DRE, Ibadan Archdiocese

Episode 121

 

Tertullian, a Church Father, called the Lord’s Prayer “the summary of the whole Gospel”.

The Our Father is the preeminent Christian prayer, it is prayed in liturgical celebrations, for example,

1. The liturgy of the hours,
2. The sacraments of initiation, and especially
3. The Eucharist. 

The Lord’s Prayer is recited on special occasions and whenever we gather to pray. It is central to a Christian’s daily prayer. The Lord’s Prayer appears in the gospels of both Luke and Matthew.

Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer has five petitions. In Luke’s gospel chapter 11:1-4, the apostles approach Jesus who is praying quietly and asked him to teach them how to pray and Jesus gives them the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that marks them as his special disciples, ones who can dare to address God as ‘Father’ or ‘Dear Father’.

This is the prayer that identifies Jesus’ disciples as Christians.

Matthew’s version, with seven petitions, is the one the Church has adopted in its liturgical tradition. The conclusion we pray at Mass – ‘For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever’ – come from the DIDACHE, (a first century catechetical manual), and the Apostolic Constitutions. This doxology (a word that means ‘short hymn of praise’) reiterates the first three petitions to our heavenly Father; the glorification of God’s name, the coming of the kingdom and the power of God’s saving will.

Matthew’s gospel sets Jesus’ teaching of the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7). There Jesus offers instruction on the Christian way of life, including how we should pray. Jesus tells us to pray humbly and not to babble on. He teaches the Our Father as a short, but profound example of prayer which relies totally on God. We address this prayer to the Father as taught by Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thus, it brings us into communion with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many Christians today view the prayer as inadequate or too simple and this is because it is not prayed with faith and reverence.

Q1. Why does Jesus ask us to say “Our” Father?

When we say ‘Our’ Father, we are invoking the new covenant in Jesus Christ, communion with the Holy Trinity and the divine love which spreads through the Church to encompass the world. “In his Son … we are incorporated and adopted as sons of God” – Catechism 2801, 2798