Pope Francis has published a book titled “Our Father: Reflections on the Lord’s prayer”, which is about a hundred pages long and very worthwhile to read. For believers, Our Father serves as a very safe protection and is a communal prayer for the faithful. The prayer begins with “Our Father,” emphasizing that it is a communal prayer, not an individual one. The Lord said, “It is not good for man to be alone”; therefore, He created a man and a woman at the beginning of creation, wishing for us to experience His love within the community of the Church and to grow in that love. “We” are always a community; the Church is a community. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He did so together with the community, meaning that the sorrows of the community are our sorrows; our difficulties are connected to the Church’s difficulties, and the Church’s challenges are also the challenges of us believers.
From the parable of the merciful father in Luke 15, we can see God’s immense love, as the father opens his arms to welcome his son back. He not only wishes for us to attain ultimate happiness but also grants us absolute freedom, even the freedom to reject Him. He respects our rights and brings us back with His compassion. God could have brought Adam and Eve back to paradise, but He did not do so because true inner conversion can only come through the journey of faith. During this journey of faith, God gives us the Virgin Mary to guide and accompany us.
I particularly like Loreto because it is where the Virgin Mary lived, and Jesus might have resided there as well; this authenticity creates a very warm feeling. God reminds us that we are not a rootless generation and must not become “liberation without parents”, which is harmful and unhelpful to people, as we learn through the lives of our parents, who are our role models and also set boundaries for us. We should maintain a far-sighted vision; when a person looks down, they see only themselves, but when they look up, they see the sky. The view from the top of a 20-meter tree differs from that of a 100-meter tree, so only by elevating our vision of faith can we gradually draw closer to God. Among the three essential elements—prayer, mortification or self-denial, and the sacraments—these will assist us in walking with the Virgin Mary toward Jesus Christ. In addition to personal prayer, the members of the Legion of Mary pray the Catena Legions and the Rosary daily, which is both a duty and the foundation of our spirituality.
Spiritual Director
Fr. Francis Tam
17 November 2024