Monday, February 18, 2013

Pater Knows Best: The Lord's Prayer

The Eucharistic Prayer is finished. The Bread and Wine have been transfigured before our eyes into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. We've called upon the fire of the Holy Spirit and now we are in the presence of Almighty God.

We are standing in the palace of the King of Kings. We are basking in the Light of the World, we the assembled flock of the Good Shepherd.

We stand in heaven itself.

The question, then, is what now? What can you say when you are mere feet away from God Himself?

Exactly what he told us to do. We pray.

This is part eight of my series on the Mass, Guided Missal

Part 1: Opening the Doors
Part 2: A Rite for Wrongs
Part 3: Word.
Part 4: I've Got Good News
Part 5: Offer It Up
Part 6: Holy, Holy, Holy
Part 7: This is My Body




One day, the disciples asked Jesus how they are to pray - fair enough - it's not exactly common sense. Jesus gives them a form that has become the prayer of Christianity. It's so ubiquitous just about everybody knows it, or at least recognizes it. It has become so fundamental, in fact, that we rarely stop to think about what it is we're saying. Let's take a step back and look at the Lord's Prayer with fresh eyes, as though it was our first time reading it. Let's go deeper.

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, 
thy will be done 
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Our Father

From the very first words, Jesus is establishing something new. Something different. As Christians today, we are so used to reciting "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" that we hardly stop to consider the implications. We usually think of "father" to refer not only to one's paternal genetic source, but an authority figure. "Father" has the connotation today of being a bit curt and formal. This is the exact opposite of what Jesus intended. What we translate as "Father", Jesus said as "Abba". Just as we have connotations that go with "Father", the first-century Jews had an implied meaning behind Abba.......it means daddy

Jesus told us to call God our daddies...not just the authority figure on high dispensing punishments and enacting rules. No, what God wants our relationship to be is a close, loving bond. We are the "children of God" because of "the great love the Father has lavished on us" (1 John 3:1). Imagine God pouring out his love on us, embracing us like a daddy holds a newborn. That's how we call God father - not the "higher up" in the celestial chain of command...the head of the family. Our loving protector. Our daddy.

Who art in Heaven

That same God that we call "daddy", we recognize is in Heaven. Does this mean he is a dad perpetually on a business trip? Is he that apart from our lives? No...quite the opposite. The fact that the Father is in Heaven shows his transcendence. He is not bound by time or place. He is eternal. He is everywhere. So God is not on a cloud far, far away...He is right here, right now. He is eternally present for you, wherever you are. 

Hallowed be thy name

Every child looks up to their daddy as the strong one of the family. We, too, look to God to be our "rock and fortress". We want God to be there for us, so we never have to worry. We want to cry out and have our dads come protect us. Is God really that strong? Oh yes...in fact, we proclaim here that God our Father is so strong, even his name is holy. God invited us to share in something so uniquely Him that it is His very identity: His name, Yahweh. Have you ever known of somebody so powerful just mentioning their name has an effect? It's like mentioning that you know the owner when you go to a restaurant or car dealership...only instead of owner, it's "Creator, Lord and Master" and instead of "restaurant" or "car dealership", it's everything that ever was or ever will be. That's how powerful a name can be. 

Thy Kingdom come

We call for the ushering in of God's Kingdom. What Kingdom is that, though? It is the same one Jesus brought when He came to earth - not a Kingdom in earthly terms, but the Kingdom of Love. We call Jesus "King of Kings"...that should imply that he is worthy of imitation. We would do well to be like Jesus. That means not only sharing in his peaceful nature, his generosity, and his miracle-working...but his passion and death as well. God's Kingdom, at least on earth, is one of Love that requires suffering. 

Thy will be done

I'm going to be honest...this is probably one of the hardest lines from this prayer to live by. I have to remind myself everyday that it's "Thy will be done, not my will be done." It's so easy to want what we want...it seems counter-intuitive to want anything different. The question, then, isn't to stop desiring things of the world - riches, fame, glory, sex, pleasure, food, drinks, fun, things - in fact, I doubt we could if we tried. We can say "I don't actually want another bowl of ice cream" as much as we want, but nobody will believe you, least of all yourself. (Trust me, I've tried this.)

