Our Father -
is much more than a prayer!
is much more than a Christian prayer!
It is the prayer of the Jew Jesus, to God his Father.
He taught it to his disciples, when they asked for a prayer!
This prayer, is not addressed to Jesus,
but we pray it, WITH Jesus
to God as our Father.
Jesus said "I am going to my father and your father"
Hence it is a prayer for ALL! all of Humanity!
is much more than a prayer!
is much more than a Christian prayer!
It is the prayer of the Jew Jesus, to God his Father.
He taught it to his disciples, when they asked for a prayer!
This prayer, is not addressed to Jesus,
but we pray it, WITH Jesus
to God as our Father.
Jesus said "I am going to my father and your father"
Hence it is a prayer for ALL! all of Humanity!
Who are ready/willing to believe/accept God as Father!
can pray this text.
can pray this text.
Who will not!!!
When the disciples approached Jesus with the request that they be taught to pray like the disciples of John, the Baptist, Jesus taught them this prayer- Our Father, as we call it.
Jesus, John the Baptist, and all their disciples were Jews.
Jesus in this prayer makes a key revelation of God as Father!
God has been revealing itself/himself/herself from the beginning to humanity in various ways, signs, events, names....
Man who was in recept of such revelations, related himself/herself to the mysterious God through various religious rites.
Disciples of Jesus, later called Christians, came to know this prayer as revealed by Jesus.
Secondly, although Jesus taught this "Prayer" in response to the request of the disciples,
it is much more than all the prayers, formulated by us and by the Christian churches, within and without the liturgy or devotions.
It cannot be in any way compared to the prayers formulated by the church - Ave Maria, Credo, Angelus....It is a pre-Christian prayer.
It is a key-Revelation of Jesus, about the mystery of God,
about his own mission and about the life of human beings.
It is a pity that centuries of Christian discipleship and church-life have not done much to unravel the mysteries contained in this short prayer! Nor do they celebrate this prayer, as I think, we should!
We call God as Our Father. It is the most courageous act of stepping into the Mystery of God, with an earthly address - our father
The next 4 phrases are parts of the mystery of God,
I recommend that we say this prayer with a certain bodily attitude facing the Mystery of God!
We open ourselves, with the external sign of opening our hands, we raise our heads and eyes, not towards any earthly object, not even towards a figure of Jesus or any saint or the tabernacle, but preferably closed eyes in the direction of the sky or space.
1. Our Father! we do not say anything like "God ",
simply address the unknown mysterious as "our father"
Secondly, although Jesus taught this "Prayer" in response to the request of the disciples,
it is much more than all the prayers, formulated by us and by the Christian churches, within and without the liturgy or devotions.
It cannot be in any way compared to the prayers formulated by the church - Ave Maria, Credo, Angelus....It is a pre-Christian prayer.
It is a key-Revelation of Jesus, about the mystery of God,
about his own mission and about the life of human beings.
It is a pity that centuries of Christian discipleship and church-life have not done much to unravel the mysteries contained in this short prayer! Nor do they celebrate this prayer, as I think, we should!
We call God as Our Father. It is the most courageous act of stepping into the Mystery of God, with an earthly address - our father
The next 4 phrases are parts of the mystery of God,
I recommend that we say this prayer with a certain bodily attitude facing the Mystery of God!
We open ourselves, with the external sign of opening our hands, we raise our heads and eyes, not towards any earthly object, not even towards a figure of Jesus or any saint or the tabernacle, but preferably closed eyes in the direction of the sky or space.
1. Our Father! we do not say anything like "God ",
simply address the unknown mysterious as "our father"
There is no greater intimacy than father/mother- children intimacy!
2. who art in Heaven!
God? He/She/It??? the human faculties cannot comprehend.
As to where God is? mysterious! we human beings look up and see a blue sky. Scientists already tell us that the sky is not blue, that space is not blue. It is the human sight that makes it appear as blue-sky. Sky in English, is ciel in French, himmel in german, caelo in Italian.....is no place!
God is Everywhere!
3. Hallowed be thy Name!
Does God have a name? Nameless God! Human beings and their Religions have given innumerable names to signify an aspect. In my mother tongue innumerable titles / Devan, Kadavul, iraivan, Paraman, Andavar,......
4. Thy Kingdom come!
Kingdom, kings, territory... all these are human titles.
God, as the author/ mover/ beginning/end of every conceivable thing, is understood as acting in his realm/Kingdom.
we as human beings, realising ourselves as gifted and honoured among all creation, wholeheartedly welcome the coming/realisation of God's Kingdom.
We do this on the realisation, that all around us there are evils disorders injustices crimes ......
and only the realisation of God's Kingdom will bring an end to this disorder and establish perfection.
5. Thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven!
Perfection or order of this universe will not come merely by human efforts.
But in so far we are a humanity with this planet earth as our home, our life and actions have a role.
In so far as we align our life and activities with the will of the author of humanity, we play a role in the realisation of God's Kingdom on this earth!
