ARTICLE 3 - THE SEVEN PETITIONS
2803 After we have placed ourselves in the presence of God our Father to adore and to
love and to bless him, the Spirit of adoption stirs up in our hearts seven petitions, seven
blessings. The first three, more theological, draw us toward the glory of the Father; the
last four, as ways toward him, commend our wretchedness to his grace. "Deep calls to
deep."[63]
2804 The first series of petitions carries 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. In
none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the burning desire, even anguish,
of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes us:[64] "hallowed be thy name, thy
kingdom come, thy will be done...." These three supplications were already answered in
the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final
fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all.[65]
2805 The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement as certain
Eucharistic epicleses: as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down upon itself
the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern us from this very
moment, in our present world: "give us . . . forgive us . . . lead us not ... deliver us...." The
fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the
last two concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of prayer.
2806 By the three first petitions, we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope, and set
aflame by charity. Being creatures and still sinners, we have to petition for us, for that
"us" bound by the world and history, which we offer to the boundless love of God. For
through the name of his Christ and the reign of his Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes
his plan of salvation, for us and for the whole world.
I. "HALLOWED BE THY NAME"
2807 The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense
(only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as
holy, to treat in a holy way. And so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes
understood as praise and thanksgiving.[66] But this petition is here taught to us by Jesus
as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are
involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the
innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity.
Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness
for the fullness of time, "according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ," that we
might "be holy and blameless before him in love."[67]
2808 In the decisive moments of his economy God reveals his name, but he does so by
accomplishing his work. This work, then, is realized for us and in us only if his name is
hallowed by us and in us.
2809 The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal mystery. What is
revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture calls "glory," the radiance of his
majesty.[68] In making man in his image and likeness, God "crowned him with glory and
honor," but by sinning, man fell "short of the glory of God."[69] From that time on,
God was to manifest his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore
man to the image of his Creator.[70]
2810 In the promise to Abraham and the oath that accompanied it,[71] God commits
himself but without disclosing his name. He begins to reveal it to Moses and makes it
known clearly before the eyes of the whole people when he saves them from the
Egyptians: "he has triumphed gloriously."[72] From the covenant of Sinai onwards, this
people is "his own" and it is to be a "holy (or "consecrated": the same word is used for
both in Hebrew) nation,"[73] because the name of God dwells in it.
2811 In spite of the holy Law that again and again their Holy God gives them - "You
shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" - and although the Lord shows
patience for the sake of his name, the people turn away from the Holy One of Israel and
profane his name among the nations.[74] For this reason the just ones of the old
covenant, the poor survivors returned from exile, and the prophets burned with passion
for the name.
2812 Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the flesh,
as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his sacrifice.[75] This is the heart
of his priestly prayer: "Holy Father . . . for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also
may be consecrated in truth."[76] Because he "sanctifies" his own name, Jesus reveals to
us the name of the Father.[77] At the end of Christ's Passover, the Father gives him the
name that is above all names: "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."[78]
2813 In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."[79] Our Father calls us to
holiness in the whole of our life, and since "he is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification,"[80] both his glory and our
life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first
petition.
By whom is God hallowed, since he is the one who hallows? But since he said, "You
shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy," we seek and ask that we who were
sanctified in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be. And we ask this
daily, for we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our
sins by being sanctified continually.... We pray that this sanctification may remain in
us.[81]
2814 The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life
and our prayer:
We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all
creation .... It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name
of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God's name is blessed when
we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: "The name
of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We ask then that, just as
the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls.[82]
When we say "hallowed be thy name," we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are
in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept
that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say
expressly "hallowed be thy name 'in us,"' for we ask that it be so in all men.[83]
2815 This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled
by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it is prayed in the name of
Jesus.[84] In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: "Holy Father, protect in your name those
whom you have given me."[85]
II. "THY KINGDOM COME"
2816 In the New Testament, the word basileia can be translated by "kingship" (abstract
noun), "kingdom" (concrete noun) or "reign" (action noun). The Kingdom of God lies
ahead of us. It is brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the
whole Gospel, and it has come in Christ's death and Resurrection. The Kingdom of God
has been coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst. The
kingdom will come in glory when Christ hands it over to his Father:
It may even be . . . that the Kingdom of God means Christ himself, whom we daily
desire to come, and whose coming we wish to be manifested quickly to us. For as he is
our resurrection, since in him we rise, so he can also be understood as the Kingdom of
God, for in him we shall reign.[86]
2817 This petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: "Come, Lord
Jesus."
