Why is it daring to pray the Our Father?
Catechism Meditation:
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. ―No. 2768
REFLECTION: Our Father Prayer, also known as the Lord’s Prayer, is undoubtedly the most well-known and beloved of all Catholic prayers. As Catholics, we learn it from early childhood, pray it at every Mass, and turn to its comforting words repeatedly throughout our lives. During Mass, to lead the congregation into the prayer of the Our Father, you may have noticed the priest says, “We dare to pray…” This may seem strange to us, as the Our Father is one of the most common Christian prayers. In fact, when asked how we should pray, Jesus Himself gave us the Our Father. So why is it daring that we should pray it?
In his article, Why do we say at Mass that we ‘dare’ to say the Our Father?, Fr. Richard Kunst writes… When we were kids, we probably all played truth or dare at some point. A dare was meant to be a scary thing, or at least a flexing of some courage, so why does it take courage to pray the Lord’s Prayer? The first thing to note is that we need to pay attention when we are saying familiar, memorized prayers. There is a vast difference between saying prayers and praying. And DARE I say that many of us do not pay much attention to the words we are actually praying? Because truth be told, the Our Father is a bit radical, and it takes courage to meaningfully pray it.
Notice how we start the prayer, referring to God as our Father. Or, if we were to be more true to the original language, we are actually referring to God in the less formal way as our dad. Start the prayer that way some time, and you will see how different it feels: “Our Dad, who is in heaven ….” Though the Old Testament is much longer than the New Testament, there are only 11 times in which God is referred to as a father, and in some of those 11 times he is compared to a father, not actually called a father. So when Jesus revealed God as our heavenly dad, it was a radical departure from the norm. When we enter into an intimate relationship with anyone, it can become risky for us, but to enter into such an intimate relationship with God brings it to a whole new level. It takes guts; it takes courage.
So next time you pray to your heavenly Dad in the Our Father, pay close attention to the words rather than just mindlessly saying them. It takes guts to say and ask what is contained in this most famous of prayers, but at the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching, we dare say it!
PRAYER. Our Father, Your Spirit made me Your child, confident to call You Father. Make Your Love the foundation of my life. Teach me to long for Heaven. May its promise and hope guide my way on earth until I reach eternal life with You.
Timeless Wisdom Quote:
“We live in a horizontal world where we believe we help one another. But the real help that makes us new creatures and children of God has to come from above. And it’s our Father, who art in heaven.” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen