One of the prayers we learn early on is the “Lord’s
Prayer” or the “Our Father.” We recite it so frequently, and usually so
rapidly, that we sometimes don’t pay much attention to the words that we are
actually saying. I know it is easy for me to get distracted and think about
what I have to do next, or some other random thought, as I pray. Even when
standing up at the altar, leading the “Our Father” at Mass and facing all the
people, I can easily be distracted by the people I see in the congregation. I
think about this one I want to ask to do something, or this person I need to
call, or that person who I don’t like, etc. So if you are anything like me, it
is good occasionally to stop and pay attention to the actual words we pray.
The “Our Father” is full of pronouns. However, the
words “I,” “me,” and “mine” never
appear in the prayer. That alone makes it different from much of our
speech.
The first emphasis in the prayer is GOD. “YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done.” The primary emphasis is not on us, but on God.
And the second emphasis is on US as a collective group. We do not pray “give me
this day my daily bread” but “give US
OUR daily bread.” I think that is very different for asking for MY daily bread.
When we pray for us to receive our daily bread, we are praying not only for
what we need but also for what our brothers and sisters and neighbors and
everyone needs. To truly pray this means we are committing ourselves to work
that none of our brothers and sisters–that is all humanity–goes hungry. If we
say these words in prayer, but then do nothing to feed the hungry people of the
world, our prayer is meaningless and empty. Our words have “traction” and
meaning only if we act on them, and to pray “give US this day OUR daily
bread” means we are pledging ourselves to help all in need.
Likewise, we pray “and forgive US OUR trespasses as WE forgive
those who trespass against US.” To
pray this way, it seems to me, means that we are not concerned solely, nor even
primarily, with our own personal transgressions. The personal failings we have
need to be addressed and forgiven, but this prayer teaches us to recognize our
collective hardness of heart and our sin as a community. We sin in perpetuating
racism and homophobia, by permitting the conditions that promote the scandal of
mass shootings, of the epidemic of opioid addiction, of huge disparities in the
distribution of the world’s goods, of allowing the sick and elderly to be
abandoned and forgotten. How well do WE forgive
those who trespass against us, not only as an individual person, but as a
parish, a race, a nation, a Church? That is something to ponder.
The prayer concludes: “And lead US not into temptation, but deliver US from evil. AMEN.” We do not pray for individual deliverance and
protection, but for communal protection. Again, to pray this way means we are
committing ourselves to protect and deliver others, if they be the unborn, the
elderly, the poor, the disabled, the unfortunate. Only if we do this do our
words have any credibility and meaning.
I find the “Our Father” a radical and challenging
prayer. I think it is meant to be so. And I hope that you find it a challenge
to pray too.
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