20260224 PRAYING FOR THE COMING OF GOD’S KINGDOM
24 February 2026, Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent
First reading | Isaiah 55:10-11 |
The word that goes out from my mouth does not return to me empty
Thus says the Lord: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):4-7,16-19 |
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them in all their distress.
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt4:4 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | Matthew 6:7-15 |
How to pray
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the evil one.
‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’
PRAYING FOR THE COMING OF GOD’S KINGDOM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Is 55:10-11; Ps 34:4-7,16-19; Mt 6:7-15]
On the first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading is always taken from the Temptations of our Lord in the desert. Right from the outset, we are reminded of the constant battle between good and evil in this life; between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the Evil One. The entire ministry of Jesus is set against the backdrop of His spiritual warfare with the devil. The devil continually seeks to distract and derail Jesus’ mission by putting obstacles in His way, tempting Him with power, glory, and easy victory, and instigating His enemies to attack Him. We also face the same spiritual warfare today, especially with the rise of hostile secularism, extreme individualism, moral relativism, and materialism. Long-held institutions and practices are being revised and changed, based on personal preferences and likes – a false understanding of autonomy and freedom that gives the individual absolute rights to do as they please.
In the light of these challenges, like the disciples of our Lord, we also pray that the Kingdom of God would come and be established in the world. It is significant that the Lord’s Prayer appears in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, because it is at the very heart of making the Kingdom a reality in our lives. After teaching us the principles to a Blessed Life, forgiving and loving our enemies, the Lord taught His disciples to pray. It was necessary to do so because it provided them with the ‘Magna Carta’ of how to live a blessed life. Knowledge alone is not enough; they also needed to live that blessed life, which comes through prayer. But the Lord makes it clear; it is not just any kind of prayer that will bring about the coming of God’s kingdom. He said, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Mt 6:7f)
How, then, should we pray? Jesus instructed His disciples, “Pray then in this way.” (Mt 6:9) He taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer, which is essentially a prayer for the coming of God’s kingdom. This is evident in the first three petitions, which focus on asking for the coming of His kingdom. But how can the kingdom come in our lives? To ask for God’s reign in our lives requires us to do two things: keeping His name holy, and doing His holy will.
How, then, do we keep His name holy? By reflecting the life of God in our words and deeds! It is important that Jesus prefaced this prayer by asking us to address God as Father. As there are variant versions of the Lord’s Prayer, it seems Matthew prefaced the Lord’s Prayer with the word “our” to distinguish the Heavenly Father from our earthly father, since it is from the Heavenly Father “from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” (Eph 3:15) So to keep His name holy means that we are called to act in such a way that God’s name is hallowed. We must not do anything that taints the name of God as “Our Father.” Keeping His name holy is something we must consciously remember.
This means that we must treat all men and women as our brothers and sisters. If God is truly our Father, then we are all children of God. If we want our Father to be happy, and to honour Him, then we must love all His other children too. We must take care of each other, treat each other justly, with compassion and love. Otherwise, no one will believe that God is our Father. He is not just our king to whom we pay homage and obedience, but He is our heavenly Father who loves and cares for each one of us – the little no less than the great. This is why we, too, must forgive each other to receive God’s forgiveness. “Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.”
Welcoming God’s rule of life also means accepting His will. Hence, we pray, “your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” His will is His wisdom. If we truly believe that God is our Father and that He cares for us, we will trust in Him and accept His rule and will as the guide for how to live. This is what the Lord said, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6:31-33) Living a righteous life entails obedience to His Will and His Word. In fact, the pious Jews believe that when everyone does the will of God, the kingdom of God would be established.
Indeed, this is the way, Jesus lived His Sonship as well. He regarded us all as His brothers and sisters. He spelt it out clearly later when He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:49f) Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will throughout His life. He submitted so humbly even unto death on the cross. His desire is to do the Father’s will. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” (Jn 4:34) And His will is that I “come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” (Jn 6:38f)
Once the priorities for establishing the kingdom of God are set, the second part of the Lord’s Prayer addresses our needs and our capacity to do His will. God will supply our daily bread. He will not expect us to do the impossible. He will provide us the necessary skills, resources, and strength to accomplish His mission. We just need to trust in His divine providence. “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? (Mt 6:26-30)
We need to ask God to give us the strength to persevere during trials, resist the Evil One, and the temptations. “Do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one.” The Lord will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength. Let our prayer be like that of St Paul, who said, “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” (Eph 3:20f) So let us be confident that so long as we rely on God, we can be certain that we will overcome and be able to complete the will of God in our lives. His grace is sufficient for us, His power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)
At the end of the day, our confidence is rooted in our faith in God’s Word. God is faithful and He is true to His word. This is what the prophet Isaiah tells us: “As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.” So faith and confidence in Jesus and His promises in the Word of God is what will give us the strength to endure and persevere. We must, therefore, be grounded in the Word of God so that we may be guided in discerning His Will, walking in His truth and love, and above all, finding encouragement and consolation. This is why the Lord’s Prayer is the most perfect and powerful prayer, for it is the prayer taught by our Lord Himself. Praying the Lord’s Prayer itself is using the very words of God to pray to Him. What prayer could be more perfect than one that uses the Word of God as its rule and guide? So, “Glorify the Lord with me. Let us praise his name.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
