The ability to exclaim ‘Father’ requires a purification of all images drawn from the world, and our own personal and cultural history. This helps answer the unjust criticism that to use the title ‘Father’ is an exercise in patriarchy. The Church is specifically rejecting all created categories, and all attempts to turn God into an idol. To pray to the Father is to enter the mystery of a living relationship, since only Jesus Christ, the Son, has made this relationship known. The depths of the relationship remain unknown but the Holy Spirit has allowed an entry into this mystery. The prayer then becomes a communion with the Trinity. This communion recognises that the first aspect of the Our Father is adoration of God as God, before supplication, since He has caused us to be reborn in Baptism and thus adopted us as sons and daughters. In this way the prayer of the Our Father reveals our new self-identity, along with that of God.
The outcome of this prayer is that every Christian should desire to become more like Christ. The Book of Genesis describes Adam and Eve as being originally created in the ‘image and likeness’ of God. After the Fall they kept the ‘image’ but lost the ‘likeness’ which can now only be regained through grace received within the new relationship expressed by the prayer of the Our Father. There is also the need to become trusting like ‘little children’, because it is to them that Jesus promises to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of God.
The expression ‘our’ does not denote possession, but that the promises made in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ and, being His people, we may say ‘Our’ God. The prayer also expresses our hope in God’s ultimate promise, and in the unity of all Christians, since the prayer is that of the Church. The ‘our’, like the ‘us’ at the end of the prayer, excludes no-one and does not admit of division. It therefore becomes the prayer of mission, to encourage all men and women to accept the dominion of ‘Our Father’.
This petition emphasises the goodness of God which is beyond human understanding since He ‘causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good’. It also expresses the covenant between God and ourselves as believers, but includes a basic solidarity will all of humanity, especially those who suffer. This bread is our sustenance, both material and spiritual, and the petition, though not inviting those who seek God’s kingdom into a life of idleness, should relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation.
This reciting of this petition when confronted with poverty and hunger should instil a sense of solidarity, and an exercise of solidarity with the poor. There is an intimate connection between the Our Father and the parables of the Last Judgement. (To be continued).
The Our Father: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (CCC2822-2827)
God the Father desires all people to be saved, and He expresses His forbearance throughout our earthly life so that we might take up the commandment to ‘love one another, even as I have loved you’ (Jn 13:34). The Father’s plan of salvation has been made known through Jesus Christ, and through Christ the believer can benefit (Eph 1:9-11). The Father’s will finds its perfect expression in the human will of Jesus, which is made explicit in the Garden of Gethsemane: ‘not my will, but yours, be done’.
Jesus learnt the human cost of obedience through freely taking up the path of suffering, and every believer must complete the same journey. In our cases this journey remains impossible without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Only then can we surrender our will and choose what Christ always freely chose. The discovery of God’s will is never easy, and those who claim an immediate apprehension of God’s will must be treated with caution. The process of discernment requires perseverance, and prayerful reflection on the deepest desires of the heart. Should these bring peace to the heart, then this is a sign of their truthfulness. In the words of Dante, ‘In his will is our peace’.
