As Catholics we learn the Our Father prayer in early childhood.  We say the Our Father every week at Mass.  We repeat this important prayer so frequently, that the words can become automatic and lose their meaning.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus taught us how to pray.  He specifically wanted us to avoid babbling prayers and to pray from the heart because God knows our desires before we speak. 

I have paraphrased the Our Father below.  Hopefully seeing Jesus’ instructions for how to pray in different words will help us remember the value of simple and heart felt prayers.

We pray to thank and honor God.
We pray to ask God for help doing good.
We pray to ask God for help with our needs.
We pray to ask God to forgive us.
We pray to ask God for strength to forgive others.
We pray to ask God for help in avoiding sin.
We pray to ask God to protect us.