FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
Thursday 16 June 2022 11th Week of Ordinary Time
Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mt. 6: 7-8)
How shall I live this Word? 
How many words do we say every day to tell, justify, offend, console, ask, pray? How many words, often useless, vain, sometimes false.
How many times even in prayer do we speak, explain, tell without needing it because our God, the Father who is in heaven, knows us and knows what we need, even better and even before we do.
Because it is not necessary to clarify to God what we are experiencing to convince Him that we are right and others are wrong.
Because it is not necessary to tell Him what others have been up to and explain to Him how He should behave with them.
Because it is not necessary to use all the time of our prayer to explain something to the One who knows everything.
Instead, it is necessary to speak less and listen more, to look at the Lord and let Him look at us with love, to surrender and not defend ourselves before Him, because He always knows what is best for each of us.
Lord, help us to come before You, in prayer, defenseless and abandoned, ready to listen to You and to welcome Your Word for us.
The Voice of Fr. Luigi Maria Epicoco
Prayer can never be thought of as negotiating a product. Prayer is not a receptacle for words, excuses or convictions. Prayer is a relationship even before there is a word. Perhaps this is the reason why Jesus teaches us the prayer of the Our Father, so that we may remember that first of all we are not listened to by dint of words but because we are loved by Someone who wanted us to be His children in the Son.
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