Our Father

this is how you are to pray...

Our Father… if you were to hear those words, you’d probably respond with “who art in Heaven” without missing a beat. This prayer’s utterance is so frequent that we all seem to share a common cadence at which we think it ought to be prayed. Indeed, it is striking that when one visits St. Benedict’s Abbey they will undoubtedly notice that the monks recitation of the Our Father is remarkably slow – but, there is a lesson in that. Too often we are consumed not with what we are doing but, rather, what is next, perhaps to the point of ignoring the gravity of the moment that we currently occupy. As one joins the monks in slowing down their prayer, they can slowly become aware of each word – and that each word has meaning. Too often we’re in a hurry – too often we speak without thinking, not considering our words, let alone each word. Here, Fr. Jay offers us a deeper look into this most common of prayers – that we, like the monks, might consider each word.

Like Christ said, “this is how you are to pray...”

In Union with Sinners: Praying the Our Father

By Fr. Jay Kythe, OSB

our father

OUR: This word fights my tendency towards pride. I must turn away from my selfishness and recognize the one standing next to me – my brother or sister – and be in union with that person. Only then I am able to face God. Therefore, prayer must come not just from me but from us sinners as we stand together and pray together. Have I ever prayed this way, in union with my brothers and sisters who carry the same cross that I carry? So let me pray in this way as I meditate on the words of the perfect prayer that Jesus gave us: not my Father but Our Father….

FATHER: “Holy Communion unites us through Jesus Christ to the three Divine Persons. When I possess Jesus in my heart, I say to the Father: Heavenly Father, I adore Thee, I give Thee thanks, I unite myself to Thy divine Son and with Him, I acknowledge that all I have, all that I am, comes from Thee” (Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB).

our father

By baptism, we become the adopted sons/daughters of the Father. We share in the Sonship of Christ. As Christ stands before the Father, we too can stand before God the Father because we share in the person of Christ, we become alter Christus, other Christs, through baptism. And like Christ, we dare to call God “Abba, Father.” And we also dare to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven ....” who art in heaven

hallowed be thy name

My name means nothing without Your Name. How often people use Your name in foul ways! And not realizing it, they shatter the dignity of their own names! If only we would use Your name not in vain, carefully watching our speech and honoring You by speaking of You with reverence, we would honor one another. Help us, teach us, show us how to honor You and one another that we not kill with our tongues. “In my Father’s house are many rooms … I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). “Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your walls of precious stones” (Isaiah 54:11b-12).

We have established kingdoms in our hearts. And what has that gotten us? Only more misery and sorrow. We traverse the halls of this world, forgetting that we have no control over anything. Yet we still cling to our own domains, believing the fantasy of power and control over things and peoples. Overthrow our kingdoms and let Thy kingdom come!

come

The movement is from heaven to earth. It is the same route You took when You chose to become one of us. You chose to become one of us! And you chose to come into our homes and eat with us (Matthew 9:10)! “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Behold, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21). Your kingdom is here where Your Son is present. Where two or three are gathered in Your name. Where we can pray, “Our Father ….”

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

“Father, if You are willing,” Jesus prayed, “remove this chalice from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Even He prayed in this human way. When we have something disagreeable before us, we first pray against it. But then quickly we need to surrender to the Father’s will. How difficult that is for us to do! And when we find it difficult, we must kneel on that rock at the Mount of Olives where Your Son prayed to You in this way. And we must watch Christ struggle, where an angel from heaven appeared to Him to strengthen Him, and where “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44). There, we offer our petitions to You, and ask that our inability to surrender fully to You can be strengthened by Jesus’ surrender to Your most holy will, so that we may not stand in the way of the establishment of Your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

give us this day our daily bread

Christ says to His apostles: “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). How does Jesus stay with us? He stays with us in the Eucharist. Here is Jesus, under the appearance of bread and wine, for what we receive is His precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Oh how close we would be to our Beloved Lord and Savior if we truly believed that He enters us whenever we receive Holy Communion!

Here begins the hard work of forgiveness, first done by You in Your Son on the Cross. It begins with His prayer to You from the Cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). It actually began much earlier, with Your heart desiring to forgive us in the most radical way possible, You becoming one of us and dying on the Cross for us, defeating death so that we may live. You give us the gift of eternal life, as undeserving as we are. You feed us with Your Son’s body and blood, the daily bread, to forgive us. “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). And we are the recipients of Divine Mercy.

as we forgive those who trespass against us

We find it so hard to forgive. We hold grudges and resentments. To forgive would mean freedom, yet we desire to be less free. Our desires are fallen. We prefer the prison of unforgiveness and sin rather than the light of freedom. How mixed-up is that! Only You can make up for the shortcomings in our work of forgiveness! Whenever we look to Your Son on the Cross and stretch out our hands towards it, desiring all the gifts of mercy from it rather than our own selfish ways, You make up for all that is lacking in our work of forgiveness. And You strengthen us so that we can forgive more perfectly.

and lead us not into temptation

You led Your Son into temptation when Your Spirit drove Him into the desert. You tested Him for 40 days and 40 nights. We are not so strong. We are unable to withstand even a small bit of temptation without caving in to it. Do not lead us into temptation as Jesus was led!

but deliver us from evil

“I know that my redeemer lives” (Job 19:25). We know that you will deliver us from evil because You are love (1 John 4:8) and You love me with a perfect love. Our time here on earth is temporary, a mere valley of tears. Our destiny is heaven, where we will be eternally free from evil. As Your Son had to endure evil here on earth, so must we. But we can overcome that evil while we stay in union with Him. How beautiful it is when we do so, when we rise above our fallen natures and do the unexpected: when we smile and look beyond evil towards our eternal home and not let evil have the last word! The only last word we will utter is the last word of this prayer: “Amen.” So be it. Thy will, not mine, be done!