Pondering the Word (No. 1)

NOTE: Over the last year or so, I've thought about the possibility of posting occasional mini-reflections on the day's Mass readings or other suitable material. What I have in mind is something relatively short and simple, rooted in my own prayer and meditation, and offered up for anyone who may find it helpful in his/her own prayer and meditation. Lent seems as good a time as any to begin. I don't intend to post daily or to hold to any set schedule (at least for now). Rather, I will post when the Spirit seems to especially move me. I imagine the postings to be no more than a few sentences, or a couple paragraphs at the most. The goal is to truly make the Word flesh in daily life. Many posts may be reflections in the form of questions. Simply food for thought along the "Path of Life" upon which we are all journeying. We'll see how it goes. Here is the first:

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In today's Gospel (Matthew 6:7-15), Jesus teaches his disciples to pray by offering them (and us) the Lord's Prayer, or the "Our Father." It is a prayer with which all Christians and many non-Christians are familiar. In the monastery here, we monks pray it together five times each day (and likely several more times in private). Sometimes I wonder if we're a little too familiar with it -- merely mouthing the words without paying attention to their meaning or with any intention of putting them into practice. A couple times (usually while praying the Rosary) I have actually caught myself saying "my will be done" instead of "thy will be done." A slip of the tongue, perhaps. Yet, I wonder: Am I really seeking God and God's will? Or, am I seeking only what I believe God can do for me while doing what I want?

Thankfully, in the first reading (Isaiah 55:10-11), we have God's assurance (fulfilled in Christ) that his Word "shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it." May my will be one with Christ's, and may his will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.