The Our Father

The Our Father is the prayer the Lord Jesus Himself taught the disciples when they asked Him "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples" (Luke 11:1). It is recorded in two slightly different forms in the New Testament: the longer form in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:9-13, and the shorter form in Luke 11:2-4. The traditional liturgical form of the Catholic Church follows the Matthean version with a brief doxological close.

Origin and Scriptural foundation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the Our Father is "the summary of the whole gospel" (CCC 2774, citing Tertullian, De oratione). Tertullian, writing around AD 200, was the first Catholic Father to give the prayer extended theological treatment in his treatise On Prayer. Origen, Saint Cyprian of Carthage, and Saint Augustine all wrote commentaries on the Our Father, and the prayer's place at the heart of Christian life has been continuous from the apostolic age to the present.

Theological structure

Catholic theological tradition has always recognized seven petitions in the Our Father, organized in two groups. The first three petitions (hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done) are directed to the glory of the Father; the last four (give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil) bring our human needs before Him.

The Catechism treats the Our Father in extensive detail in paragraphs 2759 to 2865. The treatment, drawn from Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and the magisterial tradition, gives the Our Father pride of place as "the most perfect of prayers" (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 83, a. 9), because in it the Lord Himself has given us the words of our address to the Father.

When the Our Father is prayed

The Our Father is prayed:

• At every Mass, in the eucharistic liturgy after the Eucharistic Prayer and before the Sign of Peace.
• In every liturgical hour of the Liturgy of the Hours.
• In every decade of the Holy Rosary, at the beginning of each set of ten Hail Marys.
• In every novena (see the novenas hub) at the close of the daily prayers.
• In the daily morning and evening prayers of the Catholic faithful.
• At any moment of personal prayer, alone or with others.

The Our Father is the prayer Catholics learn first and pray most often throughout life. The Catechism notes that "the Our Father is the most perfect of prayers... In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired" (CCC 2763).

The traditional doxology

The traditional Catholic close of the Our Father in personal prayer is simply Amen. In the Catholic liturgy of the Mass since the post-Vatican II reform, the Our Father is followed by an embolism ("Deliver us, Lord, from every evil...") and the doxology "For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever." This doxology is of ancient liturgical use (it appears in the Didache, the late first or early second century) but was not part of the Our Father itself in the traditional Catholic recitation outside the Mass.

Pairing the Our Father with other prayers

The Our Father is paired in Catholic practice with:

• The Hail Mary and the Glory Be, in the rosary's basic structure.
• The Apostles' Creed, at the opening of the rosary.
• The Memorare and other Marian prayers, in the daily life of the Catholic faithful.

For the Catholic doctrine of prayer, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2558 to 2865. For the Lord's teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, see Matthew 6:5-15.