No, the challenge isn't denying that you have desires, or even denying that you have desires that might not be the best for you. The challenge is in recognizing your own wishes and wants and still wanting something more. We read in Jeremiah 29 that God "knows the plans he has for you...plans for prosperity and not for harm, plans to give you hope and a future" (11). Let's be honest here...who do you trust more? Fallible little you, or God, who literally invented happiness itself? 

I'm not saying it's easy, or that it will suddenly be easier if you keep reminding yourself "Thy will, not my will". What I am saying is that if you put your trust in God and earnestly desire what he wants above what you want, you won't fail. Because God knows what he's doing. He made you, after all. 

On Earth as it is in Heaven

We've already said that God is in Heaven. It makes sense, then, that his Kingdom is there. The angels worship him constantly in perpetual celestial adoration. Heaven is a never-ending Mass, where all the departed praise God with one voice. That's what we want on earth, too. Humanity crying out as one voice. Crying out against the darkness and the cold. Crying out against injustice and war. Crying out against suffering and sin. Humanity truly as one in God. That's what we become when we celebrate the Mass...on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread

Geez, Catholics sure love bread, huh? It's true...we do! But it's not just because it is delicious, or because it made this possible. Bread is one of those foods that is universal. Practically every culture that is exposed to wheat eventually finds out how to grind it into flour, mix it into dough, and bake it into bread. Not only that, for much of human history it was the "main attraction" of a meal. Sure, you might have an egg or a piece of fruit, but the basic unit of food was bread. So we're not giving God our grocery list...we're asking Him to give us everything we need. We don't ask for a feast...we ask for what is needed for us to survive. 

Not only that, we ask Him to give us this day our daily bread. We don't ask for "this week" or "a lifetime supply" - just this day. We don't concern ourselves with the past, or the future. We rely on God on a daily basis. Saying anything else would be like saying "Okay, I think I'm good...see you in a bit!" No...we're saying "God I need you every day"

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

Of course we want to be forgiven. Whether we admit it or not, we all sin. We are all guilty of flaws and faults and iniquities and perdition. We all have something that we failed in. So it's only natural to want forgiveness. Jesus throws a little condition on with it, though. He says that we will be forgiven "as we forgive". At another point in the Gospel, he says "the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you" (Matthew 7:2). Aside from "measure" (a lot), what is that verse saying? It's saying that when it comes time to be judged, God is going to give us a taste of our own medicine. If you were cruel and unforgiving in this life, guess what you get. 

If we want God to forgive us, we have to make the first move and forgive those around us. Difficult? Yes. But it's no less difficult for God, because we're just as big of sinners as our brothers and sisters. 

Lead us not into temptation

God doesn't want to have to forgive us. He doesn't want us to sin at all. That's why he will never lead us into temptation - we're weak enough as is. God doesn't have to give us any additional motivation to sin. That's what the devil does. The devil tempts us to come away from God. Even our own human weaknesses drive us to sin. 

Believe me, God doesn't have to lead us into temptation. We've got a good handle on it ourselves. 

Deliver us from evil

At the end of the day, we're humans. We're weak. Evil loves to find us, and often evil wins. That's why when it really comes down to it, we need God. We need salvation. We need rescued. That's really what it's all about: God, deliver us from evil, as we are unable to deliver ourselves. We recognize our own weakness as we recognize his strength. And that is the root of all prayer. 


Conclusion

So what does the Our Father say? If it is how we are to pray, what does it say about us as people? Or what does it say about Yahweh, our God? It says that our God is a loving God. A fair God. A just God. Our God is a powerful God. We, as his people, want what he wants. We want to see his Kingdom. We want to see his reign. We want him to provide for us, and protect us, and go easy on us when we slip up. 

The Pater Noster is a fantastic representation of the father-son relationship we have with God - we look up to God and ask those same things a small child asks of his daddy. 

So the next time you pray the Our Father, think of what you're saying. Think of what exactly it is you're asking. 

Even if you don't though, still say it. Talk to your daddy. He misses you, and he loves you. 



Ad crucis

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