May 2

Our Father

Our Father which art in heaven. — Matt 6:9

This is the golden gate of the temple of prayer.

When our Lord taught His disciples how to pray, it was thus He said they should begin. They were not to come to infinite power, or to unknowable mystery, or to inaccessible light, but to fatherhood. This precious name at the gateway makes the approach easy.

The name assures us of love and care. Does a true parent have care for a child? Much more does our Father in heaven care for His children on the earth. He cares even for the birds, seeing that they get their daily food. He cares for the flowers, weaving for them with threads of light the lovely robes they wear. He surely cares more for His children. So the precious name assures us that we shall never be neglected nor overlooked in this great world.

It gives us assurance also of unhindered access to the Divine presence. The children of a great king are not kept waiting at their father’s door as strangers are. God‘s children have perfect liberty in His presence. They can never come at an untimely hour. He is never too busy to see them and to listen to their words of love and prayer. In the midst of the affairs of the vast universe He thinks of His humblest child in this great world, and amid all its confusion and noise hears and recognizes the faintest cry that rises from the lips of the least and lowliest of His little ones.

This name interprets also for us the grace and mercy of our God. We are always conscious of sin. How, then, can we gain access to a holy God? Ah! He is our Father. We know that even an earthly father does not shut the door on his erring child. The candle is left burning in the window through the long dark nights, that the wanderer out in the blackness and longing to return, seeing the bright beams may be assured of love and a waiting welcome. Infinitely more gracious is our Father in heaven.