Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Father, hallowed be your name” (Lk. 11:2). This simple start to the Lord’s Prayer might be somewhat jarring since we are so accustomed to the version found in Matthew’s gospel. Some of the familiar phrases are missing, for example, “Who art in heaven.”  In the Lucan version, God is not out there somewhere. No, He is right here with us, right now. Jesus taught us to talk to God our Father, just like Abraham spoke to God on the road to Sodom. There is something gutsy about that conversation. Abraham never forgets that he is talking to the Holy One, yet he feels the freedom to speak heart-to-heart with God. He seemed to intuit that God had a father’s heart that would balance justice and mercy. Because Abraham felt compassion for his nephew in his heart, he spoke of the mercy and compassion that God had in His heart.

The Lord’s Prayer reveals the Father to us. Because the Father made us and we belong to Him, the Lord’s Prayer also helps us to know ourselves. Christ teaches us that we are both closely connected to the Father and are dependent on him. Saint Peter Chrysologus shared this reflection. “Our awareness of our status as slaves would make us sink into the ground and our earthly condition would dissolve into dust if the authority of our Father himself and the Spirit of his Son had not impelled us to this cry… ‘Abba, Father!’… When would a mortal dare call God ‘Father,’ if man’s innermost being were not animated by power from on high?” (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71, 3: PL 52, 401 CD; cf. Gal 4:6). The intimate relationship that exists between God as our Father and us is a gift of grace and has nothing to do with our merits.

John Cassian wrote: “[Prayer is accomplished] by contemplating God alone, and by the warmth of love, through which the soul, molded and directed to love him, speaks familiarly to God as to its own Father with special devotion” (St. John Cassian, Coll. 9, 18 PL 49, 788c). The One we address as Abba speaks to each of us: “You are my beloved child; today I have begotten you” (Ps. 2:7). Because Christ is our Brother, we can call God Papa. Any merit we have is due to God’s grace at work in us. Any good we do is done in Christ, assisted by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God has made it possible for us to have an incredibly intimate relationship with him.

Through the mystery of the Incarnation, the Beloved Son shared his unique relationship with the Father with us. When he became flesh in Mary’s virginal womb, Jesus bridged the gap between the human and divine natures. We have been made beloved sons and daughters in the Son. St John Vianney said, “My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the soul and makes all things sweet.” In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to enter into communion with our Abba and His who walks with us, talks with us, and acknowledges us as His beloved.