584. Why do we say “our” Father? (part 1)
(Comp 584) “Our” expresses a totally new
relationship with God. When we pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him
with the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Christ we are “his” people and he is “our”
God now and for eternity. In fact, we also say “our” Father because the Church
of Christ is the communion of a multitude of brothers and sisters who have but
“one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32).
“In brief”
(CCC 2801) When we say "Our" Father, we are
invoking the new covenant in Jesus Christ, communion with the Holy Trinity, and
the divine love which spreads through the Church to encompass the world.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2787) When we say "our" Father, we recognize
first that all his promises of love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in
the new and eternal covenant in his
Christ: we have become "his" people and he is henceforth
"our" God. This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of
belonging to each other: we are to respond to "grace and truth" given
us in Jesus Christ with love and faithfulness (Jn 1:17; Cf. Hos 2:21-22;
6:1-6).
Reflection
(CCC 2786) "Our" Father refers to God. The
adjective, as used by us, does not express possession, but an entirely new
relationship with God. (CCC 2788) Since the Lord's Prayer is that of his people
in the "endtime," this "our" also expresses the certitude
of our hope in God's ultimate promise: in the new Jerusalem he will say to the
victor, "I will be his God and he shall be my son" (Rev 21:7). [IT CONTINUES]
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