our father

one of the most beautiful prayer in christianity is the ‘our father’ prayer or also known as ‘the lord’s prayer’. the ‘our father’ prayer is the basic of christian prayer and it appears almost everywhere in church’s life (i.e. in liturgy, sacraments), and in public and private prayer. this is the prayer the lord himself taught his apostles to pray. in the gospel of luke, chapter 11, verse 1, one of his apostles asked him “lord, teach us to pray” and jesus replied “when you pray, say our father who art in heaven…..”, thus began the lord’s prayer.

in the catholic church, the lord’s prayer is used extensively and is said in every mass too. it is one of the earliest prayer kids learn by heart too. as a kid, i too learned this prayer but at that time, i did not know the meaning of the prayer. i just mumbled the prayer like a parrot! as i grow older, i realised the beauty and richness of this prayer.

this prayer not only is it been widely used but it has also been widely scrutinsed line by line to get the meaning/message behind it. the message behind it is actually quite universal – meant for all religions. that’ why i’m blogging on it. hopefully for all to learn something out of it.

to continue reading, please click on ‘jog over for more’.

the original prayer goes like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Holy be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth
as it in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the test
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

here is the prayer in bahasa:

Bapa yang ada di syurga.
dimuliakanlah nama-Mu.
Datanglah kerajaan-Mu,
jadilah kehendak-Mu
di atas bumi ini, seperti di syurga

Bapa berilah kami
rezeki pada hari ini.
Ampunilah dosa kami,
kami pun mengampuni.
Janganlah masukkan percubaan.
Lindungilah kami selalu.

many people had realised the richness of the lord’s prayer and many book had been written about this prayer. in the books, each line of the prayer was picked out and delve on in full (many books devoted one whole chapter – as many as 3 pages or so – to just one line).

one of the book by leonard boff, published in the philippines in the 80s refer to the prayer as ‘the prayer of integral liberation’.

a later book, published in 1998 in the US by C. G. weeramantry, tells us that the lord’s prayer can be a bridge to a better world, a vision for personal and global transformation.

excerpt from the back cover of the book:

the lord’s prayer speaks accessibly to a broad audience on the major themes of trespass and forgiveness. it is a through, reasoned, and much-needed work that sheds light on both personal and global ills and the steps necessary to eradicate them. in exploring such concepts as human dignity, community, honesty and fair dealings, compassion, ethical/moral transgressions, among other, the author engages us directly by bringing to bear a wealth of historical and anecdotal material

in the days to come, many people, theologians and religious included, had try to change the prayer to fit in to the situation. it’s ok, as the essence of the prayer is still there. here is one version that had been ‘touched up’ to fit in with the present time. the original lines are in italic.

Our Father in heaven
May your name be held holy
in children, in homes, in schools, colleges
universities, factories and offices.

But do deliver us from evil,
the evil of unjust wars,
the evil of closed eyes and hearts,
of alienated from neighbour,
of being cut off from you.
Amen.

here is a simple explanation of the lord’s prayer (meant for children!) and another one can be found here.

for further reading on “I cannot say the lord’s prayer if…” please click here.