In three verses, St. Luke reveals the foundation of Jesus’ person, his strength, his mission, his relationship to his Father, and how we are to be formed in his image.
These are the crucial things.
First, God is OUR Father. We pray in community to our Father for God’s will and the kingdom of justice and peace to come.
Second, give us our daily needs so that we all share and live in communion together, aware of others’ need.
Third, forgive us, but only as we forgive one another.
Finally, stay with us through it all, even through the last test: death.
Does our prayer look like this, or does our prayer rattle on with all sorts of needs and wants?
This prayer was the first prayer of the early Church. History records that the early Christian community came together three times a day to recite this prayer: in the morning, when they gathered for the breaking of the bread, and in the evening. Over time, the prayer was embellished. The psalms were added. Hymns were sung. Readings were proclaimed. Intercessions were listed. However, the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples is the perfect prayer and teaches us the essential and crucial things about who we are and who we are meant to be.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator