Our Father who art in Heaven

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say: "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name," Luke 11:1-2

I say this prayer every day and find the words both comforting and challenging. I recently read the Pope’s analysis of the Our Father and uncovered a whole new set of insights in what are arguably among the best known verses in Scripture. Allow me to share those insights with you.
In his book “Jesus of Nazareth”, Pope Benedict XVI first points out, on page 132, how Luke emphasizes Jesus’ frequent and regular practice of prayer throughout his Gospel. He explains how Luke places the Our Father in the context of Jesus’ praying as a means to include us in His own prayer to the Father, teaching us how to enter into dialogue with the Holy Trinity.

“This also means, however, that the words of the Our Father are signposts to interior prayer, they provide a basic direction for our being, and they aim to configure us to the image of the Son,” writes the Pope. “The meaning of the Our Father goes much further than the mere provision of a prayer text. It aims to form our being, to train us in the inner attitude of Jesus (cf. Phil 2:5)

Philippians 2:5 states: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus”

The Pope’s analysis goes on to state that we must listen as accurately as possible to Jesus’ words as found in Scripture and that we must also bear in mind that the Our Father originates in his own praying – the Son’s dialogue with the Father.

“This means that it reaches down into depths far beyond the words. It embraces the whole compass of man’s being in all ages,” the Pope added.

He also cites German author and poet Reinhold Schneider, who offers an even more arresting insight: “The Our Father begins with a great consolation: we are allowed to say ‘Father’. This one word contains the whole history of redemption. We are allowed to say ‘Father,’ because the Son was our brother and has revealed the Father to us; because, thanks to what Christ has done, we have once more become children of God.”