Man, That’s Living!

In a first-grade religion class, the teacher had spent the entire session teaching the youngsters The Lord’s Prayer. After class, little Billy went skipping down the hall to where his dad was waiting for him. “Daddy, Daddy,” he said proudly, “I learned something new today.” “That’s fine,” Daddy replied, “tell me what it was.” The boy began to recite:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come…

At this point, Daddy joined in saying,

Thy Will be done…

Little Billy stopped right there, looked up at his Dad and said, “Aw! Somebody told you!”

We pray the Lord’s Prayer not only because Somebody told us, but also because that same Somebody (named Jesus) told us the profound meaning of those words.

There is a scene in Luke’s Gospel in which Jesus is at prayer. As He finishes, one of the disciples says to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk. 11:1). Jesus…