Even if it had not been prescribed to pray for the coming of the kingdom, we would
willingly have brought forth this speech, eager to embrace our hope. In indignation the
souls of the martyrs under the altar cry out to the Lord: "O Sovereign Lord, holy and
true, how long before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the
earth?" For their retribution is ordained for the end of the world. Indeed as soon as
possible, Lord, may your kingdom come![87]
2818 In the Lord's Prayer, "thy kingdom come" refers primarily to the final coming of
the reign of God through Christ's return.[88] But, far from distracting the Church from
her mission in this present world, this desire commits her to it all the more strongly.
Since Pentecost, the coming of that Reign is the work of the Spirit of the Lord who
"complete[s] his work on earth and brings us the fullness of grace."[89]
2819 "The kingdom of God [is] righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."[90]
The end-time in which we live is the age of the outpouring of the Spirit. Ever since
Pentecost, a decisive battle has been joined between "the flesh" and the Spirit.[91]
Only a pure soul can boldly say: "Thy kingdom come." One who has heard Paul say,
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies," and has purified himself in action,
thought and word will say to God: "Thy kingdom come!"[92]
2820 By a discernment according to the Spirit, Christians have to distinguish between
the growth of the Reign of God and the progress of the culture and society in which
they are involved. This distinction is not a separation. Man's vocation to eternal life does
not suppress, but actually reinforces, his duty to put into action in this world the energies
and means received from the Creator to serve justice and peace.[93]
2821 This petition is taken up and granted in the prayer of Jesus which is present and
effective in the Eucharist; it bears its fruit in new life in keeping with the Beatitudes.[94]
III. "THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS
IN HEAVEN"
2822 Our Father "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth."[95] He "is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish."[96] His
commandment is "that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also
love one another."[97] This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his
entire will.
2823 "He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
that he set forth in Christ . . . to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things
on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according
to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and
will."[98] We ask insistently for this loving plan to be fully realized on earth as it is
already in heaven.
2824 In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly
fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: "Lo, I have come to do your
will, O God."[99] Only Jesus can say: "I always do what is pleasing to him."[100] In the
prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: "not my will, but yours be
done."[101] For this reason Jesus "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the
present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father."[102] "And by that will we
have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."[103]
2825 "Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what he suffered."[104]
How much more reason have we sinful creatures to learn obedience - we who in him
have become children of adoption. We ask our Father to unite our will to his Son's, in
order to fulfill his will, his plan of salvation for the life of the world. We are radically
incapable of this, but united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can
surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen: to do
what is pleasing to the Father.[105]
In committing ourselves to [Christ], we can become one spirit with him, and thereby
accomplish his will, in such wise that it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven.[106]
Consider how Jesus Christ] teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue
does not depend on our work alone but on grace from on high. He commands each of
the faithful who prays to do so universally, for the whole world. For he did not say "thy
will be done in me or in us," but "on earth," the whole earth, so that error may be
banished from it, truth take root in it, all vice be destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it,
and earth no longer differ from heaven.[107]
2826 By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do
it.[108] Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words,
but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven."[109]
2827 "If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."[110] Such
is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist.
Her prayer is also a communion of intercession with the all-holy Mother of God[111]
and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone:
It would not be inconsistent with the truth to understand the words, "Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven," to mean: "in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ
himself"; or "in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the Bridegroom who has
accomplished the will of the Father."[112]
IV. "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD"
2828 "Give us": The trust of children who look to their Father for everything is
beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just
and on the unjust."[113] He gives to all the living "their food in due season."[114] Jesus
teaches us this petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is,
beyond all goodness.
2829 "Give us" also expresses the covenant. We are his and he is ours, for our sake. But
this "us" also recognizes him as the Father of all men and we pray to him for them all, in
solidarity with their needs and sufferings.
