📖Overview

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, is the prayer that Jesus Himself taught His disciples and is truly the summary of the whole Gospel. It is called the "Lord's Prayer" because it comes to us from the Lord Jesus, the master and model of our prayer. The Our Father is the fundamental Christian prayer and is the prayer of the Church par excellence. It is an integral part of the major hours of the Liturgy of the Hours and of the sacraments of Christian initiation. The prayer contains seven petitions. The first three are oriented toward God: the hallowing of His name, the coming of His Kingdom, and the fulfillment of His will. These draw us toward the Father's glory. The last four petitions commend our needs to God: for daily bread (both material and Eucharistic), for forgiveness of sins as we forgive others, for strength in temptation, and for deliverance from evil. When we say "Our Father," we acknowledge that God is our Father and that we are His children, members of one family. The word "our" expresses the communal nature of Christian prayer. The petition "Thy Kingdom come" expresses the longing for Christ's return and the final establishment of God's reign. "Give us this day our daily bread" asks for the nourishment necessary for life and also for the Bread of Life, the Eucharist. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" makes our prayer conditional on our willingness to forgive others.

💡Key Points