15. “Your Father knows that you need all these things.”

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15.“Therefore do not be anxious saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What are we to put on?’ (for after all these things the Gentiles seek); for your Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given you besides” (Mt 6:31-33).

 

Those children of the Heavenly Father who recognize His Kingdom, Authority, and Love enjoy a huge security of heart.  Babies and young children rely totally on their parents for food, drink, and clothing.  As they age they develop their own resources.  They then have the choice to begin to think of themselves as their own authority and the procurer of these goods, or they can continue to recognize that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).

 

The difference then becomes whether we rely on ourselves or on Our Heavenly Father.  If we rely on ourselves then (because we are so small and inadequate) we are filled with the anxiety and worry regarding food, drink, and clothing.  On the other hand if we rely on Our Heavenly Father, we still have to work to procure these goods, but we recognize that even the work itself is His Gift; we were “created in good works, which God has made ready beforehand that we may walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).  If we rely on Our Heavenly Father we do not have to live in anxiety because we know that He is our Loving, Provident Father Who “knows that we need all these things” (Mt 6:32).

 

People do not want to be identified by their job if their job is only seen by them as a way to provide for life’s necessities.  For example a person might work in a store or a factory for this reason.  But if the same person, doing the same job, instead saw their job (in all its mundane routine) as a means of glorifying their Heavenly Father and advancing His Kingdom, then this person would no longer mind being identified through their job.  We want our lives to have a meaning beyond the mere sustenance of our physical lives.  This meaning can only be found in Our Heavenly Father Who is our Origin and our End.  We were created to reign joyfully as sons in the Son in His Kingdom forever.

14. “Your Heavenly Father feeds them.”

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14.“Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you of much more value than they?” (Mt 6:26).

 

Our Heavenly Father knows all our needs and desires to provide for us.  We have a Father Who is unlimited in resources.  We have a Father Who loved us into being.  Instead of regarding Our Father with suspicion and distrust, let us spend our heartbeats and minutes praising Him; walking in the Way He has prepared for us, and receiving from His Bounty.

sunrise 8-30-14

13. “And thy Father, Who sees in secret, will reward thee.”

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13. “And thy Father, Who sees in secret, will reward thee” (Mt 6: 18b).

 

How many times have I read this verse without pausing to wonder:

  1. Why is the Father in secret?
  2. Who is the secret being kept from?
  3. Why does the All Seeing Father “see in secret?”
  4. How does this secret seeing become our reward?

 

  1. We love secrets.  There is something delicious about them.  We are honored to be a confidant.  If it is a joyful secret being temporarily held from a loved one- whom it is destined to delight- we joyfully anticipate its revelation!  When we are in love the thoughts of our heart migrate continually and joyfully to the loved one.  This delight is the heart’s secret.  Outwardly no actions have changed.  But our view from the inside is entirely transformed by our heart’s secret love.  What may have been drab routine in dull surroundings is suddenly elevated to praise of the Beloved.

 

  1. Maybe I am the one the secret is being kept from–my busy outside, disorganized I who seems to sense there is a secret love nearby all this clutter.

 

  1. He sees in secret because no one except the one being seen knows what the Seeing One is perceiving.  Only the Father (with the Son and Spirit) knows I am here (sees me); everyone else sees only the exterior person.

 

  1. We all desire to be known and loved for who we are, no matter what we have done or not done.  Once we begin to drink in this Truth that in Jesus we are beloved sons in the Son—there is no external reward that is comparable to this delight.  He Who sees in secret made us so that we could delight in seeing and being seen by Him.

12. “Thy Father Who is in secret”

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12. “But thou, when thou dost fast, anoint thy head and wash thy face, so that thou mayest not be seen fasting by men, but by thy Father, who is in secret” (Mt 6:17, 18a).

 Our Father

He Who is

In secret

Our hearts’ Creator

He Who sees

The thoughts of the heart

In secret

Desires to be

The secret delight

Of every heart.

11. “If you do not forgive…neither will your Father forgive you.”

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11.“But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses” (Mt 6:15).

On this Sunday, August 24, 2014, as we prepare to gather at 2:00 pm to celebrate a Memorial Mass at our parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary for Jim Foley, who was murdered by terrorists in Syria on Tuesday, August 19th, Our Father is very present with the Foleys and with our whole parish and city.  Last night we prayed together with a group of Muslims who had organized a vigil on the Rochester Commons in tribute to Jim Foley for his work and witness in Syria.  We prayed together as one people under one God Who is Father of us all.

