for the common body
The Lord’s Prayer is, perhaps, the most recited prayer for all Christians. As Catholics we pray it within every Mass, multiple times when we pray the rosary, and on many other occasions. We know it so thoroughly and through countless repetition, mindlessly repeat its words with little or no thought to what we are saying. And when we finish, seldom do we even consider what we have just prayed?
The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect communal prayer. It is not, and never has been, a private prayer, but a prayer professed together in communion with our brothers and sisters. Say or read the prayer and you will discover that there are no singular pronouns to be found. No “I”, no “me”, no “my, no “mine”, only “our”, “us”, and “we”. When we pray “Our Father…” we are praying in unity with our brothers and sisters, all created by God in His image and likeness. We do not pray alone but united as one body, one creation of God, for God, to God.
St. John Chrystostom tells us that “[The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say ‘My’ Father who are in heaven, but ‘Our’ Father, offering petitions for the common body.”
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul and that we must love one another as our self. The measure with which we love one another and to the extent which we can forgive one another is the measure and extent to which we love God. We can only ask God to forgive us to the extent that we forgive others. Without forgiveness toward others we cannot ask God to forgive us. After all, it is what we say when we pray to Our Father, isn’t it?
