Day 354: The Prayer of the Church (2765-2772)

• It’s Day 354!!

• “THE LORD’S PRAYER”

• THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

• Back after a couple weeks away…

• We will continue to talk about the Lord’s Prayer until Day 365

• Paragraph 2765 says, “The traditional expression ‘the Lord’s Prayer’-oratio Dominica-means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique: it is ‘of the Lord.’ On the one hand, in the words of this prayer the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him: he is the master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the model of our prayer.”

• We also all it The Our Father because we are talking to God, the Father

• Paragraph 2766 says, “But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these words become in us ‘spirit and life.’ Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father ‘sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”’ Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, ‘he who searches the hearts of men,’ who ‘knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.’ The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit.”

• This is a prayer that gives us access to the Father in this really mysterious and unique way

• We are meant to pray IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

• The Our Father is also THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

• It belongs in the context of our private prayer

• It belongs in the context of liturgical prayer

• It belongs in the context of the Church

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, in the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask that you please, please renew in us a Spirit of adoption. Renew in us that Spirit that enables us to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ Lord God, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask that you please renew that in us so that when we pray, we can pray not only with our words and our lips, but also in the depths of our heart, in our very lives. Lord God, in this moment, we give you this moment. In this moment, we give you the rest of our day. In this moment, we give you the rest of this week, the rest of this month, the rest of this year. In this moment, Lord God, we give you the rest of our lives. In this moment, we entrust to you everything. Our cares, our worries, our work, our family, our friends. Everything that battles for our attention, Lord God, we entrust them to you, and we trust you with them. Lord God, come and meet us in our need. Teach us to pray, and help us to live in such a way that you are known, that you are loved, and that your children would come to know and love you as well. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• We call the Our Father because it comes to us from the Lord Himself

• This prayer that comes to us from Jesus is TRULY UNIQUE

• Paragraph 2765 says, “The traditional expression ‘the Lord’s Prayer’-oratio Dominica-means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. The prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique: it is ‘of the Lord.’ On the one hand, in the words of this prayer the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him: he is the master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the model of our prayer.”

• Jesus spent His whole life on earth praying in His human heart, praying in His human nature

• Jesus knows in His human heart the needs of YOUR human heart and reveals them to us in prayer

• Paragraph 2766 says, “But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these words become in us ‘spirit and life.’ Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father ‘sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”’ Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, ‘he who searches the hearts of men,’ who ‘knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.’ The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit.”

• Anyone can pray the Our Father

• BUT…

• Only by the Power of the Holy Spirit can we say that it be TRUE and allow it to TRANSFORM OUR LIVES

• Remember how we said the sacraments are not magic and that they require faith?

• The sacraments require God’s actions

• The Lord’s Prayer is not magic either

• The Lord’s Prayer is not an incantation 

• We are given these words by Jesus

• We are also given His Holy Spirit

• The Words of Christ and the Spirit of Christ enable us to PRAY LIKE CHRIST

• We have the Holy Spirit EVERY TIME WE PRAY

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about his students…

• COME, HOLY SPIRIT! TEACH ME HOW TO PRAY!!

• We need the Holy Spirit because it is the Father who sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!”

• The Lord’s Prayer is also the prayer of the Church

• Paragraph 2767 says, “This indivisible gift of the Lord’s words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the ‘Eighteen Benedictions’ customary in Jewish piety.”

• Paragraph 2768 says, “According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord’s Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer: [The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say ‘my Father’ who art in heaven, but ‘our’ Father, offering petitions for the common Body.”

• Paragraph 2769 says, “In Baptism and Confirmation, the handing on (traditio) of the Lord’s Prayer signifies new birth into the divine life. Since Christian prayer is our speaking to God with the very word of God, those who are ‘born anew…through the living and abiding word of God’ learn to invoke their Father by the one Word he always hears. They can henceforth do so, for the seal of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is indelibly placed on their hearts, ears, lips, indeed their whole filial being. This is why most of the patristic commentaries on the Our Father are addressed to catechumens and neophytes. When the Church prays the Lord’s Prayer, it is always the people made up of the ‘new-born’ who pray and obtain mercy.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about Baptism…

• Everyone gets invited to pray the Our Father together after the child gets baptized

• These are words that the baby cannot pray

• BUT…

• One day, this child will stand with us and not only will he/she receive the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but one day this child will stand with us and pray the Lord’s Prayer 

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike continue with the Rite of Baptism…

• Paragraph 2770 says, “In the Eucharistic liturgy the Lord’s prayer appears as the prayer of the whole Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Placed between the anaphora (the Eucharistic prayer) and the communion, the Lord’s Prayer sums up on the one hand all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement of the epiclesis and, on the other, knocks at the door of the Banquet of the kingdom which sacramental communion anticipates.”

• The next time you go to Mass and participate in the Eucharist and you are standing and praying the Our Father, not only are you summarizing all the prayers that came before this, all the petitions, all the intercessions, this is also the moment when you knock on the door of the heavenly banquet

• The next step is to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ

• Remember that the next time you go to Mass

• Jesus is the Master of prayer and the Model of prayer

• There is no greater master, no greater model, and no greater Lord than Jesus Christ

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I’ll be done eventually…