Here and Now with Francis: 3/29/19 (food, need, Christ, hunger, prayer, "Our Father")
From the general audience
Jesus’ prayer begins with a pressing demand, which is very similar to the entreaty of a beggar: “Give us our daily bread!” This prayer comes from evidence that we often forget, that is, that we aren’t self-sufficient creatures, and that every day we need to eat. The Scriptures show us that for many people the encounter with Jesus began from a question. Jesus doesn’t ask for refine invocations, rather, the whole of human existence, with its most concrete and daily problems, can become a prayer. . . . Therefore, Jesus teaches us to ask the Father for daily bread. He teaches us to do so united to so many men and women for whom this prayer is a cry — often held inside — which accompanies everyday anxiety. How many mothers and how many fathers, also today, go to sleep with the torment of not having enough bread the next day for their children! Let us imagine this prayer recited not in the security of a comfortable apartment, but in the precariousness of a room where we fit, where what is necessary to live is lacking. Jesus’ words assume a new force. . . . The bread that a Christian asks for in prayer is not “my” but “our” bread. It’s how Jesus wants it. He teaches us to ask it, not only for ourselves but for the entire brotherhood of the world. . . . food isn’t private property– let’s keep this in our mind: food isn’t private property –, but providence to share, with the grace of God. [link]
Christian prayer begins from this level. It’s not an exercise for ascetics; it starts from reality, from the heart and from the flesh of people that live in need, or who share the condition of those that don’t have what is necessary to live. Not even the highest Christian mystics can do without the simplicity of this request.
Jesus’ prayer begins with a pressing demand, which is very similar to the entreaty of a beggar: “Give us our daily bread!” This prayer comes from evidence that we often forget, that is, that we aren’t self-sufficient creatures, and that every day we need to eat. The Scriptures show us that for many people the encounter with Jesus began from a question. Jesus doesn’t ask for refine invocations, rather, the whole of human existence, with its most concrete and daily problems, can become a prayer. . . . Therefore, Jesus teaches us to ask the Father for daily bread. He teaches us to do so united to so many men and women for whom this prayer is a cry — often held inside — which accompanies everyday anxiety. How many mothers and how many fathers, also today, go to sleep with the torment of not having enough bread the next day for their children! Let us imagine this prayer recited not in the security of a comfortable apartment, but in the precariousness of a room where we fit, where what is necessary to live is lacking. Jesus’ words assume a new force. . . . The bread that a Christian asks for in prayer is not “my” but “our” bread. It’s how Jesus wants it. He teaches us to ask it, not only for ourselves but for the entire brotherhood of the world. . . . food isn’t private property– let’s keep this in our mind: food isn’t private property –, but providence to share, with the grace of God. [link]
