YOUCAT Question n. 514 - Part II. What position does the Our Father hold among prayers?
(Youcat
answer repeated) The Our Father is “the most perfect prayer” (St. Thomas
Aquinas) and the “summary of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian).
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2763)
All the Scriptures - the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms - are fulfilled in
Christ (Cf. Lk 24:44). The Gospel is this "Good News." Its first
proclamation is summarized by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount (Cf. Mt 5-
7); The prayer to our Father is at the center of this proclamation. It is in
this context that each petition bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated:
The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers.... In it we ask, not only for
all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should
be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what
order we should desire them (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 83, 9).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) The Our Father is more than a prayer - it is
a path that leads directly into the heart of our Father. The early Christians
recited this original prayer of the Church, which is entrusted to every
Christian at Baptism, three times a day. We, too, should not let a day pass
without trying to recite the Lord’s Prayer with our lips, to take it to heart,
and to make it come true in our lives.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 2765)
The traditional expression "the Lord's Prayer" - oratio Dominica - means that the prayer to our Father is taught and
given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly
unique: it is "of the Lord." On the one hand, in the words of this
prayer the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him (Cf. Jn 17:7): he is
the master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his
human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us:
he is the model of our prayer.
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