2830 "Our bread": The Father who gives us life cannot not but give us the nourishment
life requires - all appropriate goods and blessings, both material and spiritual. In the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father's
providence.[115] He is not inviting us to idleness,[116] but wants to relieve us from
nagging worry and preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God:
To those who seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he has
promised to give all else besides. Since everything indeed belongs to
God, he who possesses God wants for nothing, if he himself is not
found wanting before God.[117]
2831 But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another
profound meaning of this petition. The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians
who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal
behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord's Prayer
cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last
Judgment.[118]
2832 As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth "rise"
by the Spirit of Christ.[119] This must be shown by the establishment of justice in
personal and social, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that
there are no just structures without people who want to be just.
2833 "Our" bread is the "one" loaf for the "many." In the Beatitudes "poverty" is the
virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods,
not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs
of others.[120]
2834 "Pray and work."[121] "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if
everything depended on you."[122] Even when we have done our work, the food we
receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it and to thank him, as
Christian families do when saying grace at meals.
2835 This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger
from which men are perishing: "Man does not live by bread alone, but . . . by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God,"[123] that is, by the Word he speaks and the
Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to proclaim the good news
to the poor." There is a famine on earth, "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD."[124] For this reason the specifically Christian
sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: The Word of God accepted in
faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.[125]
2836 "This day" is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord,[126] which we
would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers above all to his Word and to the
Body of his Son, this "today" is not only that of our mortal time, but also the "today" of
God.
If you receive the bread each day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he
rises for you every day. How can this be? "You are my Son, today I have begotten you."
Therefore, "today" is when Christ rises.[127]
2837 "Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a
temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of "this day,"[128] to confirm us in
trust "without reservation." Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary
for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence.[129] Taken
literally (epi-ousios: "super-essential"), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of
Christ, the "medicine of immortality," without which we have no life within us.[130]
Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: "this day" is the Day of the
Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the
foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy
to be celebrated each day.
The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a
bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body
and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily
bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All
these are necessities for our pilgrimage.[131]
The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven.
[Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in
the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars,
furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.[132]
V. "AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE
FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST
US"
2838 This petition is astonishing. If it consisted only of the first phrase, "And forgive us
our trespasses," it might have been included, implicitly, in the first three petitions of the
Lord's Prayer, since Christ's sacrifice is "that sins may be forgiven." But, according to the
second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict
requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come first, for the
two parts are joined by the single word "as."
And forgive us our trespasses . . .
2839 With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his
name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made
more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to
sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal
son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him.[133] Our
petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm
because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."[134] We find the
efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.[135]
2840 Now - and this is daunting - this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts
as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the
Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love
the brother or sister we do see.[136] In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our
hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father's merciful
love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to his grace.
2841 This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and
which he develops explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount.[137] This crucial requirement
of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But "with God all things are
possible."[138]
. . . as we forgive those who trespass against us
2842 This "as" is not unique in Jesus' teaching: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect"; "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful"; "A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that
you also love one another."[139] It is impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by
imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming
from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God.
Only the Spirit by whom we live can make "ours" the same mind that was in Christ
Jesus.[140] Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves
"forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave" us.[141]
2843 Thus the Lord's words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end,[142] become
a living reality. The parable of the merciless servant, which crowns the Lord's teaching
on ecclesial communion, ends with these words: "So also my heavenly Father will do to
every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."[143] It is there, in
fact, "in the depths of the heart," that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our
power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy
Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt
into intercession.
2844 Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies,[144] transfiguring the
disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian
prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer.
Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. The martyrs
of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental
condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with
one another.[145]
2845 There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness,[146] whether one
speaks of "sins" as in Luke (11:4), "debts" as in Matthew (6:12). We are always debtors:
"Owe no one anything, except to love one another."[147] The communion of the Holy
Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relation ship. It is lived out in prayer,
above all in the Eucharist.[148]
God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart
from the altar so that he may first be reconciled with his brother. For God can be
appeased only by prayers that make peace. To God, the better offering is peace,
brotherly concord, and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.[149]
VI. "AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION"
2846 This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our
consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to "lead" us into temptation.
