Prayer: St. Paul and the Lord's Prayer

"How St. Paul prayed the Our Father", presentation by Fr. Peter Cameron, O.P.

• The Our Father configures us to the image of Christ
• Reveals us to ourselves, as Christ reveals humanity to itself (cf. Acts 9)
• Conversion of Saul (Paul)
• Struck blind
• Goes to Straight Street
• Has a mini-retreat
• Ananias
• Jesus tells him he'll know which one Saul is
• He's the one praying
• Paul's journey was radically different from everyone else's
• Paul's response must have been free
• Paul was unequipped to be a Christian
• Paul is like the infant of the family: he has no past knowledge (of the Christian family)
• Some one taught him, shared with him, handed over the faith
• A companion (com- = with, panis = bread; "with bread", Eucharistic life)
• The basis of the Christian faith is an encounter with an event and a Person, Jesus Christ (cf. Deus Caritas Est, n. 1)
• "Our Father, Who art in heaven..."
• God's name (YHWH) was not uttered by a faithful Jew
• Calling God "Father" was also exceptionally rare
• Christ opened that door for us, telling us to call God Abba
• It is inconceivable that a Jew would call God Abba
• Cf. "The Prayers of Jesus" by Lutheran theologian Joachim Jeremias
  
• Working backwards through the prayer
• "Deliver us from evil"
• That is what happened to Paul: he was saved from his heinous evil
• He was attacking the Church with murderous rage, way beyond zeal
• "I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure" (Gal 1:13)
• "Of [sinners] I am the foremost" (1 Tim 1:15)
• Jesus called Saul by name (twice!) and told Saul he was persecuting him
• Saul responds, asking who he is
• Jesus identifies himself as Jesus whom Saul is persecuting
• God rescued us from the power of darkness (cf. Col 1:13f)
• The evil we are delivered from is not just any evil
• It is The Evil One, the diabolos
• This darkness is just as personal as the light (Christ) is
• Paul was a Pharisee
• He prayed the Psalms and probably had them memorized
• Perhaps he was so violent against the Church because he wanted something in his heart that he had never yet encountered
• A mélange of Psalms comes together to describe Saul's longing and his situation
• "For you I thirst" ... "flash forth lightning"
• Violent... yet honest
• Jesus was the answer to Saul's prayer
• We are blackmailed by evil; when we sin, we look for a way out of blame
• Why did Jesus wait so long to answer Saul's prayer (and interfere with his attack on the Church)?
• Paul was intent on exterminating all Christians
• There was a plan for the evil Paul was committing
• That evil had a role to play in his conversion
• It created an awareness of the void in his life
• "Lead us not into temptation"
• Example of a looking for happiness in a cheesecake
• You eat a slice of cheesecake and feel happy
• Then you want more cheesecake
• That is disordered: it is not the cheesecake you want, but the happiness you derive from the cheesecake
• Concupiscence - the tendency to sin - wanting things in a disordered way
• Three types: lust, concupiscence for things, and concupiscence for power
• Aquinas said that Christ did away with the power of the grave and death, but not so for concupiscence
• Without concupiscence, we would be proud; the state of concupiscence demands dependence on God rather than ourselves
• We need things that show us our limits and lead us to God
• Satan shows us our weaknesses and how much we depend on God
• Say to the Devil "thank you" for that, and then tell him "go to Hell"
• God saves us from that final temptation that turns our "yes" to God into an eternal "no"
• Paul said the Lord gave him "a thorn in his side" (cf. 2 Cor 12:7)
• Better to have the thorn in his side if it leads him to appreciate God in his life
• 1 Cor 10:13 - God will not test us beyond our strength
• "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"
• Not the Jewish conception of justice - "eye for eye, tooth for tooth"
• Humility was seen as a mark of cowardice until Jesus Christ showed it to us
• Paul did not encounter retribution from the people he had once persecuted; rather, he met with mercy and forgiveness
• This confirms that what happened on the road to Damascus was true
• Paul could forgive his former cohorts
• During the storm at sea in Acts, Paul calmed his captors and treated them with love
• Something was changed in Paul by his encounter with Christ
• Forgiveness is a type of judgment
• Either you harbor ill will against a person (and things get worse)...
• Or use your freedom to forgive them
• Inject mercy where it doesn't belong
• Forgiveness is "bringing being to where there was non-being" (Aquinas)
• Paul describes "heartfelt compassion" as something to "put on", forgiveness is like a garment (cf. Col 3:12-14)
• "Give us this day our daily bread"
• This was the hinge of the whole prayer for Paul
• At this point, he would have said: "Jesus is everything I could ever want and will ever need, he is my sustinence. I fasted for three days before I was baptized. I would fast every day of my life if after that fast I could receive Jesus. Any bread that isn't Jesus isn't bread enough."
• And that is the Eucharist: Jesus under the appearance of bread
• He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying "this is my body"
• We should beg to receive that which we truly hunger for
• Prayer for daily bread which has become Jesus Christ
• "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done"
• Easy for Paul from here on
• The Kingdom is Christ, and in him we shall reign
• Jesus is the Kingdom of God in Person; where Jesus is, there is the kingdom
• Doing God's will is not about being a robot, it is the expression of joy from one friend to another
• Hearing a voice in danger and paying attention to it
• Let us follow that voice forever!
• Asking for obedience isn't about being robotic or brainwashed
• It is to do the bidding of my friend who knows my needs better than I do!
• It is about following the signs God gives us to bring us to happiness
• Immorality is like being given signs to our destiny and then saying NO to them
• Christ reveals himself to be Paul's shepherd
• Paul could not disobey the vision (cf. Acts 26:19)
• At this point, Paul says "teach me to pray what Jesus prayed!"
• In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to his Father, and called him Abba
• What Paul had feared the most is what Paul needed the most
• He writes in Romans and Galatians about calling God Abba