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The Lord's Prayer: "Our Father"

Our Father

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.

578. What is the origin of the Our Father?
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 (6:9-12).

579. What is the place of the Our Father in the scriptures?
The Our Father is the “summary of the whole Gospel” (Tertullia), “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.

580. Why is it called the “Lord’s Prayer”?
The Our Father is called the “Oratio Dominnica”, that is, the Lord’s Prayer because it was taught to us by the Lord Jesus himself.

581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayers of the Church?
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.

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