BABBLE NOT

2 corinthians 11:1-11; Ps 111 Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth; Matthew 6:7-15

What does it mean to babble?  It means to talk foolishly, idly or just chatter.  How often have we described people as chatter boxes, that is they talk for the sake of talking but not really speak on a level of depth or meaning.

Chatter boxes.

We all have chatter boxes in our life.

Yet, in today's gospel Jesus invites us to not babble in our conversation with God.  Jesus wants us to make prayer meaningful.  He wants to focus our conversation with God in a way that gets us aware of those things that matter most of all.


So Jesus invites with the following invitation, "this is how you are to pray."

What follows is an all too familiar prayer that has been pressed upon our lips countless times, the  "our father" or the "Lord's prayer."

We are invite not to let this prayer become familiar but rather a part of our family dialogue with our Father.  Who knows the Father better than Jesus.

When we pray it, we need t think about the words and phrases a little more deeply.  What exactly are we being invited to understand about prayer when we pray with these words.

The words create  a space for a proper attitude.

St. Benedict states clearly in his rule of life that "our minds must be in accord with our voice."  In prayer it isn't thoughts that precedes words but the word of prayer passed on from the lips of Jesus forms our thinking.

We pray with the words of GOd that enter into our mind and heart and slowly transform us to be children as we are called and thus we become one with the living God.  The voice of Jesus who teaches us the payer actually prays with us and for us opening our life to a new kind of encounter with the Father.

The voice precedes the thought and in voicing our prayer we are conformed to heavens's delight.