Daily Prayer
Now that we are settling into the famously long liturgical period of ‘Sundays after Trinity’, we will be having a lot of Gospel readings from the Gospel according to St Luke this year.
As a gospel writer, Luke’s ancient symbol is the ox. Jesus is depicted as the powerful beast of burden, of universal significance in his shouldering the sins of the whole world.
There are two little words that Luke uses more in his gospel than any other gospel writer. And these two little words will help us to understand more deeply the person and the teaching of Jesus.
The first word is both simple and strange; it’s the word ‘daily’. Luke remembers it in the saying about the taking up of the cross: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9,23) – Or again in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us each day our ‘daily’ bread” (Luke 11,3). Luke remembers Jesus’ teaching to be relevant for our everyday life; we can live our Christian life on a daily basis. There are bits we can do every day of our life, as we are drawn closer and closer into the Kingdom of God!
The other small word is ‘prayer’. Luke’s gospel stories about Jesus invariably begin with the phrase “Jesus was praying with his disciples” or “Jesus got up from his prayers and he…”. Luke remembers Jesus as someone who did everything preceded by prayer. Jesus’ relationship with God his father was totally alive. It seems that his whole life was bathed in this special energy. Do we follow Jesus in the direction of our own lives?
Bernhard Schünemann
29 June 2025
