Today, the Lord wants to help us grow in a central theme of our Christian life: prayer. He warns us not to pray like pagans who try to convince God of what they want. Many times, we try to get what we want through insistence, making ourselves "a pain" to God, believing that we will be able to make ourselves heard with our verbiage. The Lord reminds us that the Father is constantly attentive to our life and that, at all times; He knows what we need before we ask Him (cf. Mt 6:8). Do we live with this trust? Am I aware that the Father washes my feet continually and that He knows better than anyone what I need at all times (in big and small things)?

Jesus opens for us a new horizon of prayer: the prayer of those who turn to God with the awareness of children. The type of relationship I have with a person determines the way in which I ask for things, and also what I can expect from him. From a father, and especially from the heavenly Father, I can expect everything and I know that He takes care of my life. That is why Jesus, who always lives as an authentic son, tells us "do not worry about your life: what you will eat" (Mt 6:25). Do I really have this awareness as a son? Do I address God with the same familiarity that I address my father or mother?

Later, Jesus opens His heart to us, and shows us what His relationship/prayer with the Father is like, so that we can also make it ours. With the prayer of the "Our Father," Jesus teaches us to live as children. Saint Cyprian has a well-known comment about the “Our Father”, in which he tells us: “We ought then, beloved brethren, to remember and to know, that when we call God Father, we ought to act as God's children; so that in the measure in which we find pleasure in considering God as a Father, He might also be able to find pleasure in us.”

Today, Jesus proposes a great and difficult target: to forgive those who offend us. And He establishes a very reasonable measure, our measure: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Mt 6:14-15). In another place, He had already given us the Golden Rule of human coexistence: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets” (Mt 7:12).

We want God to forgive us and would like others to forgive us too; but, on the other hand, we seem quite reluctant to do it ourselves. To apologize is kind of difficult; but to forgive is even more so. Should we be humbler, it should not be so difficult; but our pride makes it much harder. This is why we could establish the following equation: the humbler, the easier; the prouder, the more difficult. This will give us a clue to find out our degree of humility.

When the Spanish Civil War was over (1939), some ex-captive priests were celebrating a thanksgiving mass in a small town, somewhere in Spain. The officiating priest, after saying the words of the Lord's Prayer “and forgive us our trespasses”, he remained speechless and was unable to go on. He could not drive himself to forgive those who had made them suffer so much in a hard labor camp, in that very same town. After a few moments of a most impressive silence, he went on with the prayer: “as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Afterwards, they asked themselves which homily had been the best one. And they all agreed: the silence of the officiating priest when he was saying the Lord’s Prayer. It is difficult, but with the Lord’s help it is possible.

Furthermore, God's forgiveness is total; it gets as far as oblivion. We tend to forget quickly the favors we receive, but not so much so with offenses... If married couples knew how to forget them, they would avoid, and probably overcome, many family dramas.

Let us hope the Mother of mercy helps us in understanding our fellow men and forgiving them totally.