In our first reading today from 2 Corinthians 11, St. Paul defends himself and his teachings to the Corinthians. There were some silver-tongued “superapostles” coming through town that were leading people astray. The people were falling for a silver tongue and a slick message. But it was not the message of the true gospel that Paul taught. And at the end of today’s reading, we find out why Paul did all that he did. “And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!” Paul spoke the truth out of love. Do we?
In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 6, Jesus teaches the disciples to pray. We know the prayer as the “Our Father.” It really is the perfect prayer, isn’t it? We pray for God’s Kingdom to come. We pray for His will to do be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” We ask only for enough to see us through today. And for forgiveness and deliverance from evil.
There are countless ways to pray, and countless things to pray for. But the part that always gets me is “thy will be done.” You notice Jesus didn’t teach us to say “MY will be done.” Yet it seems that that is what we so often really mean. It’s OK to let God know what our will is. He wants to know what we want; what is the desire of our heart. But if, in the end, the desire of our heart is not God’s will, then we’re really just spinning our wheels, and we have a long way to go in this spiritual walk.
Father, help us to always pray for your will to be done. And give us the maturity and peace to accept your will, whatever that may be. Amen.
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