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A Catechesis on the Our Father

A Catechesis on the Our Father. Referencing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and other sources. By: Matt Nagle, Andrew Rockers, Andrew Zeisel. Preliminary Thoughts. How is it prayed? Reminds us of our baptism Our Father not just my Father The Best possible prayer

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A Catechesis on the Our Father

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  1. A Catechesis on the Our Father Referencing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and other sources. By: Matt Nagle, Andrew Rockers, Andrew Zeisel

  2. Preliminary Thoughts • How is it prayed? • Reminds us of our baptism • Our Father not just my Father • The Best possible prayer • Contains all duties we owe God • Heaven is our Home

  3. A Summary of the Whole Gospel • CCC 2761  The Lord’s Prayer “is truly the summary of the whole gospel.” “Since the Lord... after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, ‘Ask and you will receive,’ and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord’s Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires.”

  4. Last Four Petitions A first Division First Three Petitions Draw us to the Father’s Glory we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope, and set aflame by charity by these three petitions Commend our wretchedness to His grace. give us - Needs of Body and Soul forgive us – Our sin lead us not – protect us in temptation deliver us – freedom from all harm Thy name – God’s Glory Thy kingdom - Union Thy will – Perfect Love

  5. Pater Noster… • Why we call God Father • He created us in His own image and likeness - He governs all things, • We are His adopted sons. • What we owe God as our Father • Honor - We owe God honor in reference to Him (praise), in reference to ourselves (purity of body), and in reference to our neighbors (justice) (110). • Imitation - We owe our Father imitation, and this is accomplished by loving Him, by being merciful to others, and by pursuing and attaining perfection (111). • Obedience - We owe God obedience because “of His dominion”, because of His example (His Son’s obedience to the Father), and because “obedience is good for us” (111).

  6. “Our Father Who Art In Heaven” • CCC 2780  We can invoke God as “Father” because he is revealed to us by his Son become man and because his Spirit makes him known to us. The personal relation of the Son to the Father is something that man cannot conceive of nor the angelic powers even dimly see: and yet, the Spirit of the Son grants a participation in that very relation to us who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are born of God. • CCC 2802 “Who art in heaven” does not refer to a place but to God’s majesty and his presence in the hearts of the just. Heaven, the Father’s house, is the true homeland toward which we are heading and to which, already, we belong.

  7. Qui es in Caelis • St. Thomas’ Threefold Meaning of “who art in Heaven”: • The Glory of Heaven (prepares us to pray): • The Nearness of the Hearer • The Power of the Hearer

  8. Hallowed be Thy Name to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way rather than to make holy We pray that all will hallow God. It draws us into His plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, that we might "be holy and blameless before him in love “ CCC 2807 An attribute of God – His Holiness

  9. SanctificeturNomenTuum • Hallowed be thy Name – Hallowed comes from the Latin word sanctum (holy or hallowed) • God’s Name is…Wonderful, Lovable and Venerable – “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, on earth and under the earth.” Phil. 2:10 • ‘of things in Heaven’ – “refers to the angels and the blessed.” • ‘of things on earth – the inhabitants of earth, “who bow for love of the Heaven which they desire to obtain.” (12); • Under the earth – refers to the damned who bow “out of fear”

  10. “Hallowed Be Thy Name” • CCC 2814  When we say “hallowed be thy name,” we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God’s grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly “hallowed be thy name ‘in us,’” for we ask that it be so in all men. • CCC 2815  This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it is prayed in the name of Jesus. In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: “Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given me.”

  11. Thy Kingdom come • We pray for/that • God’s grace be here and now • Unity in the Church • Live a graced life • Final Coming of the Reign of God and our entrance into it

  12. AdveniatRegnum Tuum • Why must we pray “Thy Kingdom Come?” • So that all things may become subject to Him • “God by His very essence and nature is Lord of all…Consequently, all things ought to be subject to Him. However, they are not subject as yet, but will be at the end of the world… “ (124) • Because kingdom signifies the glory of Paradise • When we pray Thy Kingdom come, we ask to be made partakers of the heavenly Kingdom and the glory of Paradise” (125) • Because sometimes sin reigns in this world • When we pray this petition we are praying that God rather than sin may reign in us and in the world. (127)

  13. “Thy Kingdom Come” • CCC 2818  In the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come” refers primarily to the final coming of the reign of God through Christ’s return. But, far from distracting the Church from her mission in this present world, this desire commits her to it all the more strongly. Since Pentecost, the coming of that Reign is the work of the Spirit of the Lord who “complete[s] his work on earth and brings us the fullness of grace.”

