Religious Education with Mrs Skelly
Our Father's Day
This coming Sunday is Father’s Day. It is a day to give thanks for the gift of fathers.
It also provides us with an opportunity to think about our first Father … OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN - the perfect example of a loving, compassionate, merciful and wise ‘Dad’.
The Lord’s Prayer, also called the Our Father, is the best known and recited prayer in Christianity and it is the perfect prayer to God, our Father. It captures the entire religion’s beliefs. Not surprising since it was Jesus Himself who taught His apostles to pray it when they asked him… ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Lk 11:1-4).
St. Cyprian wrote, “My dear friends, the Lord’s Prayer contains many great mysteries of our faith. In these few words there is great spiritual strength.” Sadly, this prayer is often said only on rote memorization which means people miss out on this. Pope Francis commented, “How many times there are people who say, ‘Our Father,’ but do not know what they say! … Do you feel that when you say ‘Father,’ that he is the Father, your Father, the Father of humanity, the Father of Jesus Christ?... Do you have a relationship with this Father? … When we pray this prayer, we are connecting with a loving Father… the Holy Spirit gives us this connection with him, the feeling of being God’s child.
WHAT DO THE WORDS OF THE OUR FATHER ACTUALLY MEAN?
- Our Father, Who art in heaven Jesus didn’t tell us to say, “My Father” but stressed “Our Father.” We don’t live as isolated individuals but we experience God’s fatherhood as members of one family with Jesus the Son. This reminds us that we recognise each other as children of God, pray for each other, and treat each other accordingly.
- Hallowed be Thy Name Hallowed is another word for holy. We recognise that God’s name is holy, and ask that His name be recognised by everyone throughout the world. The holy name of God is often used without thought or reverence, or even misused in today’s world. It is worth noting that the actual name of God is considered to be so holy to the Jewish people that it is never spoken.
- Thy Kingdom come We are asking that God’s kingdom (where there’s only goodness, honesty, and love for one another) surround us today in our everyday life. We are also praying for the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise of eternal life at the end of time.
- Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven We pray for God’s grace to help us to do His will throughout our life (love God and love neighbour) – in big and little things – eg. moving an elderly parent into our home, volunteering regular time to help a neighbour, not spreading gossip, forgiving someone who has hurt us, being patient and kind etc.
- Give us this day our daily bread Here we acknowledge that all things we really need come from God. We ask God to continue to give us not only the food we need for nourishment, but faith, hope and strength. We also ask for the Bread of Life the Eucharist.
- And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us God knows that when there is bitterness and anger in our hearts, there’s no room for His love to fill our hearts. Forgiving someone and letting go of grudges is often easier said than done. Only God can give us the strength to do it through prayer.
- And lead us not into temptation Temptation and sin go hand in hand. When we come face to face with temptation, it can sometimes be difficult to resist. That’s why we need our Father to give us spiritual strength to resist temptation.
- But deliver us from evil Evil is a reality in our world. We will always be tempted to veer from the right path onto the wrong one. But evil has no power over God and when we pray to God for protection against all that is evil, He will shield us — always.
When praying the Our Father let us stop and reflect on the words we are saying and let them transform our lives…
“The meaning of the Our Father … aims to form our being, to train us in the inner attitude of Jesus.” Pope Benedict XVI
