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. This petition of the Lord's Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment. 118

"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." 113 He gives to all the living "their food in due seaSon." 114 Jesus teaches us this Petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness.

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. 94

This Petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: "Come, Lord Jesus."

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. 84 In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: "Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given me." 85

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." 79 Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since "he is the source of (our) life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification," 80 both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first Petition.

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. and so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving. 66 But this Petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the Salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, "according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ," that we might "be holy and blameless before him in love." 67

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. For through the name of his Christ and the reign of his Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes his plan of Salvation, for us and for the whole world.

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. They go up from us and concern us from this very moment, in our present world: "give us . . . forgive us . . . lead us not ... deliver us...." the fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the Last two concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of Prayer.

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. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the burning desire, even anguish, of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes us: 64 "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done...." These three supplications were already answered in the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all. 65

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. the first three, more theological, draw us toward the glory of the Father; the Last four, as ways toward him, commend our wretchedness to his grace. "Deep calls to deep." 63

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. If we are to say it truthfully, our divisions and oppositions have to be overcome. 51

From this unshakeable Faith springs forth the hope that sustains each of the seven Petitions, which express the groanings of the present age, this time of patience and expectation during which "it does not yet appear what we shall be." 22 The Eucharist and the Lord's Prayer look eagerly for the Lord's return, "until he comes." 23

In the Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer also reveals the eschatological character of its Petitions. It is the proper Prayer of "the end-time," the time of Salvation that began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and will be fulfilled with the Lord's return. the petitions addressed to our Father, as distinct from the Prayers of the old covenant, rely on the mystery of salvation already accomplished, once for all, in Christ crucified and risen.

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 . . . by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God," 123 that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to proclaim the good news to the poor." There is a famine on earth, "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." 124 For this reaSon the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in Faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist. 125

"Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical rePetition of "this day," 128 to confirm us in trust "without reservation." Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence. 129 Taken literally (epi-ousios: "super-essential"), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the "medicine of immortality," without which we have no life within us. 130 Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: "this day" is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reaSon it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.

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." But, according to the second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the single word "as."

The final doxology, "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three Petitions to our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the power of his saving will. But these Prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven. 176 The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power, and glory. 177 Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of Salvation will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all. 178

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. In this final Petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of Faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." 174

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.

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." 163 It touches each of us perSonally, but it is always "we" who Pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. the Lord's Prayer continually opens us to the range of God's economy of Salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the "communion of saints." 164

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. 159 In this Petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is "custody of the heart," and Jesus Prayed for us to the Father: "Keep them in your name." 160 The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch. 161 Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the Last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. "Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake." 162

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. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both "do not allow us to enter into temptation" and "do not let us yield to temptation." 150 "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one"; 151 on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.

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. 137 This crucial requirement of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But "with God all things are possible." 138 . . . as we forgive those who trespass against us

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. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new Petition, we return to him like the prodigal Son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. 133 Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the Forgiveness of sins." 134 We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church. 135

In the Eucharistic liturgy the Lord's Prayer appears as the Prayer of the whole Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Placed between the anaphora (the Eucharistic Prayer) and the communion, the Lord's Prayer sums up on the one hand all the Petitions and Intercessions expressed in the movement of the epiclesis and, on the other, knocks at the door of the Banquet of the kingdom which sacramental communion anticipates.

All the Scriptures - the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms - are fulfilled in Christ. 10 The Gospel is this "Good News." Its first proclamation is summarized by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount; 11 The Prayer to our Father is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each Petition bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated:

Intercession is a Prayer of Petition which leads us to Pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. 112 He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." 113 The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." 114

When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object of Petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is glorified by what we ask the Father in his name. 110 It is with this confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to Pray at all times. 111

Christian Petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. 107 There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we Pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the Prayer of the apostolic community. 108 It is the Prayer of Paul, the apostle par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude for all the churches ought to inspire Christian prayer. 109 By prayer every baptized perSon works for the coming of the Kingdom.

The first movement of the Prayer of Petition is asking Forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" 105 It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure Prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that "we receive from him whatever we ask." 106 Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal Prayer.

The New Testament contains scarcely any Prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's Petition is buoyed by hope, even if we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew every day. Christian petition, what St. Paul calls {"groaning," arises from another depth, that of creation "in labor pains" and that of ourselves "as we wait for the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved." 103 In the end, however, "with sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit "helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to Pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." 104

The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in Prayer." 102 Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is Petition: by Prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own Last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.

