Jesus did A LOT of watching and praying in his earthly life (Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28) but HOW ARE WE TO #WATCHandPRAY? His disciples ask him that very same question. “How should we pray?” Jesus starts His instruction by saying "when you pray." For the follower of Christ, prayer is not a matter of IF, but WHEN. That isn't to say that prayer is some heartless command, rather it is the natural result of a belief in a personal God. What follows is what has come to be known as "The Lord's Prayer” or “The Our Father” (a simple teaching trick to help the simple minded, as it marks the first words of the prayer and helps one to remember the rest). The prayer is recorded in both Luke 11:1-13 and Matthew 6:9-13. While I certainly think it fruitful to pray the prayer verbatim, it is important to consider the concepts contained within the prayer. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2771-2776) says the “Lord’s Prayer is TRULY the SUMMARY of the WHOLE gospel." “Since the Lord . . . after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said FIRST, as THE FOUNDATION of further desires." 💥 STOP. #PonderThat St. Augustine once said, “Run through all the words of the holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find ANYTHING in them that is NOT CONTAINED AND INCLUDED in the Lord's Prayer.” All the Scriptures - the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms - are fulfilled in Christ. The Gospel is this "Good News." Its first proclamation is summarized by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount; the prayer to our Father is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each petition bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated: “The Lord's Prayer is THE MOST PERFECT OF PRAYERS. . . . In it we ask, not only for ALL the things we can RIGHTLY desire, but also IN THE SEQUENCE that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ASK for things, but also in what ORDER we should desire them.” The Catechism continues: CONTINUED IN COMMENTS 👇🏼 https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJR0wug3hK/?igshid=wnazsv7137yv