581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? (part 1)

581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? (part 1)      

(Comp 581) 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 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.

Reflection

(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:  [IT CONTINUES]

(The question: What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? continues)

580. Why is it called the “Lord’s Prayer”?

580. Why is it called the “Lord’s Prayer”?       

(Comp 580) The Our Father is called the “Oratio Dominica”, that is, the Lord’s Prayer because it was taught to us by the Lord Jesus himself.

“In brief”

(CCC 2775) It is called "the Lord's Prayer" because it comes to us from the Lord Jesus, the master and model of our prayer.

To deepen and explain

(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.

Reflection

(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.

(Next question: What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church?)  

579. What is the place of the Our Father in the Scriptures?

579. What is the place of the Our Father in the Scriptures?   

(Comp 579) The Our Father is the “summary of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian), “the perfect prayer” (Saint Thomas Aquinas). Found in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), it presents in the form of prayer the essential content of the Gospel.

“In brief”

(CCC 2774) "The Lord's Prayer is truly the summary of the whole gospel" (Tertullian, De orat. 1: PL 1, 1251-1255). The "most perfect of prayers" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 83, 9). It is at the center of the Scriptures.

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2761) The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel" (Tertullian, De orat. 1: PL 1, 1155). "Since the Lord… after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires" (Tertullian, De orat. 10: PL 1, 1165; cf. Lk 11:9). (CCC 2762) After showing how the psalms are the principal food of Christian prayer and flow together in the petitions of the Our Father, St. Augustine concludes: Run through all the words of the holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find anything in them that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer (St. Augustine, Ep. 130, 12, 22: PL 33, 503). 

Reflection

(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). (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. 

(Next question: Why is it called the “Lord’s Prayer”?)

578. What is the origin of the Our Father?

578. What is the origin of the Our Father?      

(Comp 578) Jesus taught us this Christian prayer for which there is no substitute, the Our Father, on the day on which one of his disciples saw him praying and asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). The Church’s liturgical tradition has always used the text of Saint Matthew (6:9-13).

“In brief”

(CCC 2773) In response to his disciples' request "Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk 11:1), Jesus entrusts them with the fundamental Christian prayer, the Our Father.  

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2759) Jesus "was praying at a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." (Lk 11:1). In response to this request the Lord entrusts to his disciples and to his Church the fundamental Christian prayer. St. Luke presents a brief text of five petitions (Cf. Lk 11:2-4), while St. Matthew gives a more developed version of seven petitions (Cf. Mt 6:9-13). The liturgical tradition of the Church has retained St. Matthew's text: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Reflection

(CCC 2760) Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the glory for ever" (Didache 8, 2: SCh 248, 174). The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the kingdom," and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer (Apostolic Constitutions, 7, 24, 1: PG 1, 1016). The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." the Roman Missal develops the last petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our blessed hope" and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13; cf. Roman Missal 22, Embolism after the Lord's Prayer). Then comes the assembly's acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions.

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577. What is the prayer of the Hour of Jesus? (part 2 continuation)

577. What is the prayer of the Hour of Jesus? (part 2 continuation)    

(Comp 577 repetition) It is called the priestly prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper. Jesus, the High Priest of the New Covenant, addresses it to his Father when the hour of his sacrifice, the hour of his “passing over” to him is approaching.

“In brief”

(CCC 2758) The prayer of the hour of Jesus, rightly called the "priestly prayer" (cf. Jn 17), sums up the whole economy of creation and salvation. It fulfills the great petitions of the Our Father.

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2749) Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation. Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom (Cf. Jn 17:11, 13, 19, 24) by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh. The Son, who made himself Servant, is Lord, the Pantocrator. Our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer.

Reflection

(CCC 2750) By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name (Cf. Jn 17:6, 11, 12, 26); passionate zeal for his kingdom (glory) (Cf. Jn 17:1, 5, 10, 22, 23-26); the accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of salvation (Cf. Jn 17:2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 24); and deliverance from evil (Cf. Jn 17:15). [END]  

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