Breaking the Word

11^th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 20^th June 2024 — Gospel: Mt 6,7-15

Prayer is Intimate Relationship

Jesus cautions his disciples to avoid the Gentiles’ attitude to prayer: babblings in prayer or repeated chanting of words or non-sense syllables. Their prayers contained impersonal ritualistic practices and were considered to manipulate spiritual forces and entities (like the prophets of Baal 1Kgs 18,26-29). The Gentiles are compared here because they did not worship the true God. Prayer for them wasn’t about a relationship with God. It was simply a transaction with a higher power. In contrast to this, Jesus instructs his disciples to address their prayers to a loving Father. By praying to our Father, we enter into a family relationship that is more significant than we could imagine. We can come before him glad, sad or desperate, and he will be there to comfort us. Jesus also shares another great truth that our Father loves to give his children all what they need. Because we are part of His life, He anticipates all what we need. As Father, He loves us and we honour Him. He protects, and we abide. He provides, and we give thanks. He instructs, and we follow. He disciplines, and we mature. He touches, and we respond. He commands, and we obey.

In the first reading, Elijah asks Elisha what gift he would like to receive from God. Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Here Elisha is not asking to be better than Elijah in ministry, rather he might receive a special relationship with God, just as Elijah had. Elisha and Elijah have had a special, close relationship of master-prophet to his apprentice. There were many disciples for Elijah, but none as close and as special as Elisha. They were like father and son. Thus, Elisha asks for the blessing with a father reserved for the first born – twice as big a share in the inheritance as the other children. Elisha does not ask to be more famous or more powerful than others, he desires only to be blessed for his special relationship with Elijah. So, in making his request, Elisha is asking to be regarded as the genuine heir to Elijah’s prophetic power and spirit. God grants this request because Elisha has hope in the Lord and in Elijah’s heavenly father.