OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY (MEMORIAL)

Father, hallowed be your name.

When you pray, do you ever think about what God the Father looks like? Perhaps you imagine an old man with a white beard sitting on a gigantic throne. Or maybe you picture a being who is so distant and incomprehensible that you can’t possibly relate to him. Some people might remember their own fathers who let them down. Others think of God more as a stern judge than as a loving father. For whatever reason, praying to the Father can feel difficult.

Some of Jesus’ disciples may have felt the same way when Jesus told them to pray “Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2). Many Jews showed such reverence for God that they wouldn’t even say his name. How could they call the all-holy God “Father”? But Jesus showed them a different side of God. He showed them a God of peace, joy, and compassion. The disciples saw Jesus’ close relationship with the Father, and they realized that Jesus was offering them a new path to him. In his suffering, death, and resurrection, he won for them—and for us—a new closeness with God.

Jesus came to reveal the Father so that we all could know him and experience his love. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” he told his disciples (John 14:9). When he prayed, Jesus addressed the Father directly, and he taught his disciples to do the same.

Through the gift of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus assures us that we can relate to God as his children, using the very words that Jesus taught us. He has given us simple, familiar words to say, along with the promise that our Father will hear us. We don’t need to speak eloquently or possess deep theological understanding. We just need to come to him. Today try to visualize Jesus with you as you’re praying. You could use an icon or a picture, or just imagine him in your mind. Look at his face as he leads you “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Come to him, and you will find your heavenly Father.

“Our Father, help me to see you as you are.”

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14
Psalm 117:1, 2