In his Tuesday, February 20, Lenten reflection, Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, urged Catholic faithful not to pray like pagans as was mentioned in the day’s Gospel reading.
“Jesus taught the ‘Our Father’ in the context of an admonition of his disciples. He did not want them to pray like the pagans do”, the Catholic Bishop of Ho Diocese said. He added that pagan prayer especially in the temples of the Baals of the Canaanite was characterized by a lot of shouting and yelling as if the gods they were praying to were deaf or deeply asleep, that only shouting could reach their ears.
Bishop Fianu then went on to say that the God of Israel, whom we serve, is of a different kind, a loving God who created us in his own image and likeness and cared for us.
“In his omniscience, he knows what his creatures need even before they address him. In his omnipotence, he can grant all their needs without their personal intervention. He hears the cries of his creatures so they do not need to shout and yell as if he is deaf,” he stressed.
Citing the day’s First Reading, the Vice President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference said God, through, the prophet Isaiah, assured His people of the certainty of his promises, adding that there is nothing God says that would not be accomplished. He urged Christians to trust in God and look up to him in their needs, as He is a God of faithfulness.
In the Gospel reading, we were taught how to address God in prayers, (Matthew 6,7-15).
The Bishop said we must first acknowledge God us “our Father who is in Heaven”, as He is above us all, and not in a creation of human hands. “We must desire His kingdom in our midst because that is the goal of our life to be with the Father in union with the Son through the Spirit”, Bishop Fianu said.
He also said it is only after we acknowledge God that we remind Him of our daily needs.
“Our prayer is therefore not to tell him that he does not care for us but only to affirm his care. In response to what he does for us, we ask for the grace to be able to reciprocate his care and love for us by forgiving our neighbours whatever wrong they may have committed against us”, Bishop Fianu added.
In his reflection, the prelate said it is only in this way that we become the merciful and loving presence of God to our neighbours.
“We pray that we may be able to live out faithfully what we pray daily in the ‘Our Father’.Amen”, he concluded.
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