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| “Prayer on the Mount of Olives” by Hans Multscher, 1437 |
Readings and Commentary;[3]
Reading I: Isaiah
55:10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the
earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who
sows
and bread to the one who
eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my
mouth;
It shall not return to me
void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I
sent it.
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Commentary on Is
55:10-11
This reading
represents the conclusion of Isaiah’s exhortation about the New Jerusalem. In
these few verses we hear how the word of God must be soaked up by the faithful
as rain is soaked up by the earth. Once it is absorbed it produces the desired
result. Similar thought is expressed in the Gospel of St. John in his
exhortation on the Eucharist (John
6:32) as the Word come
down from heaven.
“The Word comes
from God, but it can be heard only when it is soaked up in human life and
spoken with human accents. Deutero-Isaiah (Deutero-Isaiah refers to the second
half of the book, written during the Babylonian exile) explains world history,
particularly the sacred history of Israel, through the deep, omnipotent
presence of the Word (cf. Wisdom 8:1; 2 Corinthians 9:10). M.-E. Boismard attributes to this text the immediate
origin of the Johannine theology of the Word (St. John's Prologue [Westminster,
1957] 100). We hear its echo in John's doctrine of the Eucharist-the Word come
down from heaven and received as bread (John
6:32, 35).”[4]
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the
just.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his
name.
I sought the LORD, and he
answered me
and delivered me from all my
fears.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
Look to him that you may be
radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush
with shame.
When the poor one called out,
the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he
saved him.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
The LORD has eyes for the
just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the
evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of
them from the earth.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
When the just cry out, the
LORD hears them,
and from all their distress
he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the
brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in
spirit he saves.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
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Commentary on Ps
34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
Psalm 34 is a psalm of
thanksgiving for God’s deliverance. The
just cry out to the Lord and he hears them and rescues them.
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Gospel: Matthew
6:7-15
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 men their
transgressions,
your heavenly Father will
forgive you.
But if you do not forgive
men,
neither will your Father
forgive your transgressions.”
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Commentary on Mt
6:7-15
This
Gospel passage from St. Matthew actually interrupts the pattern in the Sermon
on the Mount in which Jesus is clarifying the spirit of the Law regarding
almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In the presentation of the Lord’s prayer, St.
Matthew differs from the presentation by St. Luke (Luke 11; 1-4) in which the Lord was asked by the disciples how
to pray. This passage begins by telling the disciples “do not babble like the
pagans”. This may also be critical of the Jewish tradition of presenting long
lists petitions to God for help. The idea being the same; “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
The
prayer in St. Matthew has seven petitions (compared to six in St. Luke). The
first three are synonymous, asking that God’s ultimate reign at the Eschaton be
brought to fulfillment. The request for “daily bread” has a couple of possible
inflections beyond the obvious. It may be related to the petition in Matthew 6: 31-33 (“So do not worry and
say, 'What are we to eat?'”) and it may also be referring to the Messianic banquet of the
Eucharist. Using this interpretation, the fourth petition continues the intent
of the first three.
The
fifth petition, “…forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us” is, in spite of the denominational tradition, best translated as
“debts”. In St. Luke’s version, the word used was “sins”, an easier word for
non-Jewish readers. Regardless of the transliteration, the precondition for
forgiveness given is that we ourselves forgive.
“…lead us not into temptation” is likely not intended to mean our daily
encounter with “evil” or the “evil one”. St. Matthew would agree with St. Paul,
that God would easily avoid the evil of the world (1 Corinthians 10: 13). Rather the likely
meaning would be that we not be lead to great test that is despair at the
tribulations of the Eschaton (the end times). Similarly the final petition, “…deliver us from evil” also would focus on the Christian hope of
salvation rather than damnation.
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Reflection:
Even
leaving the historical context of the commentary aside, we can take the reading
from Isaiah at face value and understand that the Prophet was saying that his
prayer would not be like sand thrown into the wind; that his prayer, his
dialogue with God, would bear fruit like rain falling on the crops.
Likewise,
in the psalm, we give thanks to the Lord for hearing us in our distress. What does he hear? He hears our prayer. Prayers uttered at strange moments, at
painful moments, even prayers uttered profanely and unintended are heard (think
of that the next time you hit your finger with a hammer!)
Scripture
brings us to closure on prayer with the story from Matthew about Jesus teaching
his disciples to pray using the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern. We begin by, first, giving thanks and praise
to God for all his works and all his kindness both now and in eternity. Then we ask for what we need each day,
including forgiveness and asking for mercy as we show mercy.
The
focus remains the same. We are called to
be a people of prayer. Whether
structured like the Liturgy of the Hours or short and simple like “God help
me.” We need to be in constant
communication with God. It is the Lord
that provides us continual guidance, the Lord who leads us down right paths,
and it is the Lord who speaks to us in the silence of our heart. It is silence that we often forget. We must spend time listening to what God
intends to tell us (as Fr. Pat Egan is fond of saying – “Without bullying God
into listening to what we want him to say”).
As
we continue to grow in discipleship today, we remember that we are called to
pray constantly. We ask for the strength
to do just that.
Pax
[2] The picture is “Prayer on
the Mount of Olives” by Hans Multscher, 1437
[3] The readings are taken from
the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which
were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL).
This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Jerome Biblical Commentary,
Prentice Hall, Inc.© 1968, 22:49 pp. 380
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