The ancient practices of penance or conversion are fasting, alms giving, and prayer. We move into the first week of Lent, renewing our dedication to each.
Matthew remembers how Jesus taught his disciple to pray as we heard in today’s Gospel which comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Before recommending a specific ritual prayer or form, Jesus starts off with an interesting negative indication: don’t repeat babble. I looked up the definition of babble online at Google and found this definition: talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way. Some of the synonyms include prattle, rattle on, gabble, chatter, jabber, run on, ramble, blather, or blither. Jesus calls hat form of prayer pagan. Jesus saw that many people approach prayer as a form of talking to God only as an effort to obligate or impress him through the multiplication of words and the sheer force of personal desire hoping to impose our will on God. That form of prayer or relating to God is based on our own selves. Our perceived need or desire and our action is the center of the relationship.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduces his disciples to a personal and confident form of prayer. In the Old Testament there are many images of God: creator, warrior, judge, protector, provider, or lover. Jesus’ prayer is centered on his relationship with as Father. So much so that he addresses God as “daddy” just as a child would address his or her father in the home. That reality leads to a confidence in the action of God the Father in our lives. It leads to surrendering our will to the will of the Father. Christian prayer does not try to change God or move God to action. Rather true Christian prayer moves us closer the will of God. The Our Father is a prayer that grows out of an experience of living in the providence of a loving father and calls us to deepen that relationship and our confidence.
Lent is a time of change and renewal. Let us all take some time this week to deepen our relationship with the Father by living surrendering our will to him.
Do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him
Image: CANVA 22JAN2026 AI generated.