Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Four › Section Two · Article 3 (§§2803–2854)
Paragraphs · 52
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §2810 — In the promise to Abraham and the oath that accompanied it, 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."vatican.va
- §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…vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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."vatican.va
- §2814 — The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life and our prayer:vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
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.vatican.va
- §2817 — This petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: "Come, Lord Jesus."vatican.va
- §2818 — In the Lord's Prayer, "thy kingdom come" refers primarily to the final coming of the reign of God through Christ's return. But, far from distracting the Church from her mission in this present world, this desire commits her to it all the more strongly.vatican.va
- §2819 — "The kingdom of God (is) righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The end-time in which we live is the age of the outpouring of the Spirit.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
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." He "is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish."vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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."vatican.va
- §2825 — "Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what he suffered." How much more reason have we sinful creatures to learn obedience - we who in him have become children of adoption.vatican.va
- §2826 — By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it. Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven."vatican.va
- §2827 — "If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." Such is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist.vatican.va
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."vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §2832 — As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth "rise" by the Spirit of Christ. 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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §2834 — "Pray and work." "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you." 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 with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.vatican.va
- §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 .vatican.va
- §2836 — "This day" is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord, 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.vatican.va
- §2837 — "Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of "this day," to confirm us in trust "without reservation."vatican.va
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."vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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."vatican.va
- §2843 — Thus the Lord's words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end, 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…vatican.va
- §2844 — Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, 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.vatican.va
- §2845 — There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness, whether one speaks of "sins" as in Luke (⇒ 11:4), "debts" as in Matthew (⇒ 6:12).vatican.va
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.vatican.va
- §2847 — The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death.vatican.va
- §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."vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §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."vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
- §2852 — "A murderer from the beginning, . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world." 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."vatican.va
- §2853 — Victory over the "prince of this world" was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life.vatican.va
- §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.vatican.va
Scripture cited · 347 verses
Genesis 1:26 · Genesis 3:6 · Exodus 15:1 · Exodus 16:19 · Exodus 16:20 · Exodus 16:21 · Exodus 19:5 · Exodus 19:6 · Leviticus 19:2 · Leviticus 20:26 · Deuteronomy 8:3 · Psalm 2:7 · Psalm 8:5 · Psalm 40:7 · Psalm 42:7 · Psalm 104:27 · Psalm 111:9 · Isaiah 6:3 · Ezekiel 20:9 · Ezekiel 20:14 · Ezekiel 20:22 · Ezekiel 20:39 · Ezekiel 36:20 · Ezekiel 36:21 · Ezekiel 36:22 · Amos 8:11 · Matthew 1:21 · Matthew 4:1 · Matthew 4:2 · Matthew 4:3 · Matthew 4:4 · Matthew 4:5 · Matthew 4:6 · Matthew 4:7 · Matthew 4:8 · Matthew 4:9 · Matthew 4:10 · Matthew 4:11 · Matthew 5:13 · Matthew 5:14 · Matthew 5:15 · Matthew 5:16 · Matthew 5:23 · Matthew 5:24 · Matthew 5:43 · Matthew 5:44 · Matthew 5:45 · Matthew 5:48 · Matthew 6:14 · Matthew 6:15 · Matthew 6:21 · Matthew 6:24 · Matthew 6:25 · Matthew 6:26 · Matthew 6:27 · Matthew 6:28 · Matthew 6:29 · Matthew 6:30 · Matthew 6:31 · Matthew 6:32 · Matthew 6:33 · Matthew 6:34 · Matthew 7:12 · Matthew 7:13 · Matthew 7:21 · Matthew 18:14 · Matthew 18:21 · Matthew 18:22 · Matthew 18:23 · Matthew 18:24 · Matthew 18:25 · Matthew 18:26 · Matthew 18:27 · Matthew 18:28 · Matthew 18:29 · Matthew 18:30 · Matthew 18:31 · Matthew 18:32 · Matthew 18:33 · Matthew 18:34 · Matthew 18:35 · Matthew 19:26 · Matthew 25:31 · Matthew 25:32 · Matthew 25:33 · Matthew 25:34 · Matthew 25:35 · Matthew 25:36 · Matthew 25:37 · Matthew 25:38 · Matthew 25:39 · Matthew 25:40 · Matthew 25:41 · Matthew 25:42 · Matthew 25:43 · Matthew 25:44 · Matthew 25:45 · Matthew 25:46 · Matthew 26:28 · Matthew 26:36 · Matthew 26:37 · Matthew 26:38 · Matthew 26:39 · Matthew 26:40 · Matthew 26:41 · Matthew 26:42 · Matthew 26:43 · Matthew 26:44 · Mark 11:25 · Mark 13:9 · Mark 13:23 · Mark 13:33 · Mark 13:34 · Mark 13:35 · Mark 13:36 · Mark 13:37 · Mark 14:38 · Luke 1:31 · Luke 1:38 · Luke 1:49 · Luke 6:36 · Luke 8:13 · Luke 8:14 · Luke 8:15 · Luke 10:25 · Luke 10:26 · Luke 10:27 · Luke 10:28 · Luke 10:29 · Luke 10:30 · Luke 10:31 · Luke 10:32 · Luke 10:33 · Luke 10:34 · Luke 10:35 · Luke 10:36 · Luke 10:37 · Luke 12:35 · Luke 12:36 · Luke 12:37 · Luke 12:38 · Luke 12:39 · Luke 12:40 · Luke 12:50 · Luke 15:11 · Luke 15:12 · Luke 15:13 · Luke 15:14 · Luke 15:15 · Luke 15:16 · Luke 15:17 · Luke 15:18 · Luke 15:19 · Luke 15:20 · Luke 15:21 · Luke 15:22 · Luke 15:23 · Luke 15:24 · Luke 15:25 · Luke 15:26 · and 187 more