Tiber River Cafe--Our Father, Our Petitions

Hello, and welcome to the Tiber River Café.  My name is Dean Humphreys, and today’s topic is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father.

The Our Father is probably one of the earliest prayers we learn as children, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples 2000 years ago, and the prayer we stand and recite every Sunday at Mass.  We read throughout the Gospels how Jesus would often pray to his Father in heaven.  And Jesus instructs us to pray to God, our Father, as well.  In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6 verse 6, Jesus says, “But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And the Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Then Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.”  The Our Father prayer holds a distinct place of prominence in our Catholic tradition and it is the prayer Christians have been praying for 2000 years.  The Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, is in two Gospels; the Gospel of Matthew which we just read, and also the Gospel of Luke which is a shorter version of the prayer; the Our Father is basically a summary of the Gospel message. 

The Our Father opens to us a family relationship, as we are God’s children, children whom he loves.  And the Our Father prayer brings us closer to God.  It is a formula for effective prayer and an outline of attitudes and behaviors that can lead to a more powerful prayer life.  The Lord’s Prayer sums up the foundational characteristics of Christian prayer.  So let’s take a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer.

There are seven petitions or requests contained in the Lord’s Prayer; God is the subject of the petitions. The first 3 petitions, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done; God alone is sovereign, it’s not about us or our needs, God is the focus, we are drawn closer to God and we are strengthened in our faith.  The last 4 petitions are what we hope for in our daily lives, we ask for mercy and grace; give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts or sins, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.  We quickly see that the Lord’s Prayer is in the plural ‘us’, not the singular I or you, for we are a community of believers, a family of God.  We also see how forgiveness and reconciliation are foundational, a precondition to authentic and effective prayer.

We start the prayer with “Our Father” because Jesus called God his Father, and then Jesus invites and instructs us to also call God in heaven, our Father.  We are children, sons and daughters, of God the Father.

“Hallowed be thy name”.  The first petition gives glory to God, to make God’s name holy, to glorify God’s name, and to sanctify God’s name.  Hallowed is holy, and only God’s name is holy.  We must treat the name of God in a holy and respectful manner, for God revealed his name to Moses, and to us.  God revealed his name to all peoples, to all nations, universal.

“Thy kingdom come”.  The second petition asks for the coming of God’s kingdom.  We pray for the growth of the Kingdom of God in our lives.  God’s kingdom is proclaimed throughout the Gospel and is present with us now. The kingdom also refers to the final coming of Jesus.  We look forward with anticipation the return of Jesus.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  The third petition is the fulfillment of God’s will, his desire to have us with him in heaven.  The will of God is to gather all people on earth to himself, which is his plan of salvation for the life of the world.  We pray that our will is united with the will of the Father.  By prayer we can come to better understand the will of God.  In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7 verse 21, we read that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing the will of God.

“Give us this day our daily bread”.  In the fourth petition we pray for nourishment to sustain us, material bread and spiritual bread.  We ask our Father to give us those things that we need.  And this doesn’t just apply to us and our families, but ‘us’ as the Body of Christ, our family, friends, and neighbors.  We pray for all people, to meet our needs and theirs.  Our bread is the nourishment we desperately need and desire, both material and spiritual.  We are called to share our material and spiritual gifts, to share our abundance. 

We must remember that the daily bread, both material and spiritual, we receive is truly a gift from God.  Our daily bread also means proclaiming the Word of God to a world starving for God’s love.  And we know that we receive this bread as the Body of Christ in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is our daily bread, the body of Jesus, which gives us eternal life.  Our daily bread is also the scriptural readings we hear each time we celebrate the Mass.  We must ask and pray for the bread of heaven every day.

“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.  In the fifth petition we ask to be forgiven of our sins and that we are able to forgive others.  We pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness, and we pray to be able to forgive our enemies.  Although we are cleansed by the waters of baptism we continue to turn away from God our Father, we continue to sin.  And like any child we ask our Father to forgive us, and like a good father, God will always and without fail forgive us.  There is no limit to God’s forgiveness.  And likewise we must forgive those who have harmed us.  If we cannot forgive others then our hearts will be closed and we simply cannot receive the love of the Father.

“And lead us not into temptation”.  The sixth petition we pray that we are triumphant in our daily fight over temptations, temptations that will lead us to sin.  We pray that we are able, with God’s grace, to overcome the evil of the world.  Everyone has temptation, often every day, often several time a day.  We pray for strength and perseverance to make the right choices.  When we lose our struggle against temptation the result is sin, a moving away from the love of God.  We beg and pray to not be lead into temptation, to not allow us to enter into temptation, and to not let us yield to temptation.  We are all tempted, but we must try to avoid consenting to that temptation.  We have free will, free choice, to make our own decisions, and with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to conquer our temptations.

“But deliver us from evil”.  The seventh petition is to protect us from the evil that is rampant in our world.  Deliver ‘us’, you, me, the whole Church, again the Our Father is truly a universal prayer.  We are members of the Body of Christ, members of the family of our heavenly Father.  Evil is real, very real; evil is a someone, the Evil One, Satan, the Devil.  And we pray fervently to be released from all evil.

Final Doxology “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever”.  A summation of the first three petitions, glory to the name of the Father, to the coming of his reign, and to the power of his saving will.

We finish our prayer with a resounding, “Amen”.  Which means ‘so be it’.

So, there you have it, a simple explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father.  Something to think about this Sunday at Mass as we stand as the Body of Christ to pray.

Well, thanks for stopping by the Tiber River Café, where there is always plenty of room at the banquet table.  I hope to see you next time.  Peace be with you.