YOUCAT Question n. 514 - Part III. 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 2767)
This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life
to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church
from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times
a day (cf. Didache 8, 3), in place of
the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety.
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 2766)
But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically (Cf. Mt 6:7; 1
Kings 18:26-29). As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that
the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not
only gives us the words of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the
Spirit by whom these words become in us "spirit and life" (Jn 6:63).
Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father
"sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal 4:6). Since our prayer sets forth our
desires before God, it is again the Father, "he who searches the hearts of
men," who "knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom 8:27). The
prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of
the Spirit.
(This question: What position does the Our Father hold among prayers? is
continued)
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