27th Week of Ordinary Time: Receiving Our Father In Prayer

5/33.2 Divine filiation and prayer.

A good many people look for God in a hesitant and blindly groping manner, as if they were in a dense fog. We Christians know with confidence that God is our Father and that He watches over us. The expression ‘our Father-God’ had never been revealed to anyone. When he asked God to identify himself, the name Moses was given was different from this. This completely new name has been revealed to us by none other than God’s Son.[5732] Every time we approach God, He tells us: Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.[5733] He is interested in every one of our needs and problems. Should we happen to fall, He is there to support us and help us get back on our feet. Everything comes to us from God. If at first something should happen to us that seems either good or bad, we have only to recall that it has been sent to us, or permitted, by a loving Father who is wiser than any physician. God knows what is good for us.[5734]

The spirit of divine filiation gives life a whole new meaning. It is not an impossible riddle. It is a participation in the building up of the house of the Father which is Creation itself. God calls to each one of us: My son, you go into my vineyard too.[5735] Life is no longer filled with anxiety. Death can be faced with serenity and peace since it leads to our long-awaited encounter with Christ. If we can live every moment of our lives as sons and daughters of God we will be souls of prayer. This attitude of piety disposes us promptly to give and spend ourselves generously in whatever relates to the service of the Lord.[5736] Since children ought to give respect, veneration and love to their parents, our lives will give praise and honour to God Almighty. The piety which is born of divine filiation is a profound attitude of the soul which eventually permeates one’s entire existence. It is there in every thought, every desire, every affection.[5737]

Through the course of his earthly life Our Lord taught us how to deal with our Father God. In Jesus we find the highest expression of filial love for the Father. The Gospels recount how on many occasions Jesus would withdraw from the multitude to unite himself in prayer with the Father.[5738] Jesus teaches us the importance of spending some time in daily prayer with God in the midst of our ordinary activities. There are times when the Lord prays for his own intentions. This is the prayer of filial abandonment to the Will of his Father which we witness at Gethsemane[5739]and on Calvary.[5740] Many times too Jesus prays for others, particularly for the Apostles and his future disciples, including ourselves.[5741] Jesus advises us that filial prayer is necessary if we are to resist temptation,[5742] to obtain material goods[5743]and final perseverance.[5744]

This filial conversation has to be personal. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.[5745] This prayer ought to be discreet.[5746] It needs to be a humble petition like that of the publican.[5747] Our prayer should be constant and unflagging like that of the importunate friend or the stubborn widow.[5748] It should be filled with trust in God’s goodness.[5749] Surely God the Father knows the needs of his children. He provides spiritual goods as well as material goods for them.[5750] My Father – talk to him like that, confidently – who art in heaven, look upon me with compassionate Love, and make me respond to thy love. Melt and enkindle my hardened heart, burn and purify my unmortified flesh, fill my mind with supernatural light, make my tongue proclaim the Love and Glory of Christ.[5751] Our Father ... teach us, teach me to deal with you with filial trust.

[4122] cf Luke 10:27