Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 514 – Part IV.

YOUCAT Question n. 514 - Part IV. 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 2764) The Sermon on the Mount is teaching for life, the Our Father is a prayer; but in both the one and the other the Spirit of the Lord gives new form to our desires, those inner movements that animate our lives. Jesus teaches us this new life by his words; he teaches us to ask for it by our prayer. The rightness of our life in him will depend on the rightness of our prayer.

  

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 2768) According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer: [The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say "my Father" who art in heaven, but "our" Father, offering petitions for the common body (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Mt. 19, 4: PG 57, 278). In all the liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office. In the three sacraments of Christian initiation its ecclesial character is especially in evidence.

(This question: What position does the Our Father hold among prayers? is continued)