Our Father

One

First Two Words of the Lord’s Prayer

When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He taught them the Our Father. This is, word-for-word, how Jesus wants us to pray. We say it at every mass, before communion. The Our Father is actually the basic template the Catechism uses to present the entire life of prayer. And, of course, we say it at the start of each decade of the Rosary. Before we speak to Our Mother in the Hail Mary, we pause to honor Our Father. 

And these first two words, these shocking words! Human beings calling God their Father? It’s like if a couple blades of grass called a human being their father. After all, the distance between grass and men is actually a lot less than between men and God.

So what does it actually mean, what can it mean, to call God “Our Father”? 

Two

“Our”

Before anything else, notice that the possessive is first person plural. We haven’t been instructed to pray “My Father,” but “Our Father.” 

Even if we’re praying alone in our bedroom, we’re supposed to say “Our”. Because part of salvation isn’t just uniting with God the Father, through Christ, in the Spirit. It’s uniting with each other.

A Father’s never happy if His children all love Him but don’t get along with each other. In fact, it’s one of the worst pains a parent can have when the kids grow apart.

So the Lord demands that we approach His Father together. And the Father hears us more willingly when we call to Him in this prayer together.

St. Ambrose says, “Many insignificant people, when they are gathered together and are of one mind, become powerful, and the prayers of many cannot but be heard.”

Think of how many of us are praying the Our Father together tonight! Think of that power!

When you say “Our Father,” say it as a representative of this group and know that it makes God happy to hear so many people calling His name united together.

Three

He is Our Father

We said at first that for us to call God “Our Father” seems like blades of grass calling a human being their father. But, of course, a human being hasn’t created grass. And a human being hasn’t recreated grass. But God has done that for us. 

He has made us, and made us like Himself, capable of knowing the truth, willing the good, delighting in beauty. And then He has made us again, recreated us, caused us to be reborn in grace.

So now we are even more like Him. We have His Spirit, His life, inside us. To the extent that we don’t stop Him, the Holy Spirit shapes us to look more and more like Christ every day. And since Christ is the perfect reflection of the Father, the more we look like Christ, the more we will look like Our Heavenly Father.

You know, in the days before paternity tests, if there was some doubt about who a child’s father was, everybody would look at the child and see how much he resembled the man. If a man was convinced that the child looked sufficiently like himself, he would acknowledge the child as his own.

So when we say, “Our Father,” what we mean, in fact, is that the Eternal God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, has looked at each one of us and said, “He looks like Me. She looks like Me. I see Myself in them. They are my Children. I am Their Father.”

What a joy to be acknowledged by such a Father! What a joy to know that we are like someone so infinitely good and that, no matter how badly we’ve failed, He still sees His goodness reflected in us.

Four

Not a Father to be Taken Lightly

It’s a great blessing to have God as Our Father but it’s not something to take lightly.

In both the Old and the New Testament, God is presented as a Father who chastises the children He loves. As C.S. Lewis says, He’s not some happy-go-lucky old man who “likes to see the young people enjoying themselves.” He’s someone who wants the best for His children. Who doesn’t want them spoiled, ruined, by self-indulgence and cowardice.

He’s a great Father, and like all great fathers, He believes in His children and expects greatness from them. He knows that happiness is found in heroism, and that’s what He wills for all His kids, even when they don’t want it for themselves.

Remember when this Father’s Firstborn Son knelt before Him in Gethsemane and said, “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass. Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done”? 

Remember that? This Father did not grant His Firstborn Son’s request to be spared the cross, the tortures of love, and the bitterness of heroism. He will not grant that petition to us, his other children, either. 

He wants eternal glory for us, eternal satisfaction, eternal gratification. He knows that only comes from heroism.

So when we say, “Our Father,” let’s do it with love, but also with an awareness that being the Children of the Eternal King comes with daunting responsibilities. Let’s say “Our Father” in a way that says we are willing to do His will and become the sort of sons and daughters who will make Him proud.

Five

The Father’s Unconditional Love

But even though this Father has high expectations for His Children, He is patient, and His love is unconditional. This is the Father of the Prodigal Son and of the Elder Brother too. This is the Father who gives extravagantly, forgives immediately, and comes out to encourage everyone to come home and be happy together as a family.

When we say, “Our Father,” we’re speaking to our God, our creator, the author of our redemption, the All-powerful Lord of Heaven and Earth. But we’re also speaking to our Dad, our “Abba,” who has given everything He has, including His dearly beloved firstborn, for our happiness

He thinks of us all the time. He does everything, down to the most minute detail, in consideration of our well-being. He will never forsake us. He will never not be there. He is Our Father. He is the best Father. And He loves us so much that eternity will not be long enough to fully fathom it. 

This is our God. This is the Father we’re praying to together, right now. That’s the core and foundation of our faith. Never let it go.