It is in its first part a a summing-up of the whole Revelation by Jesus about the unknown, nameless we say God and His plan about a Kingdom and the Realisation of God's will.
In the second part it reveals that human beings live by the gifts of God and by practicing love and mercy for one another. It concludes asking God to lead human beings away from temptation and deliver them from evil.
Jesus taught that God is a Father, as OUR common Father, not simply my father or a father, but Father of all! The other side of this reality is that we all, irrespective of colour, race, religion are all children of one Father God!
- his majesty, his Kingdom, his plan and his will. In the second part only, it is a prayer-to-help, a plead for divine help that we have all that is needed for the terrestrial life and to live among us as his children forgiving one another and be forgiven by him. Finally a plea to give us the grace and strength to face the temptaions of this life.
In the life of the christians and of the church, it has a central place. All christians know this prayer by heart from their childhood and they pray it very often.
Because it is known by heart and prayed often, we all tend to hurry or run through this prayer, without the due consciousness to the key elements or parts of this prayer. Hence I write my thoughts on it, not for biblical Researchers, but for all followers of Jesus Christ.
The Prayer has a meaningful structure of two parts.
Part A-
1. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name!
2. Thy Kingdom come!
3. Thy Will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Part B-
1. Give us this day our daily bread.
2. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Part C-
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(We conclude it often saying - For thine is thy Kingdom, Power and Glory. Amen)
Part A
1.1 Father?
The greatest Revelation through Jesus about God, was to reveal God as our Father. The meaning and consequences of the Fatherhood of God, are immense. The whole humanity are God's childen, not only those who accepted the Revelation through Christ, but also others have to be seen by us Christians, as Children of God and our Brothers and sisters, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural and religious differences. Dignity and Rights of the children of God are due to all of humanity! This implicit accept by humanity is the foundation for formulating and observing the UN Declaration in 1948 as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
1.2 Heaven?
This word has been translated in different languages to mean - the limitless sky ( il caelo, le ciel, Himmel....) when we stand on the earth and look above and around in all directions, the empty space appearing to be blue, is limitless and open!
The sky is not blue in colour, it is our vision of the empty space beyond.
God is. But the word "he exists" or "he does not exist" are meaningless. Does God exist? is a human question formulated, by the categories of rational thinking in man, which is God-given and limited.
God is something or someone beyond the comprehension of rational thinking. As Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of our centuries put it, it is something of a super-human power beyond all forms of existence. Hence there is no question of who, where, is or is not...... These arw questions born out of the limited faculties given to man by God. Heaven is not a place anywhere! God in Heaven, God in his glory/ majesty...
1.3 Name? Hallowed be His Name! But God has no Name, as we have for identification.
Here it is a way of directing honour to what we call God. You are praiseworthy and forever praised.
2.1 Thy Kingdom? What God wants, wants of his creations, His Goal, His intentions... all These are beyond our comprehension. The author of creation and all lives has Plan, we can say. Or we believe that God has a Plan/Intention. we refer to it as His Kingdom, in the human language and experience of kings and their rule on this earth...
2.2 Come? As far as we human beings are concerned, as his creatures, we only welcome or wish that it be fulfilled. Hence we say Come, God's Kingdom on this earth the home of human beings. As we welcome His Kingdom and move towards Him in our lives, we can imagine ourselves as an Advent people, ie. going in a direction to meet the coming one.
3.1 Thy Will be done? God's Intention, plan, wish must be fulfilled on this earth too, among us human beings too, according to God's plan.
3.2 On earth as in Heaven For us human beings with this earh as our home planet, we wish and pray that God's plan and will be fulfilled also among us, on this earth.
4.1 Give us this day our daily bread our total dependence on the creator, the author of our lives, is central to our living on this earth. We Need Food, not only Food, but everything! air water Food, home, knowledge, work, success .... allthat we could imagine.
This is a prayer we learn to recite from childhood. All Christians know it by heart. Often we tend to race fast to its end, without any pause to ponder. Yet this is a unique prayer without a parallel, and sums up in two parts the whole revelation made known through Jesus Christ and the way of life for us human beings designed on his teachings.
2. who art in Heaven!
God? He/She/It??? the human faculties cannot comprehend.
As to where God is? mysterious! we human beings look up and see a blue sky. Scientists already tell us that the sky is not blue, that space is not blue. It is the human sight that makes it appear as blue-sky. Sky in English, is ciel in French, himmel in german, caelo in Italian.....is no place!
God is Everywhere!
3. Hallowed be thy Name!
Does God have a name? Nameless God! Human beings and their Religions have given innumerable names to signify an aspect. In my mother tongue innumerable titles / Devan, Kadavul, iraivan, Paraman, Andavar,......
4. Thy Kingdom come!
Kingdom, kings, territory... all these are human titles.
God, as the author/ mover/ beginning/end of every conceivable thing, is understood as acting in his realm/Kingdom.
we as human beings, realising ourselves as gifted and honoured among all creation, wholeheartedly welcome the coming/realisation of God's Kingdom.
