The Gospel readings for the month of August (Mt 14:22-33; 15:21-28; 16:13-20; 16:21-27) each offer a unique glimpse into the life of Jesus.  Since prayer is a fundamental element of our Catholic faith (CCC 2558-2854!), lets consider our Lord Jesus – a first-century, faithful Palestinian Jew – at prayer in Mt 14:23.

In our reading for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 7), after Jesus feeds 5,000 people, Matthew offers the interesting detail that our Lord “went up on the mountain by himself to pray” (Mt 14:23).  Although Jesus is depicted as praying often in the Gospels (Mt 14:23; 26:36; Mk 6:46; 14:32ff.; Lk 6:12; 9:28; John 17!!, etc.), it is interesting how Matthew almost offers this detail seemingly “in passing,” hence the reader may easily pass right over it.  It is fascinating as well, to wonder precisely what Jesus might have prayed and in what manner he prayed after he fed the 5,000 and ascended the mountain alone to pray. 

Surely Jesus, like other Jews at the time, turned his head toward Jerusalem – toward the Temple (1 Kings 8:48; *Mishnah Berakoth 4.5) – and prayed the *“Shema” (Deut 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Num 15:37-41). 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord alone.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart…”

In fact, the Shema itself instructs that it should be prayed at least twice daily “when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7).  Since our reading indicates that it was evening when Jesus was praying (Mt 14:23), we can presume that he may have been praying the Shema in correspondence with the final sacrifice of the day at the Temple in Jerusalem – a whole burnt offering – during which the Shema was prayed by the Priests on duty.

Additionally, Jesus may have been praying at least portions of the *“Tefillah” – the Benedictions – that accompanied morning and evening prayer. 

Blessed are You, Lord our God and God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob, the great, mighty and awesome God, the Most High God who gives plentiful kindnesses, creator of all…(from the first benediction, Avot).

Since the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray according to Matthew (Mt 6:9-13; CCC 2759-2865) is significantly similar to the Tefillah, we might suppose that at Mt 14:23 our Lord was praying a prayer akin to the “Our Father,” though perhaps not exactly as it is detailed in Matthew 6.  We may suspect this sort of diversity of prayer in light of the similarities and differences between the Tefillah, the “Our Father” in Matthew, and the “Our Father” in Luke (Lk 11:2-4).  In any case, the prayers and blessings of the Tefillah were offered to praise God and to hallow God’s name, for repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and for blessing the produce of the earth – among other things.

Finally, it is of course quite possible that Jesus was not praying either the Shema or the Tefillah, nor perhaps even “the Lord’s prayer.”  He may have simply been offering spontaneous prayer to God the Father (John 11:41-42; Mishnah Berakoth 4.4).

Regardless of what Jesus was praying while up on that mountain, in what sort of frame-of-mind might we imagine him praying?  Surely, we can envisage the Son of God praying as other faithful Jews prayed, that is, with his “mind toward the Omnipresent” and with prayer “springing” from his soul (Mishnah Berakoth 4.4; 5.1; CCC 2629; 2650). 

Lord, teach us to pray!

*Key Terms:
Mishnah: The compilation of the Oral Torah, or oral tradition(s), completed around AD 200.  Most biblical scholars recognize that many of the traditions found in the Mishnah may go as far back as the 2nd Century BC.  “Berakoth,” “blessings” or “benedictions” in Hebrew, is the title of the first section of the Mishnah.

Shema: The Shema is the prayer (Deut. 6:4-9) that best encapsulates the theology and the piety of ancient Judaism.  “Hear (Shema!) Oh Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One” (Deut. 6:4).

Tefillah: “Prayer” in Hebrew.   Tefillah refers to the obligatory benedictions/blessings usually prayed daily along with the Shema.

Bibliography:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Urbi et orbi Communications, 1994.

E P Sanders, Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah, SCM Press, 1990. 

E P Sanders, Judaism: Practice & Belief, 63 BCE-66CE, SCM Press, 1994.

Yaacov David Herzog, The Mishnah: Berakoth – Peah – Demai, Soncino Press, 1980.

Herbert Danby, The Mishnah, Oxford University Press, 1933.