Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

What do the various parts of the Lord’s Prayer mean? (CCC: 2777-2856)

            We Dare to Say: How dare we even approach God like Moses did the burning bush when he removed his sandals (Exodus 3:5) 

 

            Father! If He is our Father, we are his little children. He is Father by invitation of Jesus who encourages us to pray to Him as Father. He is Father as our creator but far beyond our cultural conception of father, both intimate (immanent) and evoking awe (transcendent).  

 

            “Our” Father: We are his people and He is our God. He is not our possession but we are intended to be part of His family, part of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We leave individualism behind, joining in prayer with all of our brothers and sisters, especially those who share in a common Baptism.

 

            Who Art in Heaven: We are seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). We are there insofar as we are holy. At the same time we seek to be with Him for all eternity in the homeland, the dwelling place of the Trinity.

 

            Hallowed Be Thy Name: We recognize that God is all holy even as we seek to be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph 1:9,4)

 

            Thy Kingdom Come: refers primarily to the final coming of the reign of God through Christ’s return (Titus 2:13). We desire that the Father’s plan will happen as He as always wished, that all creation will be part of the eternal Kingdom.

 

            Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven: Prefect love exists within the Trinity. God wishes that we will learn to love this same way among ourselves on Earth: “that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Jn 13:34.

 

            Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread: a petition for the nourishment that life requires which shows our faith in God’s goodness and our responsibility to help one another. It refers to our need for earthly food and the Eucharist for physical and spiritual survival.

 

            And Forgive Us our Trespasses, as We Forgive Those Who Trespass against Us: We must show mercy to others if we expect the Father to be merciful to us (Mt 18:23-35).

 

            And Lead Us Not into Temptation: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Cor 10:13

 

            But Deliver Us from Evil: We seek delivery from the power of the Evil One. “We know that anyone born of god does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.” 1 Jn 5:18-19.

WHY DO CATHOLICS CALL THEIR PRIESTS "FATHER"?

Why has the rest of the Our Father from the King James Version and ordinary Protestant use been omitted? See below:

"For the Kingdom..." is not a part of the Lord's Prayer. It is an early liturgical doxology, which likely got incorporated into the manuscript of the bible early on. Most Catholic and Protestant commentaries agree that "For the Kingdom..." was not a part of the original Lord's Prayer... See below:

In the Protestant Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (NY: United Bible Societies, 1994, page 13-14), Bruce Metzger writes, "The ascription at the close of the Lord's Prayer occurs in several forms... The absence of any ascription in early and important [ancient manuscripts], as well as early patristic commentaries on the Lord's Prayer... suggests that an ascription, usuallly in a threefold form, was composed (perhaps on the basis of 1 Chr 29:11-12) in order to adapt the Prayer for liturgical use in the early church."

Other sources:

"The doxology at the end of the Our Father, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen," although found in almost all the late Greek mss., is not found in any early Greek mss. And is certainly not part of the original text. It is a liturgical addition." (Encyclopedic Dictionary of The Bible, copyright 1963, Luis F. Hartman, p1687)

"The doxology, though missing in the older and best manuscripts of Matthew and not original to the Lord’s Prayer, is a fitting conclusion to the prayer." (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Paul J. Achtemeier, Copyright 1985, p.576)

"The doxology that concludes the prayer (Matt.6:13b, AV) is omitted in RSV, because it does not appear in the oldest and best MSS.; it seems not to have been an original part of the prayer, but represents a liturgical addition." (The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, Henry Snyder Gehman, Copyright 1965,p.567)

"Study of the Greek manuscripts shows that the doxology that appears at the end of the Matthean form in some translations is not original."(Holman Bible Dictionary, Trent C. Butler, Copyright 1991, p.893)

"This doxology was probably not in the original Gospels."(Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freedman, Copyright 2000,p.822)

"The doxology in Matthew, which constitutes an affirmation of faith, is lacking in the lending MSS and is generally regarded as a scribal addition derived from ancient liturgical usage." (The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Merrill C. Tenney Copyright 1967,p.491)

 source: http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=111508