Read and listen to the “Our Father” prayer
English
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.
Latin
Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificétur Nomen Tuum:
advéniat Regnum Tuum:
fiat volúntas Tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum
cotidiánum da nobis hódie,
et dimítte nobis débita nostra,
sicut et nos
dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.
et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem;
sed líbera nos a Malo.
Amen.
Carl Bloch, 1890
Explanation of the Our Father
We too are children of Dad! A meditative commentary on the Pater Noster:
The Our Father, a synthesis of the entire Gospel (Tertullian, De oratione, 1), is the Lord’s Prayer par excellence, because it was taught to us by Christ himself (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2765) in response to the request of his disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1).
If you go through all the words of the prayers contained in Holy Scripture, as far as I think, you will not find one that is not contained and summarized in this prayer taught to us by the Lord (Saint Augustine, Letter to Proba, Epistulae, n. 130).
An example of perfect harmony, in the Our Father not only are all the things we can rightly desire asked for, but also in the order in which they should be desired: so that this prayer not only teaches us to ask, but also shapes all our affections (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 83, a. 9).
A first approach to the Our Father leads us to consider the succession of three commitments and three requests, by which man first commits himself to being according to God’s will and then asks for what is necessary for his material and spiritual needs:
The commitment to witness: hallowed be thy name
The commitment to fidelity: thy kingdom come
The commitment to love: thy will be done
The request for God’s support: give us this day our daily bread
The request for forgiveness of sins: forgive us our debts
The request for Salvation: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
If the Sermon on the Mount is the doctrine of life, the Lord’s Prayer is prayer, but in both, the Spirit of the Lord gives a new form to our desires, to the inner movements that animate our lives. Jesus teaches us the new life with his words and educates us to ask for it through prayer (CCC, 2764).
The Our Father is a prayer as admirable as it is perhaps taken for granted, recited perhaps every day, but often hurriedly. For this reason, a second approach can only lead us on a journey that brings us closer to the Our Father word by word.
Father
From its very first word, Christ introduces me to a new dimension of the relationship with God. He is no longer just my “Ruler”, my “Lord” or our “Master”. He is my Father.
And I am not just a servant, but a son. I therefore turn to You, Father, with the respect due to the One who is also those things, but with the freedom, trust, and intimacy of a son, aware of being loved, confident even in despair and in the midst of the slavery of the world and sin. Him, the Father who calls me, waiting for my return, I the prodigal son who will return to Him repentant.
Our
Because He is not only my Father or the Father of “my people” (my family, my friends, my social class, my people…), but the Father of all: of the rich and the poor, the saint and the sinner, the learned and the illiterate, whom You call tirelessly to Yourself, to repentance, to Your love.
“Our”, certainly, but not confusedly of all: God loves everyone and each one individually; He is everything to me when I am in trial and need, He is all mine when He calls me to Himself with repentance, vocation, and consolation.
The adjective does not express possession, but a totally new relationship with God; it trains us in generosity, according to the teachings of Christ; it indicates God as common to many people: there is only one God and He is recognized as Father by those who, through faith in His only-begotten Son, are reborn of Him through water and the Holy Spirit.
The Church is this new communion of God and men (CCC, 2786, 2790).
Who art in Heaven
Extraordinarily “other” compared to me, and yet not far away, indeed everywhere in the immensity of the universe and in the smallness of my daily life, Your wonderful creation.
This biblical expression does not mean a place, such as space, but a way of being; not the distance of God, but his majesty, and even if He is beyond everything He is also very close to the humble and contrite heart (CCC, 2794).
Hallowed be thy name
That is, let it be respected and loved, by me and by the whole world, also through me, in my commitment to set a good example, to bring Your Name even to those who do not yet truly know it.
By asking that Your name be hallowed, we enter into God’s plan: the sanctification of His name, revealed to Moses and then in Jesus, by us and in us, as well as in every people and in every man (CCC, 2858).
When we say: “Hallowed be thy name”, we stir ourselves to desire that His name, which is always holy, be considered holy even among men, that is, not be despised, a thing which does not benefit God but men (Saint Augustine, Letter to Proba).
Thy kingdom come
May Your Creation, the Blessed Hope, be fulfilled in our hearts and in the world, and may our Savior Jesus Christ return! With the second request, the Church looks mainly to the return of Christ and the final coming of the kingdom of God, but also prays for the growth of the kingdom of God in the “today” of our lives (CCC, 2859).
When we say: “Thy kingdom come”, which, whether we want it or not, will certainly come, we stir our desire toward that kingdom, so that it may come for us and we may deserve to reign in it (St. Augustine, ibid.).
Thy will be done
Which is a will of Salvation, even in our lack of understanding of Your ways. Help us to accept Your will, fill us with trust in You, give us the hope and consolation of Your love and unite our will to that of Your Son, so that Your plan of salvation may be fulfilled in the life of the world.
We are radically incapable of this, but, united with Jesus and with the power of His Holy Spirit, we can hand over our will to Him and decide to choose what His Son always chose: to do what pleases the Father (CCC, 2860).
On earth as it is in heaven
Because the world, also through us, Your unworthy instruments, may be shaped in imitation of Paradise, where Your will is always done, which is true Peace, infinite Love and eternal Bliss in Your face (CCC, 2825-2826).
When we say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, we ask Him for obedience, to fulfill his will, in the same way it is fulfilled by his angels in heaven. (St. Augustine, ibid.).
Give us this day our daily bread
Our bread and that of all our brothers, overcoming our sectarianism and our selfishness. Give us what is truly necessary, earthly nourishment for our sustenance, and free us from useless desires. Above all things give us the Bread of life, Word of God and Body of Christ, eternal Table prepared for us and for many since the beginning of time (CCC, 2861).
When we say: “Give us this day our daily bread”, with the word today we mean “in the present time”, in which we either ask for all the things that suffice us, indicating them all with the term “bread” which among them is the most important thing, or we ask for the sacrament of the faithful which is necessary for us in this life to achieve not the happiness of this world, but the eternal one. (St. Augustine, ibid.).
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
I implore Your mercy, conscious that it cannot reach my heart, however, if I do not also know how to forgive my enemies, following the example and with the help of Christ. “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23) (CCC, 2862).
When we say: “Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors”, we bring to our attention that we must ask and act to deserve to receive this grace (St. Augustine, ibid.).
And lead us not into temptation
Do not abandon us at the mercy of the path that leads to sin, along which, without You, we would be lost. Reach out Your hand and grab us (cf. Mt 14:24-32), send us the Spirit of discernment and strength and the grace of vigilance and final perseverance (CCC, 2863).
When we say: “Lead us not into temptation”, we stir ourselves to ask that, abandoned by his help, we are not deceived and do not consent to any temptation nor yield to it, crushed by sorrow (St. Augustine, ibid.).
But deliver us from evil
Together with the whole Church, I pray You to manifest the victory, already achieved by Christ, over the “prince of this world” who personally opposes You and Your plan of Salvation, so that You may deliver us from the one who hates all Your Creation and all Your creatures and would like to see everyone lost with himself, deceiving our eyes with poisonous delights, until the prince of this world will be cast out forever (Jn 12:31) (CCC, 2864).
When we say: “Deliver us from evil”, we remind ourselves to reflect that we are not yet in possession of the good in which we will suffer no evil. These last words of the Lord’s prayer have such a broad meaning that a Christian, in whatever tribulation he finds himself, in pronouncing them utters groans, sheds tears, here he begins, here he pauses, here he ends his prayer (St. Augustine, ibid.).
Amen.
And so be it, according to Your will (CCC, 2865).
Ask and it will be given to you
Then he said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and if he answers from within: ‘Do not bother me, the door is already closed, I and my children are in bed, I cannot get up to give you the bread,’ I tell you that, even if he will not get up to give them to him because he is his friend, at least for his persistence he will get up to give him as many as he needs.
Well, I tell you: ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if the son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:5-13).
source © www.sanfrancescopatronoditalia.it published on 05-05-2017
