"To an unknown god, what you reveal without knowing it is what we announce to you" (Acts 17:23).

As he walked through the streets of Athens, Paul discovered an altar erected to an unknown god. For our part, we pray to God, and we sanctify His Name : "May your name be sanctified" (Luke 11: 2). God has a name. This is not an unknown. To say someone's name, to call him by name, is a manifestation of the bond that unites us to him.

The first person to think of when we pray is God. Our first request is for him : "Let thy name be hallowed." Jesus knows that our natural tendency when we pray is to put our lives, our needs, our problems first, but he tells us to put God at the top of the list.

We are so selfish that even in our prayers we are always tempted to bring everything back to ourselves. How often prayers begin with this petition : "Lord, bless us !" It is not that it should not be done but it is that it is necessary before to do, put God first. Personal queries come later.

Our first request concerns God ! God first served : "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and the rest will be given to you more" (Matthew 6:33).

The name God revealed to Moses is written : YHWH. The Jews do not pronounce this name, which is besides unpronounceable in their language. When they see these four letters, they say Adonai, "Lord." The root of this tetragrammaton means : "I am". To ask that the name of God be sanctified is to remember that "I am" is always there.

This prayer : "May your name be sanctified" may seem incomprehensible. Indeed, God being infinitely holy, what can we add to His holiness? Sanctification means putting something apart. Now, God is already holy because he is apart, he is out of time and above all. However the fact that we put his name first, that prayer begins with him and honors his name, is an important key to be answered.

To worship God, to raise his name, to put him first in prayer is essential. What God seeks is not beggars who come to beg him a thousand little things, but worshipers who adore him in spirit and truth (John 4:23).

My prayer on this day :

Just as Daniel blessed the name of God, and put God first in his prayer (Daniel 2.18 / 23), help me Lord, to raise and honor your name before any other consideration, in my prayers. Amen !

Paul Calzada