20th June >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 6:7-15 for  Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: ‘And Do not put us to the test’. (2025)

20th June >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 6:7-15 for Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: ‘And Do not put us to the test’.

Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 6:7-15

How to pray

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test,

but save us from the evil one.

‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 6:7-15

This is how you are to pray.

Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

‘Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.’

“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, what has become known as ‘the Lord’s Prayer’. You may have heard recently that Pope Francis has approved a change to the wording of the Lord’s Prayer after what was described as a ‘flawed translation’ from the original Greek wording. It comes two years after the Pope expressed his dislike of the phrase ‘Lead us not into temptation’. The Pope said that this version implies that God, not Satan, leads people into temptation. Pope Francis has now approved a change from, ‘lead us not into temptation’, to ‘do not let us fall into temptation’. Approval has been granted for the Italian version of the prayer to be updated but it’s not known when the English version will be changed. There would have to be agreement in the English speaking world before such a change could take place. It would seem there are no implications for the Irish translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The relevant petition “agus ná lig sinn i gcathú” translates roughly into English as “and let us not succumb to temptation” which corresponds to the Pope’s favored phraseology, ‘do not let us fall into temptation’. God does not lead us into temptation; God does not tempt us. Indeed, the letter of James in the New Testament says explicitly, ‘No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one’. What God can do and wants to do is strengthen us when we are tempted by evil. This understanding of God finds expression in Jesus’ prayer to God on behalf of his disciples, as found in John’s gospel, ‘I ask you to protect them from the evil one’. We desperately need the Lord to protect us from the evil one, to strengthen us when our faithfulness to his way is put to the test.

And/Or

(ii)Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ giving of what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer is to be found in two gospels, Matthew and Luke. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus prefaces the giving of the prayer by calling on his disciples not to use many words, not to babble, when praying to God, as the pagans do. Jesus is referring to the pagan practice of bombarding the gods with various formulae, with the intention of forcing the gods to behave in a way that is favourable to humankind. However, the disciples of Jesus are not to relate to their heavenly Father in that way. God is not there to be manipulated by our many words. Rather, as the opening petitions of the Lord’s Prayer suggests, we begin by surrendering to whatever God may want. What matters is God’s name, God’s kingdom, God’s will. We don’t try to force God to do what we want; we surrender to what God wants. After doing that, as the prayer indicates, we acknowledge our dependence on God, for our basic needs - for food for the day, for forgiveness, for strength when our faith is put to the test. The Lord’s Prayer is powerful in its simplicity. It is not simply one prayer among many; it is a teaching on how to pray always.

And/Or

(iii) Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading Jesus makes a distinction between the prayer of the pagans and the prayer of his followers. He speaks of pagan prayer as babbling, as using many words, the implication being that by using many words they are trying to force God to listen. Pagan prayer is an attempt to put pressure on God, to manipulate God into doing what those praying want. The prayer Jesus taught his disciples is the complete opposite of that kind of prayer. Rather than trying to force God’s hand, the Lord’s prayer, as we have come to call it, begins in a spirit of surrender to God and to what God wants –‘your name be held holy, your will be done, your kingdom come’. Jesus would pray a version of those opening petitions of the Lord’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I will, but what you will’. Although Jesus recoiled before the prospect of a violent death, he did not try to force God’s hand in prayer. Rather, he surrendered to what God wanted. His prayer of petition was secondary to his prayer of surrender. The Lord’s Prayer begins in that same spirit of surrender to God, and only then does it invite us to petition God on our own behalf. The petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are all in the first person plural, not me and mine but us and ‘our’. They express our basic material and spiritual needs, as a faith community, our need for sustenance, both physical and spiritual, our need for forgiveness and our need for deliverance when our faith is tested by evil. Jesus gave us this prayer so that all of our prayers may be shaped by this model prayer.

And/Or

(iv) Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading Jesus makes a contrast between how the pagans pray and how his followers are to pray. He characterizes pagan prayer as a form of babbling, as if the use of many words is more likely to catch the attention of their gods. This approach to prayer presumes that the gods have no interest in human affairs and they have to be pressured into giving us their attention. The more words and the louder they are spoken the better. Jesus reveals a very different God, a God who is already intimately involved with our affairs before we turn to him in prayer. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘your Father knows your need before you ask him’. Prayer is not so much a matter of trying to get the attention of God who has no interest in us, but, rather, it is about opening ourselves more fully to what God is already doing within us and among us. Many words are not needed; it is the attitude of heart that matters. The prayer that Jesus gives his disciples in the gospel reading expresses that proper attitude of heart which opens us up more fully to God’s life-giving work in the world. We begin by focusing on what God wants, what God is doing. We pray that God’s kingdom would come, not ours. We then acknowledge our dependence on God for our most basic needs, namely, nourishment, both material and spiritual, forgiveness when we fail, and strength when we are put to the test. In what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus not only gives us one prayer, but a whole way of praying.

And/Or

(v) Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

When it comes to prayer, we all feel a little inadequate. We often sense that our prayer is not all it could be. The sense that we are not praying well can often leave us discouraged and keep us from praying, at least from engaging in private, personal prayer. Paul was aware of how we can struggle to pray. That is why in his letter to the Romans he says, ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought’. In that very same verse, however, he declares, ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness… that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words’. Paul is saying that a wordless prayer of the Spirit is going on deep within us, even in our struggle to pray. One of the roles of the Spirit in our lives is to help us to pray, to do our praying for us when we are too weak to pray. The Spirit’s help in the area of prayer is a continuation of Jesus’ help. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. He tells them to keep their prayer simple. There is no reason for them to babble many words like the pagans. He then gives his disciples the gift of a prayer which has this quality of simplicity, what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer which acknowledges God’s lordship, the priority of God’s kingdom and God’s will, and then acknowledges all that we need from God, physical and spiritual nourishment, forgiveness, and strength in times of trial. When we struggle to pray, these simple but essential elements can help to give focus to our prayer.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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