lord's prayer st mary's press - Total Catechesis

1. Christian Ethics 20
Unit 1.e

2.  At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his
disciples seven petitions (requests) commonly
known as the Lord’s Prayer. We call it the
Lord’s Prayer because the Lord Jesus Christ
gave it to us.

3.  Because this prayer is a summary of all that we
need to live the Christian life, the Church
teaches that the Lord’s Prayer is a summary of
the entire Gospel.

4.  The Lord’s Prayer begins with an address:
“Our Father who art in heaven.” Then seven
petitions follow. A petition is a request for God
to do something for us. But because Jesus gave
these petitions to us, they are more than just
simple requests. They teach us what we really
need to live holy, happy, moral lives.

5.  The Lord’s Prayer has a key place in the prayer
life of Christians for two reasons: first, it comes
to us directly from Jesus, and second, this
prayer lays the foundation for all our desires in
the Christian life. In fact, it is referred to as the
“quintessential (perfect example of) prayer of
the Church” (CCC, number 2776).

6.  Sit opposite a partner.
 Partner A reads one phrase.
 Partner B writes down one question about that
phrase on a sticky note.
 When all the phrases are read by A, switch
places.
 Post Sticky-notes on the appropriate poster.

7. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It is a sign of the new covenant accomplished in
Christ. It means we are God’s people and he is our
Father.

8. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It expresses the certitude of our hope in God’s
promise that we will one day be with him in the
new Jerusalem. We are God’s children forever.

9. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It is a profession of the Trinity, because when we
pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him
together with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

10. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It acknowledges that we pray with the whole
Church, all the baptized.

11. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It leaves our individualism behind because the
love we receive from God frees us from divisions
and oppositions and establishes our relationship
with all God’s people.

12. The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several
meanings:
It is an expression of God’s care for all people,
even those who do not yet know Christ.

13. When we hear “Father,” we understand the word
in light of our experience of earthly fathers and
mothers. The Church tells us to remember that
God as Father is more than any earthly image we
might have. We have to get beyond our personal
experiences of father and mother to meet the
Father that Jesus reveals to us.

14. For Christians, Jesus is the starting point for
understanding God. We can invoke God as Father
because Jesus Christ revealed him to us.

17.  Heaven is not a place.
 Heaven is not a place.
 Heaven is not a … place.
 Heaven is a way of being, a kind of existing.
 Heaven is the state of deep happiness and
loving communion with God.
(How we might have “heaven on earth?)

18.  when we pray “who art in heaven,” our words
are not an expression of place or distance – we
do not mean God is far away from us, on earth.
 If heaven is perfect happiness, saying God is in
heaven is to say that:
Our Happiness Lies Only In God
“who art in heaven” = “who is in heaven”

19.  “Who is in heaven” is an expression of our
desire to be in union with God:
 holy, majestic, and transcendent.
 The words express our desire that God dwell in
our heart and help us to love as he loves.
 They also refers to our eternal destiny: to be
caught up in a love that never ends.

22.  The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer reminds
us of the power of God’s name and of our
responsibility to treat it with great care.
 The petition asks God to “hallow” his name.
Hallow means “to make holy,” and we know
that only God makes things holy.

23.  When we pray “Hallowed be thy name,” we
recognize God as holy – we call for God’s help
for us to remember his holiness.
 Jesus was instructing us to recognize God’s
name as holy and to treat God in a holy way.

24.  The first petition is a summary of all the
petitions that follow, because it calls us to
hallow God’s name in everything we do.
Holy = worthy of spiritual respect or devotion

27.  Jesus preached always about:
the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven)
 It could also be translated as “Reign of God” –
what God wants is perfectly present
(When the Emperor has Reign, everything he
wants happens – this phrase is saying God
before Emperor, God before kings, God before
us.)

28. The Kingdom:
lies ahead of us,
is brought near in Jesus,
is proclaimed throughout the Gospel, and,
since Pentecost, has been coming through the
work of the Spirit.

29.  The petition “thy kingdom come” refers to the
final coming of the Reign of God through
Christ’s return.
 In the Second Coming of Christ, all of history
and all of creation will achieve their fulfillment.

30.  But the Church is also a sign and presence of
the Kingdom of God in the world right now.
 So when we pray this petition of the Lord’s
Prayer, we are also saying that we commit
ourselves to Jesus’ mission here on earth.
“Thy Kingdom Come”
in my LIFE and in the WORLD

31.  But the Church is also a sign and presence of
the Kingdom of God in the world right now.
 So when we pray this petition of the Lord’s
Prayer, we are also saying that we commit
ourselves to Jesus’ mission here on earth.
“Thy Kingdom Come”
in my LIFE and in the WORLD

34. As with God’s name,
it is possible to use “God’s will” in vain:
People justify prejudice and war as God’s will.
Pain and sorrow are explained as God’s will.
For Christians, these expressions of God’s will
cannot be reconciled with the God of love and
mercy revealed to us in Jesus.

35. God’s will:
that we love everyone, even our enemies, with a
love that includes serving, forgiving, and
sometimes suffering, without receiving love in
return.
Praying to our heavenly Father develops in us
the will to become like him, and fosters in us a
humble and trusting heart.