A reflection by our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
We know how important the Our Father is, and that we are to pray it. Saint Benedict specifically recommends that it be prayed in the Divine Office by the Abbot because of the thorns of dissension that may arise in a community. I think the more you pray it, the more one feels its power. We’re to pray “Thy Kingdom come.” Just think what would happen if everyone in the world said at the same moment, “Thy Kingdom come” and meant it. Would He come? I would hope so. And we pray, “Thy will be done.” Wouldn’t it be nice if what’s done on earth is done as it were in heaven? There wouldn’t be a problem anywhere. “Give us this day our daily bread.” All are offered the bread of life, if only they would desire to receive it. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That’s telling us that no matter who you are, things are going to hurt you in life. We’re not going to get out of it, it’s just going to happen. Forgiveness is going to be needed. That’s where we unite ourselves the closest to God, when we forgive, because God is the only one who can truly forgive. We have the power to forgive by releasing it, not demanding that the evil that was done be put back on that person. Instead, we want good for them. By forgiving we release them. That is a very holy thing, to not will evil when evil has been done. It’s natural to think, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But what does that get us? We would all be blind and toothless, and we know that.
Then we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Church has what’s called, “deliverance prayers,” and people wonder what that means. God says it right here in the Our Father: deliver us from evil. That’s all it is. We all want to be delivered from evil, and deliverance prayers are so powerful for just that purpose.
At the end of the Our Father in Matthew, we hear Jesus say, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you” (Matt. 6:14). What a carrot! He just hangs that out in front of us. Well, that’s a good reason to start forgiving others. Because we’re assured of forgiveness. Then He says, “But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:15). This warning is coming from a Father who loves us, so that we will know and do what will help us to be forgiven ourselves. This prayer has the best advice in the whole world, so try to pray the Our Father intentionally at least once a day. We should truly let those words penetrate us, because through doing so, we are intimately united with Christ, who gave these words to us. And when we pray, even when we get dragged off by distractions or whatever, return. Always return. Return and pray with great attention. Because have you ever talked to someone who is all over the place and not paying much attention to you? Do you really listen to them? But when somebody is actually staring at you and saying, “Can you do this for me?”, there’s something about their attention, their focus, that makes you want to do it for them. They really care. Let us try to pray like that.
Photo by André Escaleira, Jr. / Denver Catholic