In both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, Jesus teaches the disciples and us to pray the Our Father. It is a model of prayer and one of the first prayers that we learn as children. Too often, though, we can miss the richness of the second word, “Father.”
Jesuit Father Mark Thibodeau, who was the long-time novice master in the New Orleans Province, talks about four stages of prayer in his book “Armchair Mystic” (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001). The first stage of prayer is talking at God. We say ready-made prayers. They are an act of devotion and obedience. They also link me to a community who also prays in this way. Committed to memory, they bring comfort when we are too exhausted or sick to pray in any other way.
The second stage of prayer is talking to God. Here we speak to God from our hearts and from our lives, sharing with God our joys and sorrows, fears and anxieties, elations and even silliness (God loves a good laugh!). The psalms speak so often of sharing our lives and all our feelings with God.
The third stage of prayer is listening to God. God is always near and always speaking, but we need to learn how to hear. God speaks to us through Scripture and the sacraments, through prayer and teachings, through the words and actions of others, through nature, through music and art, through experiences and memory, through science and history. The list could go on and on. Just as a musician learns to distinguish one note or key from another and the artist learns the rich depths revealed as one color is placed upon another, so the ears of our hearts become attuned to the whispering words of God.
The fourth stage of prayer is simply being with God. It is being with the One we love and Who loves us. Words are not necessary. Here, the first part of the Our Father is so significant. The word translated as “Father” is “Abba,” an Aramaic word. It is a word so precious, coming from the mouth of Jesus, that it was not translated into the Greek of the New Testament. “Abba” does not reflect the patriarchal father, the head of a household. Rather, “Abba” is a child’s name for his or her father. It is the equivalent of “Daddy” or “Papa.” It is the child in his or her father’s arms – safe, loved and content.
This work brings to my mind an image captured in a picture my oldest nephew sent me. About a year and a half ago, he had a third child. Because of COVID-19, Peter has been working from home, and so he has had more time to be with Timmy. In the picture, Peter is asleep in his chair and Timmy is asleep on Peter’s chest – safe, loved and content. This is the picture of our God, our Abba, in whose eyes each of us is precious. May each of us grow in prayer until we find ourselves in the arms of our Abba – safe, loved and content.
Jesuit Father John Michalowski is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.