581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? (part 1)

581. What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? (part 1)      

(Comp 581) The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of the Church par excellence. It is “handed on” in Baptism to signify the new birth of the children of God into the divine life. The full meaning of the Our Father is revealed in the eucharist since its petitions are based on the mystery of salvation already accomplished, petitions that will be fully heard at the coming of the Lord. The Our Father is an integral part of the Liturgy of the Hours.

“In brief”

(CCC 2776) The Lord's Prayer is the quintessential prayer of the Church. It is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office and of the sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Integrated into the Eucharist it reveals the eschatological character of its petitions, hoping for the Lord, "until he comes" (1 Cor 11:26).

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2767) This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day (cf. Didache 8, 3), in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety.

Reflection

(CCC 2768) According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer: [The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say "my Father" who art in heaven, but "our" Father, offering petitions for the common body (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Mt. 19, 4: PG 57, 278). In all the liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office. In the three sacraments of Christian initiation its ecclesial character is especially in evidence:  [IT CONTINUES]

(The question: What place does the Our Father have in the prayer of the Church? continues)