Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Four › Section Two · Article 2 (§§2777–2802)
Paragraphs · 26
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
I. "We Dare To Say"
- §2777 — In the Roman liturgy, the Eucharistic assembly is invited to pray to our heavenly Father with filial boldness; the Eastern liturgies develop and use similar expressions: "dare in all confidence," "make us worthy of...."vatican.va
- §2778 — This power of the Spirit who introduces us to the Lord's Prayer is expressed in the liturgies of East and of West by the beautiful, characteristically Christian expression: parrhesia, straightforward simplicity, filial trust, joyous assurance, humble boldness, the certainty of being loved.vatican.va
II. Abba - "Father!"
- §2779 — Before we make our own this first exclamation of the Lord's Prayer, we must humbly cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn "from this world."vatican.va
- §2780 — We can invoke God as "Father" because he is revealed to us by his Son become man and because his Spirit makes him known to us.vatican.va
- §2781 — When we pray to the Father, we are in communion with him and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Then we know and recognize him with an ever new sense of wonder.vatican.va
- §2782 — We can adore the Father because he has caused us to be reborn to his life by adopting us as his children in his only Son: by Baptism, he incorporates us into the Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows…vatican.va
- §2783 — Thus the Lord's Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals the Father to us.vatican.va
- §2784 — The free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and new life. Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions: First, the desire to become like him: though created in his image, we are restored to his likeness by grace; and we must respond to this grace.vatican.va
- §2785 — Second, a humble and trusting heart that enables us "to turn and become like children": for it is to "little children" that the Father is revealed.vatican.va
III. "Our" Father
- §2786 — "Our" Father refers to God. the adjective, as used by us, does not express possession, but an entirely new relationship with God.vatican.va
- §2787 — When we say "our" Father, we recognize first that all his promises of love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the new and eternal covenant in his Christ: we have become "his" people and he is henceforth "our" God.vatican.va
- §2788 — Since the Lord's Prayer is that of his people in the "endtime," this "our" also expresses the certitude of our hope in God's ultimate promise: in the new Jerusalem he will say to the victor, "I will be his God and he shall be my son."vatican.va
- §2789 — When we pray to "our" Father, we personally address the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so we do not divide the Godhead, since the Father is its "source and origin," but rather confess that the Son is eternally begotten by him and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him.vatican.va
- §2790 — Grammatically, "our" qualifies a reality common to more than one person. There is only one God, and he is recognized as Father by those who, through faith in his only Son, are reborn of him by water and the Spirit.vatican.va
- §2791 — For this reason, in spite of the divisions among Christians, this prayer to "our" Father remains our common patrimony and an urgent summons for all the baptized.vatican.va
- §2792 — Finally, if we pray the Our Father sincerely, we leave individualism behind, because the love that we receive frees us from it. the "our" at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, like the "us" of the last four petitions, excludes no one.vatican.va
- §2793 — The baptized cannot pray to "our" Father without bringing before him all those for whom he gave his beloved Son. God's love has no bounds, neither should our prayer.vatican.va
IV. "Who Art in Heaven"
- §2794 — This biblical expression does not mean a place (“space"), but a way of being; it does not mean that God is distant, but majestic. Our Father is not "elsewhere": he transcends everything we can conceive of his holiness.vatican.va
- §2795 — The symbol of the heavens refers us back to the mystery of the covenant we are living when we pray to our Father. He is in heaven, his dwelling place; the Father's house is our homeland.vatican.va
- §2796 — When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God;" yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling."vatican.va
In Brief
- §2797 — Simple and faithful trust, humble and joyous assurance are the proper dispositions for one who prays the Our Father.vatican.va
- §2798 — We can invoke God as "Father" because the Son of God made man has revealed him to us. Jn this Son, through Baptism, we are incorporated and adopted as sons of God.vatican.va
- §2799 — The Lord's Prayer brings us into communion with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. At the same time it reveals us to ourselves (cf GS 22 # 1).vatican.va
- §2800 — Praying to our Father should develop in us the will to become like him and foster in us a humble and trusting heart.vatican.va
- §2801 — When we say "Our" Father, we are invoking the new covenant in Jesus Christ, communion with the Holy Trinity, and the divine love which spreads through the Church to encompass the world.vatican.va
- §2802 — "Who art in heaven" does not refer to a place but to God's majesty and his presence in the hearts of the just. Heaven, the Father's house, is the true homeland toward which we are heading and to which, already, we belong.vatican.va
Scripture cited · 64 verses
Exodus 3:5 · Psalm 85:12 · Isaiah 45:8 · Jeremiah 3:19 · Jeremiah 3:20 · Jeremiah 3:21 · Jeremiah 3:22 · Jeremiah 3:23 · Jeremiah 3:24 · Jeremiah 3:25 · Jeremiah 4:1 · Hosea 2:21 · Hosea 2:22 · Hosea 6:1 · Hosea 6:2 · Hosea 6:3 · Hosea 6:4 · Hosea 6:5 · Hosea 6:6 · Matthew 5:23 · Matthew 5:24 · Matthew 6:14 · Matthew 6:15 · Matthew 11:25 · Matthew 11:26 · Matthew 11:27 · Matthew 18:3 · Luke 15:18 · Luke 15:21 · John 1:1 · John 1:17 · John 3:5 · John 3:13 · John 11:52 · John 12:32 · John 14:2 · John 14:3 · John 16:28 · John 20:17 · Acts 4:32 · Romans 8:29 · 2 Corinthians 5:2 · Galatians 4:6 · Ephesians 2:6 · Ephesians 3:12 · Ephesians 4:4 · Ephesians 4:5 · Ephesians 4:6 · Ephesians 4:9 · Ephesians 4:10 · Philippians 3:20 · Colossians 3:3 · Hebrews 1:3 · Hebrews 2:13 · Hebrews 3:6 · Hebrews 4:16 · Hebrews 10:19 · Hebrews 13:14 · 1 John 1:3 · 1 John 2:28 · 1 John 3:21 · 1 John 5:1 · 1 John 5:14 · Revelation 21:7