It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means
both "do not allow us to enter into temptation" and "do not let us yield to
temptation."[150] "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one";[151]
on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the
way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this
petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.
2847 The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the
growth of the inner man,[152] and temptation, which leads to sin and death.[153] We
must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally,
discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a "delight
to the eyes" and desirable,[154] when in reality its fruit is death.
God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings.... There is a certain
usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has received from him,
not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves,
and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the
goods that temptation has revealed to us.[155]
2848 "Lead us not into temptation" implies a decision of the heart: "For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.... No one can serve two masters."[156] "If we
live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."[157] In this assent to the Holy Spirit the
Father gives us strength. "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the
temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure
it."[158]
2849 Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his
prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in
the ultimate struggle of his agony.[159] In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ
unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion
with his own. Vigilance is "custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father:
"Keep them in your name."[160] The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep
watch.[161] Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last
temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. "Lo, I am coming like a
thief! Blessed is he who is awake."[162]
VII "BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL"
2850 The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus' prayer: "I am not asking
you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil
one."[163] It touches each of us personally, but it is always "we" who pray, in
communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. The
Lord's Prayer continually opens us to the range of God's economy of salvation. Our
interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of
Christ, the "communion of saints."[164]
2851 In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil
One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself
across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.
2852 "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the
deceiver of the whole world."[165] Through him sin and death entered the world and by
his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and
death."[166] Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was
born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil
one."[167]
The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and
keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is
accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God
does not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against us?"[168]
2853 Victory over the "prince of this world"[169] was won once for all at the Hour
when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this
world, and the prince of this world is "cast out."[170] "He pursued the woman"[171] but
had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin
and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the
Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the
woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring."[172] Therefore the
Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus,"[173] since his coming will deliver us
from the Evil One.
2854 When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from
all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final
petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with
deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of
peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this
way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and
everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and
who is to come, the Almighty."[174]
Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that
aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as
we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.[175]
ARTICLE 4 - THE FINAL DOXOLOGY
2855 The final doxology, "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and
forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions to our Father: the
glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the power of his saving will. But
these prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of
heaven.[176] The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three
titles of kingship, power, and glory.[177] Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father
and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of salvation
will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all.[178]
2856 "Then, after the prayer is over you say 'Amen,' which means 'So be it,' thus
ratifying with our 'Amen' what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us."[179]
IN BRIEF
2857 In the Our Father, the object of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father:
the sanctification of his name, the coming of the kingdom, and the fulfillment of his will.
The four others present our wants to him: they ask that our lives be nourished, healed of
sin, and made victorious in the struggle of good over evil.
2858 By asking "hallowed be thy name" we enter into God's plan, the sanctification of
his name - revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus - by us and in us, in every nation and
in each man.
2859 By the second petition, the Church looks first to Christ's return and the final
coming of the Reign of God. It also prays for the growth of the Kingdom of God in the
"today" of our own lives.
2860 In the third petition, we ask our Father to unite our will to that of his Son, so as to
fulfill his plan of salvation in the life of the world.
2861 In the fourth petition, by saying "give us," we express in communion with our
brethren our filial trust in our heavenly Father. "Our daily bread" refers to the earthly
nourishment necessary to everyone for subsistence, and also to the Bread of Life: the
Word of God and the Body of Christ. It is received in God's "today," as the
indispensable, (super-) essential nourishment of the feast of the coming Kingdom
anticipated in the Eucharist.
2862 The fifth petition begs God's mercy for our offences, mercy which can penetrate
our hearts only if we have learned to forgive our enemies, with the example and help of
Christ.
2863 When we say "lead us not into temptation" we are asking God not to allow us to
take the path that leads to sin. This petition implores the Spirit of discernment and
strength; it requests the grace of vigilance and final perseverance.
2864 In the last petition, "but deliver us from evil," Christians pray to God with the
Church to show forth the victory, already won by Christ, over the "ruler of this world,"
Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and to his plan of salvation.
2865 By the final "Amen," we express our "fiat" concerning the seven petitions: "So be
it."
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