In today's Gospel Jesus gives us the teaching that He gave to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to pray. It is not the amount of words we use that is important, but the sincerity with which we approach God. Jesus teaches us to address God as Father and to praise and honour His name. What a privilege to be able to call God our Father. We pray that His Kingdom may come on earth, the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring about, a Kingdom of love, of justice and of peace. How much our world needs these gifts today so when we pray "Give us this day our daily bread" we are not only praying for our own needs but also for the needs of those around us and the needs of our world. God knows our needs but as a Father likes to be approached by his children so Jesus teaches us to place our needs before God our Father with confidence.

The petition that is really emphasized in today's Gospel is asking for the gift of forgiveness. As we forgive others so will Our Father forgive us.

Perhaps as we come to the Eucharist today I can ask myself "Do I need to forgive anyone or does anyone hold anything against me?" To forgive is not easy so let us pray today for this gift.