DRE, Ibadan Archdiocese

Faith series, episode 124

1. Give us this day our daily bread

When we pray ‘give us’ we show our trust in God. When we ask for bread, we are requesting what bread represents – our very life. Bread also suggests a meal and the companionship which comes with a meal. When we pray for bread we are praying for life’s requirements; what we need for physical life (food, shelter, clothing), psychological life (friendship, love, companionship), and spiritual life (scripture and teachings of the Church and the body of Christ received in the Holy Communion). When we pray for our bread, we ask for our needs plus the needs of all people. The Lord’s Prayer challenges us to share with others, especially the less fortunate. It prompts us to be both just and loving. The parable of the last judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) teach us that God’s children must share their material goods with the poor. The word ‘daily’ in the original Aramaic which Jesus spoke may also have meant something similar to ‘for tomorrow, today’. When we pray for our daily bread, we also pray for the fullness of God’s material and spiritual blessings which will be ours in heaven. We dare to ask our Father to give us a taste of the heavenly feast of the coming kingdom in God’s today, an eternal reign that is anticipated in the Eucharist.

1. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

It is difficult both to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. When we ask God for forgiveness, we honestly admit that we are sinners who need God’s saving love. We acknowledge that we need the Spirit who will enable us to repent of our selfishness and turn to a more loving life of service. We confess in humility that we need Jesus’ help on our journey to the Father. But we must also forgive others. Jesus connects God’s forgiveness of us to our forgiveness of others. As the gospel of John teaches, it is impossible to love the God we cannot see if we cannot love the brother or sister that we see (1 John 4:20). Forgiveness turns us into other Christ. The Lord’s Prayer calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven. When we forgive those who have hurt us, we are sharing love and understanding, this encourages others to respond to us in the same way. Forgiveness is the basic condition that reconciles God’s children with the Father and each other.