| PITH Press |
| Holy Mass |
|
|
|
Day 27: The Lord's Prayer Our Father... It is only proper to add to the Church's prayer of sacrifice and praise the prayer composed by the Lord Himself. At the same time, the petition within the Lord's Prayer that He "Give us this day our daily bread" has been traditionally interpreted as having a physical meaning and a spiritual meaning connecting it to the Blessed Sacrament. Thus "bread" comes to mean Eucharist, so much so that the Lord's Prayer has become the prayer associated with the preparation for Holy Communion outside Mass and for the sick.The Lord's Prayer is ushered in by the invitation of the priest saying a few words of introduction. The people recite the prayer together: Let us pray with confidence to the Father in the words our Savior gave us. Then the priest follows this prayer and alone prays Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This prayer is an expanded version of the last petition in the Our Father.The people respond with the doxology: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever.Whether within the Liturgy or not, the Our Father is the perfect prayer in that gives us the very essence of what Christ wants from our prayers: Simplicity, directness and intimacy. It offers for us the template for our prayers offered to the Father as well and teaches us over and over again an important reality too readily forgoten in ours, or in any age: that God is OUR FATHER. Realization of this fact really should change our attitude toward the Liturgy. While the liturgy is meant to be our formal act of public worship, it is still meant to encompass and include a deep intimacy with all the participants. We're not just 500 autonomous things in a building. Rather, we're God the Father's children who are worshiping, thanking, loving and praying... together. Silent reflection and commentary Psalm 103:13 "As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on the faithful." |
|
© 2009, PITH Press All rights Reserved |