Today, we hear the words of the Lord’s prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. So often, it may be difficult to translate the prayers we hold in our heart into world. We have longings, desires, and prayers filling our hearts, but what words can we use in order to express them? The Lord’s prayer helps us to pray. Likewise, if we incorporate the values that these words stand for into the way we live our lives, then these words will help transform us into the followers of Christ that the Lord is calling us to be.
Today, we commemorate the feast day of St. Alban, England’s first martyr. Tradition tells us that Alban was a soldier in the Roman army stationed at a city located to the northeast of London, now called St. Alban’s. He gave shelter to a Christian priest who was fleeing from persecution; Alban was converted by him and baptized into the Christian faith. When officers came to Alban’s house, he dressed himself in the garments of the priest and gave himself up. Alban was tortured and martyred in place of the priest, on the hilltop where the Cathedral of St. Alban’s now stands. The traditional date of his martyrdom is uncertain, but probably in the early 3rd or 4th century.
Not all of us are called to be martyrs, but the Lord calls us of us to live out the values of our faith and to have the words of our prayers transform our lives.
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