Chapter
25
The Prayer of All Prayers: The Our Father
In This Chapter
Understanding the Lord’s Prayer as a whole
What it means to call God “Father”
Taking the Our Father one line at a time
The perfect ending, the Final Doxology
Christians recognize the Our Father, also known as the Lord’s Prayer, as the “perfect” prayer. When Jesus’ disciples wanted to learn to pray, this is what he gave to them. To this day, the Our Father remains the central prayer of Christianity.
The Catechism explains that there are two different scriptural accounts of the Lord’s Prayer. Luke’s Gospel gives a text of the Our Father with five “petitions,” and Matthew’s Gospel includes seven petitions (which we’ll explain in detail in a minute). The Catholic Church’s liturgical practice uses Matthew’s text.
In this chapter, we will look at the Lord’s Prayer in general, and then we will dissect it one line at a time in an effort to understand more fully the significance of this single prayer.
The Sum of Its Parts
The exact wording of the Our Father can vary across the Christian faith, yet the meaning remains the same. Catholics say the Our Father prayer as follows:
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.
Amen.
The Catechism, in beginning its discussion of the Our Father, quotes Tertullian, a second-century writer, who said the Our Father is a “summary of the whole Gospel.” (2761) This prayer, which St. Thomas Aquinas called “the most perfect of prayers,” is found in Scripture in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and presents to believers the main teachings of the Gospel. (2763)
Church Speak
The Our Father is often called the Lord’s Prayer, or Oratio Dominica, because it was taught by the Lord himself, Jesus Christ. (2765)
According to the Catechism (which refers to the first-century Didache), in the Church’s earliest communities the Our Father was prayed three times each day as a substitute for the Jewish custom of “Eighteen Benedictions,” which were prayers of praise and petition seeking wisdom, assistance and forgiveness. (2767) The Lord’s Prayer figures prominently in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation and in every celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In other words, for Catholics, praying the Our Father is an integral element in personal and communal prayer, specifically the sacraments, the Mass, and the Divine Office. (2768–2769)
Daring to Call God “Father”
Before Jesus walked on earth, God of the Old Testament was supremely holy, a rather distant figure—a God whose name should not even be spoken, a Creator whose presence often invoked trembling awe. But Jesus, in his humanity, brought divinity to us and has brought us into the Father’s presence. Jesus became the mediator between heaven and earth, enabling us to go to God as an approachable Father, a beloved protector whom we could call by name in our time of need. (2777)
When we lead off with the words “Our Father” at the start of this prayer, we acknowledge that we have become part of God’s new covenant. Even more, he is “our” God. If we pray the Lord’s Prayer “sincerely,” the love we get from this prayer will free us from the kind of “individualism” that threatens to pull us away from God and our neighbors. (2786–2792)
The second line of the Our Father is: “Who art in heaven.” So what does that mean? It’s not talking about God sitting on some sort of heavenly throne. Instead it’s talking about “a way of being,” meaning God is majestic. But God is not out of our realm or beyond us. Heaven is the symbol for the dwelling place of God; it is also a symbol for the perfection of love. Because God is close to us, in a real way we are already seated with God. (2794–2796)
The Seven Petitions
Now we get into the fine print: the seven petitions that make up the rest of this famous prayer. Maybe we never thought of them as petitions, but the Catechism explains that the rest of this prayer includes three “theological” petitions or blessings that pull us toward God, followed by four petitions that commend our “wretchedness” to his grace. (2803)
Hallowed Be Thy Name
When we say the next line of the Our Father, “Hallowed be thy name,” we are saying we adore God and recognize him as holy. If we don’t acknowledge that God’s name is holy right off the bat, we’re going to be kind of lost in this prayer and in this Christian life. God is holy, and that belief must shine its light on everything else in our lives. God’s “name” is the statement of who God is. Even though God’s name is holy, meaning totally other and essentially inaccessible, our prayer is framed by our belief that the holy God has chosen to reveal his name to his people most fully in Jesus. (2807–2815)
Church Speak
Petition is when we ask God for something in prayer. In the Our Father, we are asking God for specific things that will lead us ever closer to him.
