The Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father”   In the Catholic Church we recognise God as our Father, the Father in the Trinity, and we are His children, so we address him as Father to acknowledge this and to show respect.

“who art in heaven”   We are granting that God resides in Heaven, and therefore are addressing our prayer to our Father who lives in Heaven.

“hallowed be thy name”   We are consecrating the name of God and this is a sign of respect for God. We sign that His name is to be made Holy.

“your kingdom come”   This is saying that God’s kingdom shall be displayed on Earth through the actions of Christians.

“your will be done”   This statement in the prayer coincides with the last line. We are saying we as Christians will do his will on Earth. This is for the Jew’s benefit; they were expecting a political kingdom to free them from Roman rule, but when Jesus said this he was cementing the fact that God will provide a kingdom with us united, not a tangible kingdom on Earth.

“on Earth as it is in Heaven.”   This is comparing how his will be done on Earth to how it is in Heaven. We are saying we will do our best to work his will just as we would in his kingdom itself.

“Give us this day our daily bread”   We are asking God for help, recognising that in our faith we know that God will not forget our struggles that are day-to-day.

“and forgive us our trespasses”   It is extremely important in our faith to ask God to reconcile our sins.

“as we forgive those who trespass against us”   We also recognise and pray for the strength and help of God to allow us to forgive others of their wrong doings towards us.

“and lead us not into temptation”   We are asking God to not lead us into wrong- doing.

“but deliver us from evil.”   By saying this, we ask God to steer us and save us from the doing of Satan.

“Amen.”   We close a prayer by saying Amen. “Amen” can mean “so it be”.