Explication
Every day
Biblical commentaries
The Our Father prayer is a bestseller! It dates back to Jewish prayers which are still used by this believing community. Jesus simplifies them in a great freedom of approach to God. It is familiar to us on a daily basis for some, regularly for many. But by saying it our attention can relax.
To the pride of chatter, Jesus opposes an authentic, slow prayer, to place our desires with God. We can repeat it tirelessly, of course, but without harping on it (v. 7). Like the fathers of the desert who loved to repeat this prayer often, we can make each word, each sentence be in thanksgiving and the request in truth.
In front of this text, I think of the children, young people and their parents of the ecumenical catechesis of Oullins (near Lyon). The Our Father is their theme this year. Sentence by sentence, they discover the meaning. This prayer gives them words to address God, a Father. It also allows them to be in the collective of “our”, to discover themselves brothers and sisters in an evangelical walk following Jesus. This step by step in friendly and fraternal simplicity can lead them into the discovery of a prayerful community.
Father who is in heaven and in our hearts, give your Spirit to the disciples of your Son so that they know how to seek you and find paths of brotherhood for themselves and for the world.
Other readings: Si 48, 1-14; Ps 96 (97)
