Our Father…

14Sep
Do not be like babbling pagans for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:


Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
 on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
 as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.


-Matthew 6:7-15


It is often within events of profound human calamity that the infinitely creative workings of the hand of God are revealed with enough clarity for us to see the elegance of God’s craft. These are moments that change us. We call them miracles. In fact, I believe, it’s just how the Holy Trinity has rolled forever.


The stories of such miracles are important because they are revelational. Our Katrina stories, our war stories, 9-11 stories all let us peek behind the face of horror and into the gorgeous clockwork of God’s loving plan. It is within such stories that we can experience God’s infinite Love and discover the hope implicit in a life of Faith.


On the morning of September 11, 2001, Ron Clifford, an Irish sales executive, living in Connecticut, had an important 9:30a.m. meeting at the World Trade Center Marriott. To be prepared, he arrived early and walked off his nerves exploring the WTC plaza and the lobby of the North Tower. Ron ducked into the lobby men’s room to check his tie knot, his hair, and the cut of his suit. At 8:46, while he was adjusting his tie, American Airlines flight-11 slammed into the 86th floor of the North Tower. 


Ron stepped cautiously into the lobby. It was filled with oily smoke and the smell of kerosene. The first thing he recognized was a woman’s profile emerging from the slick smoke. She was staggering, arms outstretched. Her clothes were still smoldering. She cried, “Help me. Please, help me. I can’t see.” Ron guided her to a nearby wall and helped her to sit. He went back into the men’s room and filled a plastic trash bag with water and doused the woman’s still smoldering clothing. “What’s your name?” Ron asked. “Jenny, Jenny Ann LaFeo…I was just coming in to work, and…Mary, Mother of Jesus, please don’t let me die!” 


“Are you Catholic?” Ron asked. “Yes,” she whispered “Me too…”, Ron volunteered with his Irish accent, trying to comfort Jenny Ann. Where is the help, Ron silently wondered as time passed. “Would you like to pray the ’Our Father’,” Ron asked. “Yes!” Jenny Ann wept.


They began, “Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…” Jenny Ann whispered along with Ron through her singed voice “…and deliver us from evil...” It was 9:03 and United Flight 175 flew into the South Tower.


 A voice of authority yelled, “Everybody out of the building; this way! Now!”

“If I lead you, can you walk quickly?” “Yes.” Minutes later Ron delivered Jenny Ann to an EMT crew in the street. Touching her head as she was lifted into the ambulance, he said, “There now, you're going to be OK…”


When Ron got home that evening his brother called from Ireland, relieved to know Ron was safe. He then told Ron that their sister and their four-year-old niece were on United Flight 175 on their way to L.A. from Boston…in that moment, Ron realized his sister and niece had perished 77 floors above him as he prayed with Jenny Ann. It is not unimaginable to think Ron’s sister was holding her daughter, praying, “Our Father in heaven…and deliver us from evil…” as their Boeing 767 hit the South Tower.


The first word of the Lord’s prayer is “Our”, It signifies that we are all a family of faithful petitioners, bound to one another and to our Lord through this foundational prayer. Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, it is an act of breathtakingly beautiful connection; one we are not always permitted to see.


Musical Reflection - Angels Among Us - Alabama


Our Father, who art in heaven,

   hallowed be thy Name,

   thy kingdom come,

   thy will be done,

     on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

   as we forgive those

     who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

   but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

   and the power, and the glory,

   for ever and ever. Amen.

CompassionPrayerGrief

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