Thy Kingdom Come
Although God’s “kingdom,” God’s “rule,” is all around us, we are reminded that we are working our way toward the fullness of the kingdom—our final destination—in the next line, “Thy kingdom come.” This petition of the Our Father refers primarily to the final coming of the rule of God through Christ’s return. It reminds us that Christ will come again. The kingdom has been coming since the Last Supper; it is present and effective in the Eucharist; it will come in glory when Christ, having come again, hands it over to his father. In the meantime, between Christ’s first and second comings, however, this petition also reinforces for us that we must make the kingdom come to life in our own lives each day. (2816–2821)
Thy Will Be Done
Next we have “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is a tough line if you give it more than a minute’s thought. This is where we pray to accept God’s will in our lives. Like Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane, we pray that we will be willing to put aside our own de-sires so that the Father’s plan for us can come to fruition. Not an easy sell, but it is a critical part of this prayer. Although this petition is tough, it is consoling as well, since God’s will, on earth and in heaven, is that all of us be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (2822–2827)
Give Us This Day
When we say the next line, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking not only for the physical nourishment and support we need to survive on earth but the spiritual nourishment we need to help us achieve blessedness. The Catechism stresses that by saying “our” bread and not “my” bread, we are expressing a love of neighbor that leads us to share our material and spiritual wealth with those who are poor. When we pray that the Lord give us bread “this day,” the Catechism tells us, we petition not only for the todays in our mortal time, but also for the today of God, which has no beginning or end. When we pray for “daily” bread, we pray not only for what will get us through the next 24 hours, but for the bread of the Lord’s eternal day, the bread of the kingdom. (2828–2837)
Forgive Us Our Trespasses
The next full line of the Our Father says, “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is another difficult teaching. Yes, we want God’s forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong, but when we say this prayer sincerely, we are linking God’s forgiveness of our sins with our forgiveness of the wrongs committed against us. We have to forgive—even our enemies—if we expect God to forgive us. (2839–2845)
True Confessions
The text of Matthew’s Gospel uses the form of the Our Father that says, “… and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) The Latin form of the Our Father uses the term “debts” and “debtors” as well (debita nostra/debitoribus nostris). Catholics, however, say, “… and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Although the Our Father passage in Matthew uses the term “debts,” what Jesus says in the next passage of Matthew makes it clear that the debts to be cancelled are sins. “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)
Lead Us Not into Temptation
For this next line, you may be wondering why would God lead us into temptation in the first place, because isn’t it Satan who does that? This line, “and lead us not into temptation,” appears as “and do not subject us to the final test,” in Matthew 6:13. The Catechism explains that some of the confusion lies in the translation. The Greek words mean that we want God to keep us from “entering” into temptation and to keep us from “yielding” to temptation. So God isn’t tempting anyone; we’re asking for his help to keep us from ever even going there in the first place. Through this prayer, we ask God to keep us from the temptation that is bound to find us because we are human. (2846–2849)
Deliver Us from Evil
The last line of the Our Father, “… but deliver us from evil,” is a reference specifically to Satan. We are not invoking God’s help against any kind of generic evil here. Here we are talking about the Evil One and all of the inherent evil that comes with him. (2850–2854) This line, on the heels of asking for help against temptation, further solidifies the petition to God for his help and protection from the things that keep us from him and his kingdom.
Church Speak
Amen is a Hebrew word that means, “So be it.” It is often used to end prayers, signifying affirmation: Yes! I believe. Truly.
The Final Doxology
For Catholics, the Our Father ends there, with the petition for protection against evil. During Mass, the priest will say a prayer that expands on “Deliver us from evil,” which is then followed by what is called the “final doxology.” It goes like this: “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.” For Protestants, this doxology is recited within the Our Father prayer at the end, and it is usually recited as: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
The Catechism explains that the final doxology reinforces the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: the glorification of God’s name, the coming of God’s reign, and the power of God’s saving will. Only now these prayers are “proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving.” The “Amen” at the end affirms it all. (2855–2856)
True Confessions
The final doxology, recited as part of the Our Father by Protestants and as a separate prayer in the Catholic Liturgy of the Eucharist, is not part of the actual prayer in the earliest texts of the Gospel of Matthew. The doxology is found in some of the later manuscripts (like the one used in the King James translation of the Bible) and may also be found, in a variant form, in the first-century Didache, considered by some to be the first unofficial catechism.
The Least You Need to Know
The Our Father is considered “the most perfect of prayers” central to Christianity.
Taught by Jesus to his disciples during the Sermon on the Mount, the Our Father of Catholic liturgical tradition is considered a summary of the Gospel.
By becoming human, Jesus gave believers a real and approachable vision of God, a savior to be known and loved rather than a creator who cannot be approached.
The Our Father contains seven petitions, found in Matthew’s Gospel, that draw us closer to God.