Just in that one line, that one directive, the holy Father touches upon three important Lenten themes.
Prayer, Restoration, and God’s primacy. And those three themes are on grand display in our scripture readings today.
In the Gospel, the Lord speaks to us of the importance of prayer—and not just babbling like the pagans, offering up empty words in order to appear to others to be prayerful. Christian prayer seeks what is most needed from God in all seriousness and humility. Christian prayer acknowledges, I do not have what I need on my own. I need God’s help. Christian prayer asks God to give us what can only come from Him.
And what is that one thing we need so desperately from God? Restoration. The restoration of our fallen natures. The restoration of eternal life lost due to sin. We cannot obtain this for ourselves. Restoration requires God’s grace. It requires God’s initiative. And so we pray for restoration. God restore what I have lost due to sin. Restore those fallen parts of my mind, my will, and my heart that continue to turn away from you. Restore the primacy that you are to have in my life, in my family, in my nation.
To help ensure that his followers know how to pray and pray for the primacy of his Father’s will in their lives, the Lord taught his followers, as we heard in the Gospel today, the Our Father. St. Thomas Aquinas said that The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers because in it we not only ask for the things that we need from God, but the order in which we should desire them.
God’s name, God’s kingdom, God’s glory, God’s primacy come first. Seek first the kingdom of God, the Lord says. The desire to glorify his heavenly Father was primary in the Lord’s life. And so it makes sense that the prayer that he teaches us should place these petitions first and foremost. The Catechism says, Praying to our Father should develop in us the will to become like him and foster in us a humble and trusting heart.”
Through fervent Lenten prayer, may we sake a restoration of our waywardness and willfulness, that God’s will may take primacy in our lives and in our world for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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That this season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church, that all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness, and that this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.
For all those impacted by the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for the victims of earthquakes, floods, and inclement weather, for the defense of our nation from all threats foreign and domestic, for those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, war and violence, or ongoing trials of any kind.
For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.
Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in the divine mystery may never be left without your assistance. Through Christ our Lord.
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