Our Father

Following the Great Doxology at the close of the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, we pray the pray that came from the very heart and lips of Jesus—the “Our Father.” In every celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice in all of the various Rites of the Catholic Church, the “Our Father” is prayed. It is also an integral part of the two main hours of the Divine Office, Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). The “Our Father” is a crying out to the Almighty Father through the Son, the head of His Body—the Church, by the sons and daughters of the Father, members of the Body of Christ.

While the “Our Father” is a prayer of intimacy that most of us learn from our childhood, it is also a corporate prayer that unites all who pray it with one another and all of the members of the Body of Christ. That is why we pray “Our Father” and not “My Father”.

This prayer is comprised of seven petitions. The first three focus on God our Father. The remaining four address our needs.

By the very first phase of this prayer, there is an acknowledgment of who God is. He is “Our Father”—the Almighty One who is over all. But He is not far away and far removed from our lives. He is our tender and merciful Father. He holds us in His creating and life-giving hands. He is the Father, who sent His only-begotten and co-eternal Son who shed His blood to redeem us.

Our Father is also in heaven. His realm is a heavenly one who He dwells in inaccessible light and penetrates the darkness of our world with that light of truth to show us the way to Him so we may share in His divine life.

The first petition, “Hallowed be Thy Name,” speaks of the holiness, the “hallowedness”, the sanctity that belongs properly to God. When we pray this first petition, we confess His holiness and we acclaim the power of His Name. He is “I AM.” He is Father to us. He is what it means to be Father. He is merciful, compassionate, always present and ever-loving. When we call upon His Name, we believe He is with us.

The second petition, “Thy Kingdom come,” tells us of the order of His realm and the expanse of His merciful love. When we pray for the coming of His Kingdom, we beg Him to establish in this passing world the budding forth of His Kingdom, the Church. in every land, among every people. We also recognize that each of us has a place in that Kingdom which will never pass away. He calls each of us also to hasten the coming of that Kingdom by our life of holiness.

The third petition, “Thy Will be done,” is an expression of trust that may be difficult to make. Each of us has his or her own will. It can be a powerful force in our life. Praying for God’s Will requires us to place His Will above our own. “Thy Will, not my will, O God, be done.” It is the first step to freedom and the necessary path to holiness. We must pray it with all that is in us.

The fourth petition is one of great beauty. “Give us this day our daily bread.” The beauty is found in the simplicity of a prayer for something that is so necessary and so familiar to each one of us. We must eat “our daily bread” to ensure that our life and our ability to work continue. In this petition, we ask Our Father to provide us bread enough for the one day. It reminds us of the manna that came down from heaven to feed the Israelites on their 40-year journey to the Promised Land (Ex 16:1-36). This prayer is also asking God for “supersubstantial bread”—that which is sufficient not only for one day, but for all the days to come. This is the eschatological meaning of the fourth petition. It is not only bread for the body we ask for, but also bread for the soul. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread that I shall give is My flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). In this fourth petition, we also pray for that true, living Bread from heaven that we receive daily from the altar at Mass. O Father, give us this Bread always!

The fifth petition, “and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” emphasizes the mercy that flows forth from the Father. We ask Him to forgive us the ways we have transgressed, the sins we have committed against Him and our brothers and sisters. We add the qualifier “as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” It boldly states that the mercy we receive from the Father we must share with others. Mercy from the Father is an overflowing fountain that never goes dry. We must channel it to others.

The sixth petition, “and lead us not into temptation,” may sound strange to us. It begs the question, “Would God deliberately lead us into temptation?” We know that God would never lead us into temptation and evil. We read in the Letter of James, “for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one” (Jas 1:13). Pope Benedict XVI suggested that this petition could be expressed thus, “And do not let us yield to temptation.” In effect, we ask God not to give us more than we can bear, and to be with us on life’s journey. The Father looks upon us with love and says to us, “I am with you and I will be with you always, each step of your pilgrim way.”

The seventh and final petition, “but deliver us from evil,” speaks to the reality of the Prince of Darkness and his work against our salvation. St. Augustine taught that evil is an absence of the good. We can wholeheartedly agree with this statement. At the same time, we believe that evil is personified in the reality of Satan or Lucifer. He is real and

he is always working against the Son of God and His will to bring all souls to Himself and His heavenly Kingdom.

The “Our Father” is most appropriately placed at the beginning of the Communion Rite of the Mass. In this prayer we ask our Heavenly Father for our needs. He always provides for us, and especially in the Bread that comes down from heaven—the true Body of His Son.

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid

Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh