THE LORD'S PRAYER

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Prayer is the opening of one's heart and soul in a conversation with God, and

thus is an expression of faith in a relationship with God. Humility is the

foundation of prayer, as we learn in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax

collector (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus teaches us to pray: "All that you ask for in

prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours" (Mark 11:24).

Prayer at home with the family is the first place to educate children in

prayer! Forms of prayer include Adoration and Praise, Petition, Intercession,

and Thanksgiving. There are three kinds of prayer: Vocal, Meditative, and

Contemplative. Vocal prayer is the form of prayer in groups, as in Church.

Meditation is a quest to understand the Christian life, in order to respond to

what the Lord is asking. One may meditate on the Bible or the Rosary or other

holy pursuits. One meditates in order to discern and come to the light: "Lord,

what do you want me to do?" The Carmelite St. Teresa of Avila calls

contemplative prayer a "close sharing between friends," a conversation with God

in our hearts.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and throughout the New Testament continues

thetradition of prayer found in Hebrew

Scripture, our Old Testament, exemplified bythe Patriarchs of Israel such as Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.Examples of prayer in the Bible are the

Psalms, Matthew 7:7, Matthew 18:20, Luke9:35, John 17:11, Philippians 4:6, and James

5:14.

Remember to listen in silence after you pray - you may receive an answer!

The ideal prayer is the one Christ Jesus taught us, the Lord's Prayer, the Our

Father (Matthew 6:9-13).All Christian faiths say the Lord's Prayer.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Gospel of St. Matthew 6:9-13

THE OUR FATHER

In response to his disciples' request "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus gives

them the fundamental Christian prayer, the Our Father, the prayer of hope. Jesus

presents himself as our model, and invites us to become his disciples and follow

him; in humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate. The New

Covenant practices the act of religion: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; its

prayer is the "Our Father." "The Lord's Prayer" means that the prayer to our

Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The Lord's Prayer is

essential to the liturgy of the Church, for it is an integral part of the

Eucharistic Liturgy, Baptism, and Confirmation.

The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) is truly the summary of the whole Gospel.

All the Scriptures - the Law, Prophets and Psalms - are fulfilled in Christ:

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,

that everything written about me in the law of Moses

and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."

Gospel of St. Luke 24:44

Our Father Who Art in Heaven

We can call God our "Father" because he is revealed to us by his Son Christ

Jesus who became man. Through Baptism we are adopted as Children of God. The

free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and a new life.

Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions: first,

the desire to become like him, and second, a humble and trusting heart. "Who art

in heaven" does not mean space but a way of being, that he is majestic and

transcends everything we can conceive of his holiness. The Father is in heaven,

his dwelling place, our homeland to which we aspire. What a blessing to call God

our Father!

The Seven Petitions

After we place ourselves in the presence of God our Father, there are seven

petitions, the first three theological for the glory of the Father, which draw

us towards him, and the last four present our wants to him and commend us to his

grace. The first series of petitions carries us toward him, for his own sake:

thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. It is characteristic of love to think first of

the one whom we love. The second series of petitions are an offering up of our

hopes.

Hallowed Be Thy Name

The term "to hallow" means to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. St.

Gregory of Nyssa, a Church Father in Cappadocia in Asia Minor, wrote around 380

AD that "of all good things the most important for me is that God's name shouldbe glorified in my life." If we truly hallow the

Father, then we respect him in

our hearts, and so enter into God's plan for us and our salvation. The

sanctification of God's name in the world and our own salvation depends on our

life and prayer.

Thy Kingdom Come

The Kingdom of God is brought near in the Word Incarnate, and it has come in

Christ's Last Supper, death and resurrection. The Kingdom of God is in our midst

in the Eucharist, and will come in glory when Christ hands it over to his

Father. "Thy kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer refers primarily to the final

coming of the reign of God through Christ's return. This second petition prays

for the growth of the kingdom of God in the "today" of our lives, bearing the

fruit of new life in the Eight Beatitudes of Jesus.

Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven

St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to the Ephesians 7:2, was the first

Apostolic father to refer to Jesus Christ as the Physician. St. Gregory of Nyssa

continues this concept in his sermon on this phrase: "Therefore the true

Physician of the diseases of the soul, who shared the life of man for the sake

of those who were sick, gradually weakens the cause of disease through the

thoughts contained in the prayer and so restores us to spiritual health." When

we say thy will be done, we ask that God's will be done within us, to offset our

weak nature, a nature given to concupiscence and temptation.

God's expression of his will is the commandment that "you love one another,even as I have loved you" (John 13:34). This

commandment summarizes all theothers and expresses his entire will. We ask

for God's loving plan to be fullyrealized on earth as it already is in heaven.

Through prayer we can discern whatis the will of God and obtain the endurance

to do it. May we learn obedience!

Give us this Day our daily Bread

The Greek language has the Imperative of Entreaty expressed in all of these

petitions; in other words, the word please is implied. "Give us" expresses in

communion with our brethren our filial trust in our heavenly Father and the

covenant between the Father and all men. The Father who gives us life gives us

"our bread," the nourishment life requires, both material and spiritual. The

presence of world hunger calls Christians to exercise responsibility and justice

for the poor, to share with love our spiritual and material goods. This

petition also addresses the spiritual famine of the world, and the Christian is

to proclaim the good news to the poor, the Bread of Life: the Body of Christ

received in the Eucharist.

Gregory of Nyssa points out that this expression is full of meaning: "For you

should learn through what you say that the human life is but the life of a day.

Only the present each one of us can call his own; the hope of the future is

unknown, for we know not what the day to come may bring forth."

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In this petition we return to Him as a prodigal son and begin our confession as

sinners and need of mercy. Our hope is firm, for in his Son we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins. There is a condition here: this mercy can only fill our

hearts if we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us! Remember theverses that follow the Our Father in

Matthew: "For if you forgive men theirtrespasses, your heavenly Father will also

forgive you. But if you do notforgive men their trespasses, neither will

your Father forgive your trespasses"(Matthew 6:14-15). Pope John Paul II

reminds us: "Forgiveness is the key topeace!"

And lead us not into temptation

This petition asks God not to allow us to take the path that leads to sin. This

petition implores the Spirit for discernment and strength in the battle between

flesh and spirit. The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, necessary for

the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death.

Discernment unmasks the lie of temptation. This petition also requests the graceof vigilance and final perseverance.

But deliver us from evil

This last petition to our Father is included in the prayer of Jesus, and we

pray in communion with the Church for the deliverance of the whole human family.Evil is not an abstraction but a person,

satan, the evil one, the deceiver ofthe world. Victory over the prince of this

world was won once and for all at theHour when Jesus freely gave himself up to

death to give us his life. Along withthe deliverance from the evils that

overwhelm humanity, the Church implores the

precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's

return.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, now and forever. Amen.

Early manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew do not contain this phrase, but it

is found in the Catholic Mass or Divine Liturgy and in the King James Bible of

1611. Known as the final doxology, it takes up the first three petitions to our

Father. By the final "Amen," which means "So be it," we ratify what is containedin the prayer that God has taught us.

REFERENCES

1 The Navarre Revised Standard Version of The Holy Bible. Four Courts Press,

Dublin, Ireland, 1999-2005.2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second

Edition. Libreria Editrice Vaticana,US Catholic Conference, Washington, D. C.,

2000.3 St. Gregory of Nyssa. The Lord's Prayer

and The Beatitudes. Ancient Christian

Writer Series, Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey.

4 St. Ignatius of Antioch. Seven Epistles, in The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I,

Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1912.

5 St. Augustine. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Written 393-396. Ancient

Christian Writer Series, Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey.

6 Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth. Doubleday, New York,

2007.7 Mounce WD. Basics of Biblical Greek. Grammar and Workbook, Third Edition.

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2009.8 Aland B, Aland K, Karavidopoulos J, Martini

CM, Metzger B. The Greek NewTestament, Fourth Revised Edition. United

Bible Societies, New York, 1993.

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