In the Gospel of today's Mass our Lord tells us: "And in praying do not heap empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words". He wants to disillusion His disciples of the mistaken view held by many Jews of that time who thought that for God to hear them they had to say long vocal prayers.

So, He teaches His disciples to address God with simplicity, as a son speaks to his father. "Vocal Prayer" is very pleasing to God but it has to be true prayer: the words have to express the feeling of the heart. It is not enough to recite mere formulas. For God is not pleased with a worship that is merely external. He wants us to be in intimate contact with Him.

Vocal prayer is an indispensable, simple and efficacious means, adapted to our way of being, of enabling us to keep in the presence of God during the day, to tell Him of our love for Him, and about our needs. As we read in today's Gospel, Jesus wanted to leave us with the vocal prayer "par excellence", the Our Father, which in few words comprises all that a person can ask of God. Throughout the centuries this prayer has ascended and ascend to God, filling innumerable souls in all kinds of situations with hope and consolation.

Do I really consider God my Father when I come to Him in prayer? Is there a Father - Son relationship in whatever I do in my life? How is, really, my life of prayer?