＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Sirach 48:1-14

Then came the prophet Elijah like a fire,

his words a burning torch. He brought a famine on the peo­ple and in his zealous love had them reduced in number. Speaking in the name of the Lord he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.

How marvelous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? By the word of the Most High you brought a dead man back to life; you brought kings to destruction and thrust famous men from their beds.

 You heard a rebuke at Sinai and sentences of punishment at Horeb; you anointed kings to be avengers and prophets to succeed you. You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses. 

 It was written that you should be the one to calm God’s anger in the future be­fore it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.  

Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live. Such was Elijah, taken up in a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit. During his life no leader could shake him, no one dominated him. Nothing was too dif­ficult for him and even in death his body prophesied.

In life he worked wonders, in death his deeds were amazing.

 

Ps 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 6:7-15

When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard.  Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.  

This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will, be done on earth as in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we  forgive  those who are in debt to us.

Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Jesus teaches his disciples the “Our Father”(the Lord’s prayer) in today’s gospel reading. It is, of course, one of the most important prayers of the Church, taught to us by Jesus himself.

And it is prayer that, from beginning to end, speaks of our total and utter dependence on God, the almighty Creator of all things, who is yet, as Jesus revealed to us, a loving, kind, gentle., merciful and caring Father.

The Lord’s prayer reveals t ous something so amazing, so awe-inspiring, so great that if we but try to wrap our herds around it, it will make our heads spin.

Because what it is essentially saying to us, what Jesus has ultimately revealed to us in this brief prayer is that the God who has brought all things into being, who sustains all things, whose power is such that he brought something out of nothing, and not just something, but all things, this Almighty Being is to us a “father” – with all the gentleness, compassion, caring, mercy and love that the title contains.

The all-powerful Creator of the entire universe is to me a father. He is my father, and I am his child.