What kind of prayer is the our father

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The Gospel of Matthew In response to his disciples' request "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus gives them the Christian prayer, the Our Father, the prayer of hope.

Jesus presents himself as our model, and invites us to become his disciples and follow him; in humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate. The New Covenant practices almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; its prayer is the "Our Father. What a blessing to call God our Father! Through Baptism we are adopted as Children of God. The free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and a new life.

Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions: first, the desire to become like him, and second, a humble and trusting heart. The Father is in heaven, his dwelling place, our homeland to which we aspire. One of the earliest meditations on the Lord's Prayer was by the bishop and martyr St. He began with a beautiful and profound thought: "The new man, born again and restored to God by his grace, says first of all 'Father' because he has now begun to be a son.

Augustine noted seven petitions in St. Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer, the first three theological for the glory of the Father, which draw us towards him, and the last four present our wants to him and request his grace. The first series of petitions carry us toward him, for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. The second series of petitions are an offering up of our hopes.

The term "to hallow" means to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. Gregory of Nyssa, a Church Father in Cappadocia in Asia Minor, wrote around AD that "of all good things the most important for me is that God's name should be glorified in my life. The sanctification of God's name in the world and our own salvation depends on our life and prayer. The Kingdom of God is in our midst in the Eucharist. This second petition prays for the growth of the kingdom of God in the "today" of our lives, bearing the fruit of new life in the Eight Beatitudes of Jesus.

Of great interest, a rare variant of St. Luke's version in the early Greek manuscripts reads "May the Holy Spirit come upon us and purify us! Gregory of Nyssa continues this concept in his sermon on this phrase: "Therefore the true Physician of the diseases of the soul, who shared the life of man for the sake of those who were sick, gradually weakens the cause of disease through the thoughts contained in the prayer and so restores us to spiritual health.

God's expression of his will is the commandment that "you love one another, even as I have loved you" John This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will. We ask for God's loving plan to be fully realized on earth as it already is in heaven. Through prayer we can discern what is the will of God and obtain the endurance to do it.

May we learn obedience! Christians of all Christian denominations pray it daily, both in the liturgy and privately. We can be so bold as to address God as Father because Jesus has called us to a close relationship with himself and made us children of God.

The Our Father allows us to discover joyfully that we are children of one Father. This passage of Scripture reminds us that men have a spiritual hunger that cannot be satisfied by material means.

One can die for lack of bread, but one can also die because one has received bread alone. No one can deny that evil in the world is devastating in its power, that we are surrounded by devilish suggestions, that there are often demonic processes at work in history.

On your lips, or at least in the depths of your hearts, there abides the prayer of the Lord which begins with the words "Our Father". The prayer which reveals the Father and at the same time confirms that people are brothers and sisters of one another -and whose whole essence is contrary to all programmes based on the principle of conflict between human beings in any form.

The "Our Father" leads human hearts away from enmity, hatred, violence, terrorism, discrimination-from the situations in which human dignity and human rights are trampled upon. Skip to content. All Tweets prev Previous: 3. Next: 3. Forms of prayer. Read more in the book.

Jesus gave us the Our Father, which honours God, asks for what we need, requests and promises forgiveness, and begs for protection. If Jesus, the perfect man, needed to pray how much more us. God does not need us to persuade Him to move but He is waiting for us to be positioned as His channel. Prayer adjusts us to His will, making us fit to live our life in this world. This is a family prayer. He is the Father of our spirits. Prayer starts by renewing our mind that we are new creations, reborn, beloved children of God, who belong in His Presence, with the right and privilege to come to God through the blood of Jesus and that as our Father He will hear us!

We are dependant on God for everything. We must not to take Him for granted or treat Him like just another person or buddy. He is on the Throne in Heaven and rules the universe. Thus our attitude before Him is submission and worship. As our Father His Name is also upon us. So as we declare His Name, we declare also who He is to us through the Blood.

So in this prayer we adjust ourselves to the truth of Who God is to us and who we are in Him. How long do we pray this way?