In Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus tells us how to pray:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Jesus tells us not to pray like hypocrites. The hypocrites Jesus is referring to were the Pharisees and other religious leaders at the time. How did they pray? In front of a lot of people. The prayers of these hypocrites were a show. There was nothing sincere about their prayers. They did not pray to give honor and glory to God. They wanted all the people around them to give to them the honor and glory, stealing from God. They were liars and they were thieves. The Pharisees were also idolators: they worshipped themselves and not God. They were indeed hypocrites.

Jesus tells us not to pray like pagans. Pagans are people who believed in other gods. How did pagans pray? They kept on babbling. To babble is to talk too much or to talk or make sounds in a way that doesn’t make sense at all. Why did pagans babble? Because they thought their gods would hear them if they prayed to them with a lot of words, whether the words made sense or not. Jesus tells us not to babble like the pagans.

Do not pray like the hypocrites who want honor and glory for themselves instead of God. Do not pray out in the streets for all to see. Do not pray like the pagans who babble on and on with words and sounds that don’t make sense.

So how should we pray? Jesus tells us to go to our rooms, close the door, and in secret, pray to our Father. Pray so that all honor and glory goes to our Father in heaven. Do not babble, but speak in a way that makes sense, because the Father already knows what we need before we ask him.

Because of Jesus we can pray to our Father in heaven. It is only through Jesus, our Savior who took our punishment on the cross, that we as God’s children can pray to our Father. It is only through Jesus, our Lord who purified us with his blood, that the Father hears our prayers.

Let us pray in secret. Let us pray as children to our Father who knows us completely, who knows all that we need. Let us pray with humble, thankful hearts because we can pray to the Father only because of what Jesus did on the cross.