"Seek ye first the kingdom and righteousness of God, and all things shall be given unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

Pay attention to our prayers centered primarily on us and our own needs. When Jesus wants to teach his disciples to pray, he reminds them that their personal needs must come after God, his reign, his kingdom, his glory. The request : "Give us our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11) comes after the reign of God.

Praying for our daily needs is certainly what we do best. This prayer can take various forms : "Bless my husband, my wife, my family, my work, my goods, my food ..." The "me, my, my, mes" are in the front line. However, Jesus rightly places these needs after the interests of God. This obliges us to ask ourselves the question of our priorities in prayer.

When Jesus invites us to ask for "our daily bread," let us not forget that this took place in a context where the bread of each day was not an absolute guarantee. Let us not forget that this situation of precariousness is still the case today of a large number of people on our land. To pray for our needs by forgetting these disinherited ones, is not this showing a regrettable egocentrism ?

If we can go to church without fear of being threatened, stopped or killed, we are more fortunate than three billion people in the world who do not know that freedom. If there is enough food in our fridge and we are dressed, we are richer than 75% of the inhabitants of this world. If we read this thought we are blessed, for we are not part of the two billion people who can not read !

When we pray for our needs, let us not forget those billions of men, women and children who have no drinking water, school, doctor, home, who are beaten, imprisoned unjustly, who die Of hunger and would like to eat our garbage !

Of course, we can pray for our daily needs, but it is essential that our thoughts be turned first to others. Isaiah says : "share your bread with the hungry" (Isaiah 58: 7). Every day children die of hunger, some will sell to eat a bowl of rice. Our garbage cans are overflowing with garbage, while millions of children feed on household garbage in the Third World !

Advice for this day :

May prayer for your daily needs always be placed in this perspective of generosity. Let us not be leeches that say selfishly : "Give, give!" (Proverbs 30:15).

Paul Calzada