Today we are given two examples of prayers. One is of Abraham praying, and the other of Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. Abraham gives us an example of persistence in praying. He never gave up on God. There was a reason for his persistence. He knew God was willing to be merciful to sinners. Think of that and of how Abraham just didn’t give up on asking God to spare the people. Abraham’s persistence is amazing and admirable, and maybe tiring, but God’s mercy is also amazing and admirable. Prayer is not magic, although we sometimes expect it to be.

Jesus’ prayer tells us about God and about ourselves: it tells us that God is Father in being the Creator and Author of all that he has made, the first origin of everything, and transcendent authority, and he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only begotten Son who, reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father. All fatherhood and motherhood are derived from him. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we are spiritually reborn and made new, and we become the adopted children of God.

Jesus teaches us to address God as “our Father” and to confidently ask him for the things we need to live as his sons and daughters. We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because Jesus Christ has opened the way to heaven for us through his atoning death and resurrection. When we ask God for help, he fortunately does not give us what we deserve. Instead, he responds with grace—that is, his favor and blessing and mercy, which is pardon and healing. He is kind and forgiving towards us, and he expects us to treat our neighbors the same.

When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we pray in our trust in God for what he wants for us to happen in the end of time so that we can be with him forever. When we pray for his kingdom to come, we pray for the victory of his love for us. That is actually what we want in our lives.

God is God always. God can do anything. He is all powerful. God is our loving Father. Our salvation and our happiness come from him. That means that they will and do come from him alone. Keep this in mind: our salvation and our happiness come from God, who loves us as our Father. Put our trust in God the Father with willingness to listen to Him and accept His holy Will in our daily lives, whether it is happiness or joy or sorrow. Let His will be done in our lives.

God Bless us all.

Fr. Charley