6th Cross: The Our Father Cross

In the Gospel reading for Mass today, Jesus gives us a great gift. He teaches his disciples how to pray as he prays by giving us the Our Father.   It has been said that the Our Father is the perfect prayer, which is not really surprising, and that within its 10 short lines the entirety of the Gospels is summed up, encapsulating all of Jesus' teachings and actions into one supplication which we are all invited to lift up to God. 

Let's take a closer look at this prayer, by focusing on the Our Father cross.  These words start us off: "Our Father who art in Heaven." Calling God "Father" would have been jarring enough for the faithful Jews of Jesus' time but referring to him as "Our Father" was even more so.  Far from being an angry, indifferent, Zeus-like deity, Jesus reveals that God is more like a doting daddy who is near, personal and interested in the lives of His children. 

The next words prayed by Jesus, "hallowed by Your name," are interesting. This is not simply a rote supplication that the name of God be treated as a holy thing by humans through our worship and praise, although that is true. This is an entreaty from Jesus for God Himself to act, to hallow His own name through an act of divine power. The specific action Jesus is praying for is that God will bring His kingdom, already present in Heaven, down to earth.

Jesus emphasizes this petition in the next lines, when he says, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done." He prays for Heaven, the state of perfection - perfect joy, perfect peace, perfect happiness - to be instituted down here as well. All those in Heaven are perfect not because they are robots, but because their wills have become completely attuned to the will of God. That, in fact, is what Heaven is. Heaven is being completely immersed in the presence of God. When we pray to the saints and angels for their intercession, none of them are sneaking out the back door to help us, hoping God doesn't find out. When we pray to them, we are also praying to and with God, because they are all united.  This is the kind of willing submission that Jesus is praying for, and he repeats this by saying "on earth, as it is in Heaven."

The first part of the Our Father is a prayer for God to act in his divine power, but the second part of the prayer turns to focus on the things of earth, especially the needs of humanity. Jesus instructs us to pray for "our daily bread," meaning both the physical things we need that are necessary for life, as well as the spiritual food that equips us for our daily journey and will ultimately lead us home, specifically the Bread of Life that will be instituted at the Last Supper. Praying for bread is a reference to a great feast, an image depicting the kingdom of God used in both the Old and New Testaments.

Next, Jesus prays that God "forgives us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." The word 'debts' is used metaphorically for "sins," and reminds us that just as real debts have to be paid back, that they don't just disappear, our sins also have real consequences. The way to eliminate the debt we ourselves owe due to our sins is to forgive the debts that others owe to us, to forgive those who have sinned against us. Freeing others is what also frees us.

Finally, in Matthew 6:13 Jesus prays that we may not be subjected to the final test, but that we "may be delivered from the evil one." This request refers to a Jewish belief that there would be a severe testing "at the end of the age," and Jesus prays not just for our strength and protection, for our safety from the evil one, but also that we may avoid this final testing altogether. We imitate this prayer again in the Hail Mary, when we ask Mary to "pray for us now, and at the moment of death," so that we will be spared from any last-minute doubt and despair, the final test.  

So, in the Our Father we pray to be caught up into God's kingdom as it descends down to earth, that both Heaven and earth may be united in God. We pray that God Himself does this, and we believe He will hear our prayer because He is a loving father. Secondly, we pray that we, and everyone else on earth, will have all the material and spiritual goods that we need, as proof that God's kingdom is not just ethereal, up there, but is also earthly, down here. Lastly, we pray for the faith to keep praying for this, that our hope in God is not stolen by the evil one. 

Let us pray: Holy Trinity, you know how much we long for Your kingdom to be fully present in every country, city, town and person on earth. Help us to work to make Your kingdom more and more present, and at all times protect us from our common enemy.  And in all things, let us praise you.  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.