St. Luke’s gospel for this Sunday has three pericopes, all on the theme of prayer.  The gospel begins with one of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray.  And Jesus’ reply is the Lord’s prayer.  Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and he begins by addressing God as ‘Abba’.  Most scholars assert that the use of Abba in his native language was very personal and intimate: Abba in Jesus’ language is more like ‘daddy’ in English.  What is this saying?  For Jesus God was very close to him in an intimate bond of love:  a covenant of love between Son and Father.  This covenantal relationship was confirmed at his baptism.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #444444; -webkit-text-stroke: #444444} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 48.0px; text-align: center; text-indent: -48.0px; font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #444444; -webkit-text-stroke: #444444} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Readings of the day: RB 17 The Number of Psalms to be Sung at the HoursMass: Is 55:10-11; Resp. Ps 34; Mt 6:7-1

Readings of the day: RB 8Mass: Jonah 4:1-11; Resp. Psalm 86; Luke 11:1-4
Jesus taught the disciples many things, sometimes using words, other times not. As far as I know the disciples only asked Jesus once to teach them anything at all. Today they ask the Lord to teach them to pray. It seems a reasonable request considering they, with us, don’t know how to pray as we ought (Romans 8:26). Jesus doesn’t waste time, stating clearly,
When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed by your nam