We do this on the realisation, that all around us there are evils disorders injustices crimes ......
and only the realisation of God's Kingdom will bring an end to this disorder and establish perfection.
5. Thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven!
Perfection or order of this universe will not come merely by human efforts.
But in so far we are a humanity with this planet earth as our home, our life and actions have a role.
In so far as we align our life and activities with the will of the author of humanity, we play a role in the realisation of God's Kingdom on this earth!
It is in its first part a a summing-up of the whole Revelation by Jesus about the unknown, nameless we say God and His plan about a Kingdom and the Realisation of God's will.
In the second part it reveals that human beings live by the gifts of God and by practicing love and mercy for one another. It concludes asking God to lead human beings away from temptation and deliver them from evil.
Jesus taught that God is a Father, as OUR common Father, not simply my father or a father, but Father of all! The other side of this reality is that we all, irrespective of colour, race, religion are all children of one Father God!
- his majesty, his Kingdom, his plan and his will. In the second part only, it is a prayer-to-help, a plead for divine help that we have all that is needed for the terrestrial life and to live among us as his children forgiving one another and be forgiven by him. Finally a plea to give us the grace and strength to face the temptaions of this life.
In the life of the christians and of the church, it has a central place. All christians know this prayer by heart from their childhood and they pray it very often.
Because it is known by heart and prayed often, we all tend to hurry or run through this prayer, without the due consciousness to the key elements or parts of this prayer. Hence I write my thoughts on it, not for biblical Researchers, but for all followers of Jesus Christ.
The Prayer has a meaningful structure of two parts.
Part A-
1. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name!
2. Thy Kingdom come!
3. Thy Will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Part B-
1. Give us this day our daily bread.
2. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Part C-
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(We conclude it often saying - For thine is thy Kingdom, Power and Glory. Amen)
Part A
1.1 Father?
The greatest Revelation through Jesus about God, was to reveal God as our Father. The meaning and consequences of the Fatherhood of God, are immense. The whole humanity are God's childen, not only those who accepted the Revelation through Christ, but also others have to be seen by us Christians, as Children of God and our Brothers and sisters, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural and religious differences. Dignity and Rights of the children of God are due to all of humanity! This implicit accept by humanity is the foundation for formulating and observing the UN Declaration in 1948 as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
1.2 Heaven?
This word has been translated in different languages to mean - the limitless sky ( il caelo, le ciel, Himmel....) when we stand on the earth and look above and around in all directions, the empty space appearing to be blue, is limitless and open!
The sky is not blue in colour, it is our vision of the empty space beyond.
God is. But the word "he exists" or "he does not exist" are meaningless. Does God exist? is a human question formulated, by the categories of rational thinking in man, which is God-given and limited.
God is something or someone beyond the comprehension of rational thinking. As Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of our centuries put it, it is something of a super-human power beyond all forms of existence. Hence there is no question of who, where, is or is not...... These arw questions born out of the limited faculties given to man by God. Heaven is not a place anywhere! God in Heaven, God in his glory/ majesty...
1.3 Name? Hallowed be His Name! But God has no Name, as we have for identification.
Here it is a way of directing honour to what we call God. You are praiseworthy and forever praised.
2.1 Thy Kingdom? What God wants, wants of his creations, His Goal, His intentions... all These are beyond our comprehension. The author of creation and all lives has Plan, we can say. Or we believe that God has a Plan/Intention. we refer to it as His Kingdom, in the human language and experience of kings and their rule on this earth...
2.2 Come? As far as we human beings are concerned, as his creatures, we only welcome or wish that it be fulfilled. Hence we say Come, God's Kingdom on this earth the home of human beings. As we welcome His Kingdom and move towards Him in our lives, we can imagine ourselves as an Advent people, ie. going in a direction to meet the coming one.
3.1 Thy Will be done? God's Intention, plan, wish must be fulfilled on this earth too, among us human beings too, according to God's plan.
3.2 On earth as in Heaven For us human beings with this earh as our home planet, we wish and pray that God's plan and will be fulfilled also among us, on this earth.
4.1 Give us this day our daily bread our total dependence on the creator, the author of our lives, is central to our living on this earth. We Need Food, not only Food, but everything! air water Food, home, knowledge, work, success .... allthat we could imagine.
4.2 Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us If we are to live on this planet together as hman beings of all sorts, we Need to love another and forgive one another. Love and mercy are two sides of the same coin. without forgiving one another, we cannot live peaacefully together!
4.3 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Because of sin, there is evil in this world. And more sins are committed by us falling into evil. Hence an Appeal to God, to help us away from falling into evil/temptation. And even if we fall, praying to God to save us.
This is a prayer we learn to recite from childhood. All Christians know it by heart. Often we tend to race fast to its end, without any pause to ponder. Yet this is a unique prayer without a parallel, and sums up in two parts the whole revelation made known through Jesus Christ and the way of life for us human beings designed on his teachings.
