The Lord’s Prayer, given to us by Jesus himself, has been the anchor of the prayer life of the Church since its very beginnings. If we were to study the evolution of the Liturgy of the Hours, we would learn that it all began because the early Christian community recited this prayer three times a day – once in the morning, once in the evening, and as it gathered to share in the breaking of the bread.
At the base of the Christian “Our Father” is the Jewish Kaddish, a prayer that the children of Israel pray several times a day.
May his great name be magnified and sanctified in the world that he created according to his good pleasure! May he make his reign prevail during your life and during your days, and during the life of the entire house of Israel at this very moment and very soon!
May the name of the Lord – blessed by He – be blessed, praised, glorified, extolled, exalted, honored, magnified, and hymned. It is above and beyond any blessing, hymn, praise, consolation that people utter in this world. Amen.
Though his comments were directed to pagans, I could not help but think of Jesus’ comment about babbling as I was reading over the Kaddish. It actually goes on for another three paragraphs. Although Matthew’s version of the prayer is much longer than Luke’s, it still is economic in its structure. We praise God. We affirm God’s will in our lives. We speak of our needs and we promise to forgive so that we can be forgiven.
Isaiah tells us that God’s word does not fail to achieve God’s will. It is not our words but God’s word that is powerful and effective in accomplishing his will in heaven and on earth.
St. Isidore wrote: “Prayer purifies us.” By that I believe that he meant that prayer transforms us and helps us to conform our will to the will of God. Jesus is the prime example of that kind of prayer, a prayer that was lived out in his actions. The same must be said of us.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator