Sections 
THE OUR FATHER
We are going to focus on the Our Father. In its simplicity, the Our Father is the greatest Christian prayer. Jesus taught it to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray. The Apostles must have been fascinated by Jesus’ prayer, by His intimacy with the Father. Their petition sprang forth from their admiration. “Master, teach us to pray.” Jesus taught them the prayer of the children of God, which sums up in seven petitions the most important aspects of spiritual life.
The first petition has a sense of latria, of praise and glorification of the Father (in this sense the doxology continues) and, at the same time, of supplication. Some authors see a certain union amongst these petitions, such as: sanctifying the Name of God is to do His will and the fulfillment of His will is the presence of the Kingdom of God on earth. In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI says that heaven becomes present on earth in the places where God’s will is done. We make our life, our home, a piece of heaven if we seek to fulfill God’s will.
The Our Father was introduced into the communion rite also for its petition for “our daily bread”, which is not only material bread, but also the Eucharist. This can help Christians to understand what the martyrs of Bithynia said when they were forbidden to celebrate Mass: “We cannot live without the Eucharist.” There can be no true Christian life without the Body and Blood of Christ. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” (Jn 6:53) Love of the Eucharist, understanding that there is no divine life without it, leads us to a constant and humble prayer, begging God that we never be without the Eucharist, that we never be without the Mass, that we never be without priests that give us the nourishment of the Body of Christ.
We also ask forgiveness for our sins, favoring in this way humility as a preparation for the reception of Communion. The recognition of the fact that we are sinners, because we really are, is a necessary attitude in order to receive the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It is not necessary to clarify that this petition is not enough to forgive mortal sins, which must be forgiven in sacramental confession. However, this recognition of our need for salvation is a necessary condition to esteem the donation that Christ makes of Himself for us in the Eucharist.
The Our Father shows us the presence of the Spirit that prays in us and makes us exclaim: “Abba” (cf. Rom 8:15).
When we ask God to “deliver us from evil”, the Church understands that “evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God.” (CCC 2851) In the last petition of the Our Father, “when we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator.” (CCC 2854)
The Our Father, which is prayed during Mass by the priest and the faithful together, is continued only by the priest with the embolism that follows it: “Deliver us, Lord, from every evil.” He asks for the peace of Christ and the protection from all sin and all anxiety “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” The Church, the Bride, reminds us of this loving tension that makes us live constantly awaiting Christ, the Bridegroom. It is a continual Advent, where the Church rejoices with the presence of Christ, but longs for His return and His presence face to face.
Lastly, the faithful consummate the prayer with a doxology, which is an echo of the celestial liturgy: “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.” (Rev 1:6; 4:11; 5:13)
The post-Vatican Council renewal of the liturgy has restored the ancient custom, practised as far back as the first Christian generations, of praying the Our Father three times a day, concretely in lauds, Mass and vespers. “Thus you should pray three times a day”(Didaque, VIII, 3).
We should strive to pray the Our Father with a filial spirit. We are children of God and we pray to Him, trusting in the goodness of the Father who gives us the Bread of eternal life, which is “medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) and symbol of the glorious future. When we receive Him in Communion, our love and desire to rejoice in His presence should grow. Hence the joyful and confident waiting of the Church, looking forward to the “glorious coming of Christ”, the Spouse that has loved her and has given Himself for her to make her holy and immaculate. (cf. Eph 5:25)
