Dear Friends,
There are many treasures within the Eucharistic Prayer, but it is time to continue through to the Our Father. At some point during our Lord Jesus Christ’s public ministry, the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, and what we now call the Our Father or the Lord’s Prayer is what He taught them. Therefore, it’s good for us to remember that we are praying our Lord’s words; we ought not change the words for we are praying with Christ, in Christ, united with Jesus Christ.
I covered the Our Father line by line and in detail last summer into last fall. Because I don’t have the space or time to repeat my reflections, I can only hope you kept those reflections on the Our Father from last year. I will highlight a few of the petitions. Let’s begin with “Our Father.” We call God “Father” because Jesus taught us to call God “Father.” Repeatedly, Jesus Himself calls God “Father,” so we imitate our Lord Jesus. Tragically, there are far too many poor examples of bad, deficient, and negligent fathers on this earth, and those negative example can prevent us from relating to God as Father. Nevertheless, God is the best of Fathers and reveals to us what a father should be.
We later pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are praying for and asking God to provide for our needs today, this day. In honesty, we don’t want daily bread; we want assurance of security and of providence our needs for the rest of our lives. God promises to give us what we need, and we demand our needs be taken care of ten years from now. “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, God provide for our needs today and only today. Furthermore on this petition, the word “daily” is difficult to translate. If we go back to the original language, we’re praying for supersubstantial bread. What is supersubstantial bread but none other than the Bread of Angels: the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist!
Perhaps the most vexing petition of the Our Father is “lead us not into temptation.” Why would God lead us into temptation? We should keep in mind that temptation and sin are not the same things. God allows us, not causing us, to be tempted in order for us to have the opportunity to practice and grow in vice, which also gives us the opportunity to reject sin and vice. Additionally, God allows us to face temptation so that we may know and learn what is in our hearts, what we cherish and desire. At the same time, we ask God to lead us not into temptation because we know we are weak and liable to fall to sin and vice.
Lastly, I want to address posture during the Our Father at Mass. The Mass in general is a prayer, and so is the Our Father; our posture should reflect that reality. It is good to have our hands folded throughout Mass. Married couples sometimes hold hands throughout a good portion of the Mass. When it comes to the Our Father, there is no requirement to hold hands, and the liturgical rubrics do not call for people to hold hands. Therefore, we should be respectful of others if they don’t want to hold hands during the Our Father. It is ok to keep one’s hands folded during the Our Father. Additionally, if a person is not standing around anyone, it is not appropriate to hold one’s hands up in what is called the “orans” position. That is the posture of the priest—standing in persona Christi, in the person of Christ—at prayer. What is most important in all of this is that we lift up our hearts and minds to our Father in heaven who loves us with an incredible intensity.
We are saints under construction, children of God our good Father. Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt