Teach us to pray, they asked Jesus. Christians have always sought to define the essential content of their faith. Jesus, from his heart, delivers it to us; He does it with a prayer.
Not to ask for things but to be transformed. To pray is to reattach ourselves to God, as one attaches one’s heart to loved ones; it is to give the Father, who loves children; God, who prefers to give life, to guard the few things that are indispensable for living well.
God’s offspring, omit the words “I and mine” because outside God’s Prayer, “I” never means “mine,” but always You, yours, and ours. Words that stand joyfully like open arms: your name, our bread, You give, You forgive.
Your Name be hallowed. Biblically, the name contains the whole self, and God’s name is love; let love be sanctified on earth by all. If there’s anything truly lifesaving, it’s the ability to love and be loved.
May the new earth be born as you dream it, a new architecture of the world and of human relationships.
Give us our daily bread. “Bread for me is a material fact; bread for my brother is a spiritual fact.”
And forgive our sins, take away all that ages the heart, making it heavy; set free our future. And we, who know how forgiveness empowers life, will give it to our brothers and ourselves to reignite and build peace again.
All these provide and multiply life because you are our Father.