  14. “Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven” • CCC 2822  Our Father “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He “is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish.” His commandment is “that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will.

  15. Thy Will be Done • Tertulian – we are not afraid that God’s will can be thwarted • “Not my will but Your will be done” Luke 22:42

  16. Fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. • God’s Will for us • Eternal Life: “God wills that we may have eternal life, because whoever makes a certain thing for a certain purpose wills that purpose for it.” When we pray this petition we are asking that God’s will for us to have eternal life be fulfilled in us who are on earth as it is being fulfilled in the saints who are in heaven. 130 • Obedience to the Commandments: “when we say Thy will be done, we pray that we may keep God’s commandments; and this will of God is fulfilled in the righteous, but not yet fulfilled in sinners. Now the righteous signify Heaven and sinners by earth. Hence we pray that God’s will be done one earth, i.e., in sinners, even as it is done in Heaven, i.e., in the righteous.” 132 • Restoration of the original dignity of man: “God wills that man be restored to the state and dignity in which the first man was created.” (133) We pray for this to occur in our body and soul.

  17. “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” • The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for our pilgrimage (St. Augustine, Sermo 57,7). • The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67).

  18. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie • The twofold meaning of bread • Sacramental Bread – “Thus, we ask for our Sacramental Bread, which is prepared for us every day in the Church, praying that as we receive it sacramentally, so may it profit us unto salvation.” 141 • The Word of God – “Again, this bread means the Word of God…Hence we pray to Him to give us bread, that is to say, His Word. From this there arises in man the beatitude of hungering for righteousness, because the possession of spiritual goods increases our desire for them. The desire begets that hunger whose reward is the fullness of eternal life.” 141

  19. “And Forgive Us Our Trespasses, as We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us” • CCC 2838  This petition is astonishing. If it consisted only of the first phrase, “And forgive us our trespasses,” it might have been included, implicitly, in the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, since Christ’s sacrifice is “that sins may be forgiven.” But, according to the second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the single word “as.”

  20. Et dimittenobisdebita nostra, sicut et nosdimittimusdebitoribusnostris • Reasons for Asking for Forgiveness • That we may be ever fearful and humble: All should acknowledge themselves to be sinners and debtors, and, as such, should be fearful and humble. • That we should ever live in hope: “for even though we are sinners, we must not despair…It is, therefore, most profitable for us to hope always, since however great a sinner a man may be, he should hope that God will forgive him if he is thoroughly contrite and converted. This hope is strengthened in us when we pray, forgive us our trespasses.” 144-145

  21. “And Lead Us Not into Temptation” • CCC 2846 This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to “lead” us into temptation. “God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one”; on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle “between flesh and spirit”; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.

  22. Et ne nosinducas in tentationem; sedliberanos a Malo • And Lead us not into temptation: “Christ in the foregoing petition taught us to ask that we may be able to avoid sin – that is, that we be not led into temptation and thus fall into sin.” 149 • But deliver us from evil: “In this petition, He bids us pray to be safeguarded from evils. This is a general petition against all evils (namely, sins, sickness and afflictions). Seeing, however, that mention has already been made of sin and temptation, it remains for other evils to be mentioned (namely, the trials and afflictions of this world), from which God delivers us in four ways:” 155 • God prevents evil –if He so chooses • God comforts the suffering • God rewards the afflicted. • God strengthens men through trials

  23. “But Deliver Us from Evil” • CCC 2854  When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ’s return. By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has “the keys of Death and Hades,” who “is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

  24. Bibliography • St. Thomas Aquinas, The Aquinas Catechism: A Simple Explanation of the Catholic Faith by the Church’s Greatest Teacher, (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2000) • Catechism of the Catholic Church • http://www.marcusjlewis.com/2011/05/11/our-father/ • https://secure.www.pacifier.com/rosary-center.org/ll48n1.htm

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