apart.” So, God is holy means God is set apart. Your job, family, friendship, money, success, respect of others etc. are all good, but none of it should be held holy in this sense. We should never say, my family, my job, my career, my success, my friendship etc hollowed be your name. Only Abba Father should be held holy. If God’s name is not held holy, we will get everything else wrong. If God’s name is not held holy, everything else becomes profane, and goes off-kilter. So, when you pray the Lord’s Prayer, part of what you are praying for is: “Lord, please help me to put you first in my life.” It is like saying, “Daddy, I have this intimacy with you, now help me to make you first in my life.” 

After that we ask, “…your kingdom come.” The first message of Jesus according to St. Mark is “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news” (1:15). But what is the Kingdom? What are we praying for? It is the reign of God that Israel had longed for a thousand years. In the face of trials, injustices and sufferings of this world, Israel dreamed of the day God will reign as the righteous King of the world and set things right. As Israel suffer under corrupt kings, foreign kings, oppressive kings and terrible emperors, they dreamed and hoped for the day God himself will come, reign as a righteous King, set things right so that justice will ring and be obtained. So, when we pray for the coming of the God’s Kingdom, we are asking that God’s reign may be more and more powerful in this world, that we, the mystical body of Christ might contribute to the building up of peace, love, forgiveness, justice, non-violence. We are praying that Jesus who in person is the kingdom himself might reign supreme in the lives and hearts of many, that his manner of being may become more and more the manner of being of the world.

The next petition is “Give us each day our daily bread.” The term “daily” is a very rare and ambiguous Greek word. Scholars say it is only found in Luke’s and in Matthew’s version of Our Father. The term is “epiousion” in Greek. “Give us each day our epiousion bread.” “Ousion” means “substance,” “epi” means “above” or “over.” Literally, it means “hyper-substantial or super-substantial. While some scholars speculate “daily” in this prayer means “the great day of the Lord,” others say it means “hyper-substantial” or “super-substantial” bread. What is the Eucharist? It is not ordinary bread. It is not a symbolic representation. As Catholics, we say it is the Transubstantiated Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus. During consecration, there is a change, not at the level of appearance, but at the level of substance. Before consecration, we say it is bread and wine, but after consecration we no longer say it is bread and wine. It is now the Body and Blood of Jesus. So, at the heart of Jesus’ prayer, we ask for the super-substantial bread. We ask for the Eucharist, which is the means by which we are Christified. 

As sinful people, the next thing we ask is, “…forgive us our sins.” Why did Jesus come? To teach us the way of love and how to be servants of the Lord. But first and foremost, he came to forgive our sins. To the paralyzed man he said, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” To the woman caught in the act of adultery he said, “Neither do I condemn you.” On the cross, the definitive act of sacrifice that reconciled humanity to divinity happened. The Lamb of God took away the sins of the world. When we pray the Our Father, we pray for the forgiveness of our sins. We pray that Christ may so reign in us that our sins are forgiven by him. Then right away we add, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Once we have been forgiven, we become agents of his forgiveness that bring about the spread of God’s kingdom. Finally, we pray, “…and do not subject us to the final test.” In the ancient time, people believed that the Messianic period will be preceded by a period of struggle, time of testing and purification for those who are resisting the arrival of the Messiah. So what are we asking for here? We are asking that during this trial, we might have the grace to accept Christ fully and wholeheartedly when he comes. We are asking that we may not be in the group that needs to be chastised and purified.