The Perfect Prayer

We go through our lives constantly repeating the “Our Father”, as we should say it on a daily basis because it is the prayer that Jesus taught us. Sometimes a lot of people have trouble focusing on the meaning of the words of the prayer because saying it becomes so habitual. 

Below is a brief reflection on the prayer that Jesus himself taught us and how we can find a deep meaning in every word of it:

Our Father

God is the Father of every single human being because we all come from him, but in a very real way, we baptized Christians can call God our Father because we are united to Jesus, the Son of God. When we say “Our”, we should not only think of our unity with all Christians as children of God, but of our unity with Jesus himself. We are privileged to share the same Heavenly Father as him. 

Who art in Heaven

When we say this line, we should think of Heaven as God’s dwelling place, and how we hope to be there with him forever. 

Hallowed be thy Name

Since God is the source of all good, his Name reflects goodness and holiness. We should be reverent every time we say his name, and never use it in vain. 

Thy Kingdom come

In the ancient traditions, the king personified his whole kingdom. By asking for God’s Kingdom to come, we are asking for Jesus to come to this earth, and to our lives specifically. He brings the whole kingdom of Heaven when he comes to our hearts. 

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven

How does Christ come into our hearts? When we do God’s will. To do God’s will is to make sure that all of our thoughts, words and actions are in unity with the way that he wants us to think, speak and act. 

Give us this day our daily bread

We ask God to give us what we need for each day, but also to give us the bread that leads to eternal life: the Body of Christ. 

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

When we ask God to forgive us, he expects us to also forgive those who have hurt us. If there are people whom we have not forgiven, we should ask Christ to give us the strength to be like him and forgive with self-giving love. 

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

We should never be afraid of the devil or of falling into sin when we have God on our side. God will deliver us from every evil if we ask him for his grace and use it to live in unity with him. 

For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, now and forever.

God is the Father of all and he is worthy of our worship and love. He constantly calls us to put away our sins, change our lives and be holy.