Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 6,7-15

'In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One. 'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The "Our Father" is the centre of the Sermon on the Mount. With Tertullian, a Christian of the first centuries, we can say that it is "the summary of the entire Gospel". Jesus urges his disciples not to waste or multiply words in prayer, thinking they can convince God. Jesus involves us in his very intimacy with the Father. He invites us to call God with the name he calls Him: "Father" "Abba" (dad). By using this word Jesus accomplishes a true religious revolution. The Jews could not name the holy name of God. With the title "dad" Jesus opened to us a dimension that was unthinkable until then -that of being a son or a daughter of God, of being an intimate part of Trinity. God remains "totally other" but he is a Father that loved us so much that he sent us His own Son. It is a limitless love-impossible for human mind even to conceive it. Jesus himself revealed it to us. And it is a being children that brings us into God's family. And we can call Him "Our Father". In this intimacy, the first request we do is the advent of His kingdom when the entire human family and creation will come to fullness. In the second part Jesus exhorts us to ask for bread, the bread of every day, the material bread and the bread of His Word. Two loaves, two tables, both indispensable. Both must be prepared, or rather, multiplied for all. Jesus then places a serious request on our lips: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive those who trespass against us." It seems unrealistic to put human forgiveness as a reference ("as we...") of the divine one. Jesus had said before to his disciples to be perfect as the father is perfect; and now he adds: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." This language is difficult to understand in a society like ours in which forgiveness is very rare and the spirit of revenge seems to prevail. We have the responsibility to pray for the entire human family and repeat to the Father: "Do not abandon us in temptation" but deliver us from evil.