When Jesus openly entrusts to his disciples the mystery of Prayer to the Father, he reveals to them what their Prayer and ours must be, once he has returned to the Father in his glorified humanity. What is new is to "ask in his name." 78 Faith in the Son introduces the disciples into the knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life." 79 Faith bears its fruit in love: it means keeping the word and the commandments of Jesus, it means abiding with him in the Father who, in him, so loves us that he abides with us. In this new covenant the certitude that our Petitions will be heard is founded on the Prayer of Jesus. 80

All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the Petitions and Intercessions of Salvation history are summed up in this cry of the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising his Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of Prayer in the economy of creation and salvation. the Psalter gives us the key to Prayer in Christ. In the "today" of the Resurrection the Father says: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." 62

The second Prayer, before the raising of Lazarus, is recorded by St. John. 50 Thanksgiving precedes the event: "Father, I thank you for having heard me," which implies that the Father always hears his Petitions. Jesus immediately adds: "I know that you always hear me," which implies that Jesus, on his part, constantly made such petitions. Jesus' Prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself. the Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the "treasure"; in him abides his Son's heart; the gift is given "as well." 51

"You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 9 Paradoxically our Prayer of Petition is a response to the plea of the living God: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!" 10 Prayer is the response of Faith to the free promise of Salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God. 11

The acts of Faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are accomplished in Prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of our adoration of God: Prayer of praise and thanksgiving, Intercession and Petition. Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God's commandments. " (We) ought always to pray and not lose heart." 15

Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by rePetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.

Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents" (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of rePetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the Forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.

As in the Prayer of Petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. the letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in Prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." 120

The Revelation of "what must soon take place," the Apocalypse, is borne along by the Songs of the heavenly liturgy 127 but also by the Intercession of the "witnesses" (martyrs). 128 The prophets and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus, the vast throng of those who, having come through the great tribulation, have gone before us into the Kingdom, all sing the praise and glory of him who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb. 129 In communion with them, the Church on earth also sings these songs with Faith in the midst of trial. By means of Petition and intercession, faith hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the "Father of lights," from whom "every perfect gift" comes down. 130 Thus faith is pure praise.

After showing how the psalms are the principal food of Christian Prayer and flow together in the Petitions of the Our Father, St. Augustine concludes:

The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel." 7 "Since the Lord . . . after handing over the practice of Prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has Petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate Prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires." 8

Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the glory for ever." 4 The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the kingdom," and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical Prayer. 5 The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." the Roman Missal develops the Last Petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our blessed hope" and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6 Then comes the assembly's acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions.

Jesus "was Praying at a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.'" 1 In response to this request the Lord entrusts to his disciples and to his Church the fundamental Christian Prayer. St. Luke presents a brief text of five Petitions, 2 while St. Matthew gives a more developed version of seven petitions. 3 The liturgical tradition of the Church has retained St. Matthew's text:

By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the Prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly Prayer fulfills, from within, the great Petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name; 47 passionate zeal for his kingdom (Glory); 48 The accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of Salvation; 49 and deliverance from evil. 50

Jesus also Prays for us - in our place and on our behalf. All our Petitions were gathered up, once for all, in his cry on the Cross and, in his Resurrection, heard by the Father. This is why he never ceases to intercede for us with the Father. 32 If our Prayer is resolutely united with that of Jesus, in trust and boldness as children, we obtain all that we ask in his name, even more than any particular thing: the Holy Spirit himself, who contains all gifts.

The Prayer of Jesus makes Christian Prayer an efficacious Petition. He is its model, he Prays in us and with us. Since the heart of the Son seeks only what pleases the Father, how could the prayer of the children of adoption be centered on the gifts rather than the Giver?

For St. Paul, this trust is bold, founded on the Prayer of the Spirit in us and on the Faithful love of the Father who has given us his only Son. 31 Transformation of the Praying heart is the first response to our Petition.

Are we convinced that "we do not know how to Pray as we ought"? 23 Are we asking God for "what is good for us"? Our Father knows what we need before we ask him, 24 but he awaits our Petition because the dignity of his children lies in their freedom. We must pray, then, with his Spirit of freedom, to be able truly to know what he wants. 25

In the first place, we ought to be astonished by this fact: when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or not our Prayer is acceptable to him. On the other hand, we demand to see the results of our Petitions. What is the image of God that motivates our Prayer: an instrument to be used? or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Filial trust is tested - it proves itself - in tribulation. 22 The principal difficulty concerns the Prayer of Petition, for oneself or for others in Intercession. Some even stop Praying because they think their petition is not heard. Here two questions should be asked: Why do we think our petition has not been heard? How is our Prayer heard, how is it "efficacious"? Why do we complain of not being heard?

Holy Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, "and why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" 36 Because she gives us Jesus, her Son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and Petitions to her: she Prays for us as she prayed for herself: "Let it be to me according to your word." 37 By entrusting ourselves to her Prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: "Thy will be done." Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the "Mother of Mercy," the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. and our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender "the hour of our death" wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing 38 to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise.

The traditional form of Petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit. 23 Jesus insists on this petition to be made in his name at the very moment when he promises the gift of the Spirit of Truth. 24 But the simplest and most direct Prayer is also traditional, "Come, Holy Spirit," and every liturgical tradition has developed it in antiphons and hymns.

The Last part of the Catechism deals with the meaning and importance of Prayer in the life of believers (Section One). It concludes with a brief commentary on the seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer (Section Two), for indeed we find in these the sum of all the good things which we must hope for, and which our heavenly Father wants to grant us.