字幕列表 影片播放 列印英文字幕 I don't know how many of you pay particular attention to technology but I do every day. I take a glance at the summary that appears every day on my Droid phone. and I ran across an interesting story this week. It actually marked a kind of milestone that I think all of us probably expected to come We just didn't realize that would come so quickly. It turns out that one of the most popular social networking sites on the web hit a huge milestone this week as they realized their five hundred millionth subscriber that's half a billion people half a billion people subscribing to this particular online networking web site. Now to put that in perspective, if it were a nation- half a billion people subscribers would make it the third largest nation. The third largest after China and India if it were indeed going to be a nation. That's a gigantic number of people and that number of people in the frenzy over the social networking website I think reflects a much deeper need within ourselves to remain connected with one another. Sites like that allow people to quickly share their thoughts and keep connections with friends and family around the world it turns out. Let me ask another question. How many of you are carrying a cell phone right now? Probably the majority of us. I hope you remembered to turn it off when church began. That's not my reason for asking that question though. Think back to ten or fifteen years ago When cell phones were not a necessity but a luxury. Cell phones now allow us to stay in contact with one another very simply. All of that highlights that need that we have to remain connected with one another. In the gospel this morning the disciples are realizing this very profound need for not just staying connected with one another, but with God in prayer. And they've been watching. They've been noticing John the Baptist's disciples praying. And they must pray regularly apparently. And they asked Jesus a simple but beautiful question. Lord can you teach us how to pray? Jesus' response has come to be known as what we call The Lord's Prayer. The our father. One of our most treasured prayers and one of the prayers that can be shared no matter what brand of Christianity we happen to fall under. It's a prayer that unites us and it's a prayer that's easy for us to remember because we've probably been learning it since we were very young. I want to spend some time this morning unpacking this powerful and beautiful prayer. Because although we’ve known it from a time when we were very young, I think sometimes because we are so familiar with something we can downplay its significance. In order to do this I need to go back to second grade and sister Mary Francis and religious education at Saint Thomas in Saginaw. She taught us a great acronym four letters A.C.T.S. ACTS, when it comes to prayer. ACTS outlines the four different kinds of prayer that are contained with the Lord's Prayer. The letter “A” in that acronym stands for Adoration. God you are so great. You are the source of all being. That's what an adoration prayer means. And we echo that when we say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. A reminder that all we have all we are comes from God. God created us. Because we are the creature and he is the creator we also owe God our adoration and thankfulness for giving us this gift of life he has given to us. but also for the wonders he has created within that world. The beginning of that prayer places things in proper perspective. GOD is GOD. And we are not. God is our savior. We are not our own saviors. The lord's prayer helps us to remember that. The “C” in the acronym ACTS is for contrition Oh there's a word that makes us uncomfortable because none of us likes to admit to God or to one another that we messed up. But that's exactly what a prayer of contrition reminds us. That we messed up and we need forgiveness of God and the forgiveness of one another. And we need to be forgiving people. In Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer (the one that we pray to get most often) We say forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. Notice how that's phrased. It's kind of a measuring stick. Not only do we realize the need for forgiveness from God but also Jesus reminds us that we need to be forgiving toward one another. And in a certain way our forgiveness toward one another will be a measuring stick for the forgiveness that God extends to us. But it's important for us to pause on a regular basis and think; What have I done or not done? What have I said or not said? …that might hurt the people close to me? …or the people sitting next to me? How will it affect my relationship with God? When we come to that realization we also realize that we must ask for forgiveness. That's the contrition part of prayer. So we have "A" adoration and "C" contrition. “T” is for thanksgiving. Now there's one we’re more comfortable with. We have a holiday in November that's all about thanksgiving right? That should be adequate. One time a year, right? WRONG What is it that we have to be thankful for? "Give us this day our daily bread." What is it that we have to be thankful for? We have that daily bread. We have the talent in our hands. The love in our hearts. The wisdom in our minds. We did not manufacture that. We are not the source of those things. God is the source of those. We are their caretakers. We are their stewards. and so it's necessary for us to remember those great blessings God has shared with us to pause in thanksgiving And then finally the "S" in the acronym So "A" we get adoration, C is contrition, T is thanksgiving "S" stands for "supplication." That's the kind of prayer we're most familiar with. Supplication. To ask something for ourselves or for someone else. Sometimes when things are tough and we're not feeling well, we'll ask a friend a family member “to pray for me?” And sometimes when we realize that things are not going well for another we will say I have been keeping you in my prayers. Hopefully those are prayers of supplication. Thy Kingdom come thy will be done. Not my kingdom. Not our kingdom. Not my will. Not our will. But God's kingdom. and God's will. When we’re asking for that, think of what it is we’re asking for? We're asking for God's kingdom to be present here and now. We're asking for a reality that strips away all the ways that we differentiate one from another. Based on gender, social class, language, skin color all of the other ways that we divide one from another. God's kingdom instead unites. that's a radical challenging powerful thing to pray for. but that's the unfolding reality. It's in our midst of that unfolding reality that is a part of our prayer whenever we pray the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is so beautiful because it wraps together all of those four kinds of prayer. Adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication. And does it so beautifully and so simply. As Saint Therese said, I would much rather pray one our father slowly and well than one hundred quickly and without care. That's because of the beauty of the significance contained in this prayer that Jesus teaches the disciples. they want to remain connected with one another and they want to remain connected with God. So do we This prayer provides us one way, one means, one Avenue. Jesus also offers us another beautiful way to remain connected with one another through this Eucharist we share together before we come to receive this Eucharist we will pray the Lord's Prayer together Asking God. Thanking God. Praising God. and realizing in the end that we're not worthy of so great a gift. And he calls us forward to be connected with one another and with him. and the great body of Christ.
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