THE LORD'S PRAYER

Many Christians, in the name of non-religiosity, have stopped praying the Lord's prayer. Because it is a model prayer, many understand that praying It often can induce the believer into a mechanical practice of speaking to God. However, if we look at our spontaneous prayers, which we believe spring from the depths of our hearts, we see that they also hold a certain regularity of ideas and are loaded with conceptual cliches and molds, fruits of the theology of the community of faith we attend.

The danger of we becoming formal and mechanical in the worship to God is ever near. Only a deep consciousness of the divine presence in our expressions of worship will free us from this risk. The truth, however, is that Christians lose so much in not praying the prayer the Lord taught their first disciples. When we pray the “Lord’s prayer” we refer to the origins of our faith and connect with an ancient tradition left by the Lord Jesus Christ. “According to Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (3rd century), to pray the Lord’s prayer means to pray to God with the words that He Himself taught us” [1].

There is another important aspect of the need to pray the Lord's prayer. According to Karl Barth, prayer is not an arbitrary act of ours, but "it is a matter regulated by God, not on our own initiative." It is no wonder that many, abandoning Jesus' teaching about prayer, turned it into magic or naively used it as if they could manipulate God. But the gospels clearly show what we can pray and how we can pray to God.

It is important to understand that the Lord’s prayer which Jesus taught, is at the center of his prayer catechesis. As these are words that the Lord Himself spoke, we have in It a little of the thought of Jesus, of what was in his heart. We can observe relevant aspects of his teaching, such as God the Father and his Kingdom. Careful reading in the Lord’s prayer leads us to conclude that God, not us, is the center of this moment when man, even in his sinful condition, reunites with the Trinity. Yes, prayer is a meeting with God, a meeting with the Trinity [3].

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for the Christian to practice daily the Lord's prayer with the care not to do so mechanically but with the awareness that is in the presence of God. When you praying try to say the first word of the prayer, that is, "Father" and be briefly silent, thinking of God or Christ on the cross. Then begin to pray slowly and consciously the words of the Lord’s prayer. You will feel the solemnity and how sublime this moment is and gradually you will discover the pleasure of the prayer life. You can repeat it if you wish, and then you can continue talking to God in your own words.

Antônio Maia - M. Div.

Copyright

[1] RATZINGER, Joseph. Jesus de Nazaré, Ed Planeta, São Paulo, 2007, p. 124

[2] BARTH, Karl. O Pai Nosso – A oração que Jesus ensinou aos seus discípulos. Fonte Editorial, São Paulo, 2006, p. 26.[3] MAIA, Antônio. Senhor Ensina-nos a Orar. Um ensaio sobre a centralidade de Deus na oração. Amazon, p.39