‘Our Father, who art in heaven’ (Mt 6:9).
The suggestion of a brother and the custom of kneeling during the Lord’s Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours in Lent have led me to dedicate a series of meditations to this prayer, looking more closely at each of its affirmations and placing them in the context of God the Father’s message to Sr. Eugenia.
“Teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1), the disciples asked the Lord. In response, He bequeathed to them the prayer that has since echoed throughout the world when Christians raise their hands to God.
The simple invocation of God as our common Father in heaven already expresses an objective reality that can unite all people, provided it is followed by the appropriate response. God, as a loving Father, is the cause of true unity among human beings, which will have a concrete effect on their relationships with one another. It is by cultivating a living relationship with our Father that true brotherhood between human beings can emerge.
Jesus has not only shown us this way, but He Himself is the way. It is logical that it was He, who comes from the throne of the Father and is His only begotten Son, who revealed the Father to us. No one could have done this better and more authentically than He who “is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn 1:18).
Therefore, the secret of true unity among men has already been given to us: it is based on God. When we call Him ‘Father’ with all our heart, we are already doing one of the most important acts: we are acknowledging God as our Father. This is what He wants from us, human beings, to show Himself as such to us. This is what He promises us through Mother Eugenia: “Call Me by the name of Father, with confidence and love, and you will receive everything from this Father, with love and mercy”.