Friday, October 11, 2013
581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 581 repetition) The Lord’s Prayer
is the prayer of the Church par excellence. It is “handed on” in Baptism to
signify the new birth of the children of God into the divine life. The full
meaning of the Our Father is revealed in the eucharist since its petitions are
based on the mystery of salvation already accomplished, petitions that will be
fully heard at the coming of the Lord. The Our Father is an integral part of
the Liturgy of the Hours.
“In brief”
(CCC 2776) The Lord's Prayer is the quintessential prayer of
the Church. It is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office and
of the sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and
Eucharist. Integrated into the Eucharist it reveals the eschatological
character of its petitions, hoping for the Lord, "until he comes" (1
Cor 11:26).
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2769) In Baptism
and Confirmation, the handing on (traditio) of the Lord's Prayer signifies
new birth into the divine life. Since Christian prayer is our speaking to God
with the very word of God, those who are "born anew"… through the
living and abiding word of God" (1 Pet 1:23) learn to invoke their Father
by the one Word he always hears. They can henceforth do so, for the seal of the
Holy Spirit's anointing is indelibly placed on their hearts, ears, lips, indeed
their whole filial being. This is why most of the patristic commentaries on the
Our Father are addressed to catechumens and neophytes. When the Church prays
the Lord's Prayer, it is always the people made up of the "new-born"
who pray and obtain mercy (Cf. 1 Pet 2:1-10).
Reflection
(CCC 2770) In the Eucharistic
liturgy the Lord's Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole Church and
there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Placed between the anaphora (the Eucharistic prayer) and
the communion, the Lord's Prayer sums up on the one hand all the petitions and
intercessions expressed in the movement of the epiclesis and, on the other, knocks at the door of the Banquet of
the kingdom which sacramental communion anticipates. [IT CONTINUES]
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