God’s name is holy. Yep, that’s the first of the Ten Commandments. Definitely important.

God’s will. God’s kingdom. Not ours. Yes, let it be so.

“Give us today our daily bread.”

*pause*

What does that mean? I eat a lot more each day than a meager amount of bread. Also, I’m not worried that I won’t have said bread tomorrow. Is this prayer for everybody?

*resume*

“Forgive us…”

*pause*

The next word is opheilemata, which means debts. One’s “debts” can be a metaphor for sin, of course. Hence, “transgressions” or "trespasses." But does it have to be metaphorical? If “daily bread” gestures to the lived reality of so many humans throughout history, including billions living in extreme poverty today, then could Jesus also be referring to financial obligations imposed on the poor?

*rewind*

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors..."

"Don’t let us be tried..."

"Save us from the wicked.”

Needing bread today. Needing debt forgiveness. Avoiding a trial. Could that mean avoiding arrest and a court trial? Could our “evil one” be a hardened pursuer refusing to forgive financial debts? This is the prayer God gives to us. It seems a little… specific. How’s a well-fed person supposed to pray this? How is a creditor supposed to pray this? Law enforcement officials? Employees in civil and criminal courts? Tax collectors? Senators? Presidents?

I may be in trouble if I can’t say what God the Son tells me to say to God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. How dare I say, “Give us today our daily bread,” when I know full well that I will later open my fully stocked fridge and eat as I please? Is the Lord’s Prayer a prayer not meant for me to say? Is it a prayer for the poor, given to the poor, meant to be said only by the poor?

I will not waive this tension. Sorry. It’s Lent. This is a time of repentance and renewal. Jesus’s call on our lives is always existentially stretching. Jesus stretches us here at the very heart of our lives: prayer. And he does so in remarkably concrete terms. Which is all the more surprising and compelling when we recall that this is the only prayer our Lord gives us.

In our first reading today, God says to Isaiah, “[My word] shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” Jesus commands me to pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer. I shall, and hope that God’s words given to me are effective. And above all, that God’s Word present in the Eucharist will be graciously effective in transforming my life. Pray for me as I pray for you.

Today’s reflection was inspired by David Bentley Hart’s, “A Prayer for the Poor.” The article was published by Church Life Journal on June 5, 2018.