Christian Ethics 20Unit 1.e

At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples seven petitions (requests) commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer. We call it the Lord’s Prayer because the Lord Jesus Christ gave it to us.

Because this prayer is a summary of all that we need to live the Christian life, the Church teaches that the Lord’s Prayer is a summary of the entire Gospel.

The Lord’s Prayer begins with an address: “Our Father who art in heaven.” Then seven petitions follow. A petition is a request for God to do something for us. But because Jesus gave these petitions to us, they are more than just simple requests. They teach us what we really need to live holy, happy, moral lives.

The Lord’s Prayer has a key place in the prayer life of Christians for two reasons: first, it comes to us directly from Jesus, and second, this prayer lays the foundation for all our desires in the Christian life. In fact, it is referred to as the “quintessential (perfect example of) prayer of the Church” (CCC, number 2776).

Sit opposite a partner. Partner A reads one phrase. Partner B writes down one question about that

phrase on a sticky note. When all the phrases are read by A, switch

places. Post Sticky-notes on the appropriate poster.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It is a sign of the new covenant accomplished in Christ. It means we are God’s people and he is our Father.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It expresses the certitude of our hope in God’s promise that we will one day be with him in the new Jerusalem. We are God’s children forever.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It is a profession of the Trinity, because when we pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him together with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It acknowledges that we pray with the whole Church, all the baptized.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It leaves our individualism behind because the love we receive from God frees us from divisions and oppositions and establishes our relationship with all God’s people.

The use of “our” in the Lord’s Prayer has several meanings:

It is an expression of God’s care for all people, even those who do not yet know Christ.

When we hear “Father,” we understand the word in light of our experience of earthly fathers and mothers. The Church tells us to remember that God as Father is more than any earthly image we might have. We have to get beyond our personal experiences of father and mother to meet the Father that Jesus reveals to us.

For Christians, Jesus is the starting point for understanding God. We can invoke God as Father because Jesus Christ revealed him to us.

Heaven is not a place. Heaven is not a place. Heaven is not a … place.

Heaven is a way of being, a kind of existing.

Heaven is the state of deep happiness and loving communion with God.

(How we might have “heaven on earth?)

when we pray “who art in heaven,” our words are not an expression of place or distance – we do not mean God is far away from us, on earth.

If heaven is perfect happiness, saying God is in heaven is to say that:

Our Happiness Lies Only In God

“who art in heaven” = “who is in heaven”

“Who is in heaven” is an expression of our desire to be in union with God: holy, majestic, and transcendent.

The words express our desire that God dwell in our heart and help us to love as he loves.

They also refers to our eternal destiny: to be caught up in a love that never ends.

The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us of the power of God’s name and of our responsibility to treat it with great care.

The petition asks God to “hallow” his name. Hallow means “to make holy,” and we know that only God makes things holy.

When we pray “Hallowed be thy name,” we recognize God as holy – we call for God’s help for us to remember his holiness.

Jesus was instructing us to recognize God’s name as holy and to treat God in a holy way.

The first petition is a summary of all the petitions that follow, because it calls us to hallow God’s name in everything we do.

Holy = worthy of spiritual respect or devotion

Jesus preached always about:the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven)

It could also be translated as “Reign of God” –what God wants is perfectly present

(When the Emperor has Reign, everything he wants happens – this phrase is saying God before Emperor, God before kings, God before us.)

The Kingdom:lies ahead of us, is brought near in Jesus, is proclaimed throughout the Gospel, and, since Pentecost, has been coming through the work of the Spirit.

The petition “thy kingdom come” refers to the final coming of the Reign of God through Christ’s return.

In the Second Coming of Christ, all of history and all of creation will achieve their fulfillment.

But the Church is also a sign and presence of the Kingdom of God in the world right now.

So when we pray this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we are also saying that we commit ourselves to Jesus’ mission here on earth.

“Thy Kingdom Come” in my LIFE and in the WORLD

But the Church is also a sign and presence of the Kingdom of God in the world right now.

So when we pray this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we are also saying that we commit ourselves to Jesus’ mission here on earth.

“Thy Kingdom Come” in my LIFE and in the WORLD

As with God’s name, it is possible to use “God’s will” in vain:

People justify prejudice and war as God’s will. Pain and sorrow are explained as God’s will.

For Christians, these expressions of God’s will cannot be reconciled with the God of love and mercy revealed to us in Jesus.

God’s will:that we love everyone, even our enemies, with a love that includes serving, forgiving, and sometimes suffering, without receiving love in return.

Praying to our heavenly Father develops in us the will to become like him, and fosters in us a humble and trusting heart.