Dear Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, Your Beloved Son, Whom You sacrificed for us, please give us all, especially the Foleys, the grace to forgive this grave offense and all the other multitudes of lesser offenses which we have experienced in our lifetimes.  Place us deeply in the Sacred Heart of Your Son, Jesus and in the Immaculate Heart of our Mother Mary where there is only Love and Mercy.  And let us be the Light that you came to bring to the world, so that every person may know that Love is more powerful than hatred and Love is eternal.  Amen.

10. “Forgive…your Heavenly Father will forgive you.

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10. “For if you forgive men their offenses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses” (Mt 6:14).

 

Although we are made of nothing, Our Father has given us the power to forgive.  This power is one of the highest manifestations of His image in us.  Yet if we were never offended, we’d have nothing to forgive.  We wouldn’t be able to use this power we’ve been given.  This would be a big problem for us because we are all offenders ourselves.  In this way we can see (although probably only intellectually) that when Our Father allows us to be offended against, it is actually a gift of His Fatherly Providence to us since it allows us to use our God-like power to forgive.  Even more importantly, it makes us eligible to receive our Heavenly Father’s forgiveness, which is dependent on the exercise of our power to forgive.

9. “Our Father Who Art in Heaven”

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9. “In this manner therefore shall you pray: “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name” (Mt 6:9).

 This is our immeasurable Treasure that to each of us belongs Our Eternal Father Who is Being, Who exists in perfect happiness, and Who continues to call us into being and to sustain us in being.  Jesus tells us to begin our prayer this way because Our Father is our origin and goal and there is nothing that we could pray for or receive that would not be His Gift.  Also due to the intellectual density caused in us by original sin and its consequences, we often forget where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.  Addressing Our Father by Name in this way helps to reorient us back to Reality.  As St. John Paul II explained this, “The key for interpreting reality is that original sin attempts to abolish fatherhood”  (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pg. 228).  Once we realize that our battle lies in maintaining, protecting, and growing in our relationship with Our Father in Heaven, it becomes easier to stop fretting about the thousands of other things which strive to occupy our attention.

8. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

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8. “But in praying, do not multiply words, as the Gentiles do; for they think that by saying a great deal, they will be heard.  So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Mt 6:7-8).

 

Our ever attentive Father

Who called us

Out of nothingness

Into Being and Communion;

Whose air we breathe

In and out incessantly;

Whose plants and animals we eat;

Whose water, milk, and wine we drink;

Whose beautiful creation we see;

Whose Words of Life we hear;

Whose scent of flowers we enjoy;

Whose Beloved Son

We touch in one another;  (Mt 25:40);

He, Who each day is

Our delicious Communion;

Our ever attentive Father

Seeks worshippers in Spirit and Truth (Jn 4:23);

And knows what we need,

Before we ask Him.

7. “Thy Father Who sees in secret, will reward thee.”

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  1. (Mt 6:6b) “And thy Father, who sees in secret, will reward thee.”

 

  The Gift of going unnoticed,trees3

Dangerous even to mention

The Father Who sees in secret,

Immeasurable Fountain of Joy

My Secret Father,

The Only Witness that I’m here;

Who calls me into Being,

Who enables my thought,

Yet hides behind my freedom;

Allowing me to forget,

I’m made of nothing.

Dear Father, Seeing in Secret,

               Reward and reword me

                   With a new heart;

               That beats out my life’s instant,

                     Under Your Fatherly Gaze.

6. “Pray to thy Father in secret.”

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6. “But when thou prayest, go into thy room, and closing thy door, pray to thy Father in secret;” (Mt 6:6a).

 While we cannot always physically enter a private room to pray, we can always enter our hearts and privately meet the Lord there.  To do this we must first enter that interior space, then shut the door of our intellect to our myriad preoccupations, and recall the secret Presence of our Heavenly Father.  We must learn to love silence; otherwise the door will be open and distractions will rush in to invade our private prayer.  St. Ignatius used to counsel his Jesuit brothers to begin their daily examen by taking a moment to become aware of the Father’s personal Love for them.  This is very important; otherwise we will be tempted to try to earn His Love by reminding Him of our various accomplishments or the prayers we have prayed, etc.  We cannot earn His Love; it is a Gift.  Awareness of the Father is the beginning of prayer.  We are sons in the Son.  “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,  ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal 4:6).

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