Teach Us To Pray

I love listening to son pray when we're in the car. I'll try to encourage him, and he kind of strings words and phrases together he's picked up in Mass in a very sweet and sincere way, going something like this:

"Lord of the God, is the blessing, and the Holy One of God to the blood and bless angels, and the bread, pray mommy and daddy and Monica and Suzy. Amen."

 I want to be like:

But does it really matter? God loves it! It's still a gift, especially the lack of pretention.

Do we need to be taught how to pray? An interesting question. Let's look at Luke's gospel, chapter 11:


One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation."


Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  


What is it with Jesus and children, and why do we need to  'change and be like them' in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? (Mt 18:3) To be 'treated like a child' is usually seen as a negative thing.

When I think of my kids, a few things come to mind:

-They love us and we love them.
-They don't have much of a filter.
-They ask a lot of us.
-Their minds are like sponges, and they have a lot to learn.
-They can't do much on their own apart from us.
-They are persistent.
-They need us (at least now)
-We would die for them (but I don't know if they would do the same for us).


At the feet of the Lord, are we as adults much different? Jesus' 'formula for prayer' in Luke 11:2-4 establishes the Father-child relationship, that we can pray to God in an intimate, familial manner. In v 5-8 he notes that this is the behavior of a friend, but this kind of 'shameless audacity' can be applied to any one of my little rascal children, who are so skilled in getting what they want. In verses 11-13 we see that parents only want what is best for their children.

So there is a clear relational, familial aspect here. Children know their parents. They know if someone were to come to pick them up from daycare wearing a Rob mask that that person would be an imposter. And likewise if someone handed me someone else's child from the room and said, "here is your son," I would instantly know they did not belong to me. This is why we are called "children of God"--because the Father knows us, that we are His and belong to Him, and imposters are theives who come to steal and destroy (Jn 10:10). As the Lord says, "I know my own and my own know me" (10:14).