The Catechism refers to the fifth petition in the Lord’s prayer as “astonishing.” It says that the first part of this phrase is implied in the first three petitions, which honor and praise God, because Christ’s sacrifice was precisely for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, in praising Him, we are acknowledging what He has done for us in that act. However, “according to the second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the single word ‘as’” (CCC #2838). If we want forgiveness for our transgressions, we are obligated to forgive the transgressions of others.

After the first three petitions of praise to God for God’s sake, the rest of the Lord’s Prayer draws us into God’s mercy as we recognize our fallen humanity and need for God’s assistance in all things. We begin with the fourth petition by praying, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The first words of this petition – give us – are a request from us to our Father with a sense of implicit trust in His goodness. Just as a child is completely dependent and trusts his earthly father to care for his needs, we are helpless children who turn to our heavenly Father for our earthly and spiritual needs with the confidence that He will provide for us. That trust and confidence we express in asking Him to provide for us “glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness” (CCC #2828). Even in the act of asking something for ourselves, we cannot help but praise Him in the process because of His unending goodness.

We now come to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, which is also the last of the seven petitions directed to God Himself for His own sake – “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

It is God’s deepest desire for every single one of us to live with Him eternally in heaven. That is precisely why He sent His Son, Jesus, who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” so that we might follow Him and His commands in order to merit our place in our heavenly home (Jn 14:6). When we ask that God’s will be done, our first questions might have something to do with knowing and understanding what God’s actual will is in our day to day lives. The Catechism teaches us that we begin with Jesus’ own words regarding the new commandments. “His commandment is ‘that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.’ This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will” (CCC #2822). Jesus did not come to abolish the old law, but rather to fulfill it. We still ought to obey the Ten Commandments, but Jesus provides the motivation and love for following them rather than expecting us to just adhere to them robotically. For example, we choose to be honest, not only because God has told us lying is against His will, but also because we love the person with whom we are speaking as a child of God and do not want our words to cause harm. Knowing and doing the will of God always begins with the consideration of love for the other. That being said, we must be prudent in our discernment of love, because what might appear to be a loving action in the earthly sense is not actual love in the context of eternal salvation. We must strive to do what is best for the other’s soul.

As we continue our examination of the Lord’s Prayer, we come to the second petition – “Thy kingdom come.” In this petition, we call upon God with the hope that Jesus will return soon to take us all to the kingdom of heaven where we can bask in the glory of our true King for all eternity. No kingdom has ever existed on earth that can match the beauty and justice of the heavenly kingdom that awaits us.

In two of the gospels, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray what we now refer to as the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father. St. Luke (11:2-4) gives us a slightly abbreviated version, while St. Matthew (6:9-13) gives us the fuller text, which we pray today. In the section on Christian Prayer, the Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes many pages to dissecting and breaking down the Lord’s Prayer and its importance to our faith and prayer life. Today, we will begin a seven-part series to take a closer look at each of the petitions Jesus gave us, as identified in St. Matthew’s version.

Have you ever stopped to consider what attracts you to the Catholic Church? What forms of prayer or worship are most fruitful for you? Towards which ministries are you most drawn? We can answer these questions more deeply when we examine them under a philosophical principle referred to as the transcendentals.

Have you ever wondered why the Catholic Church uses a crucifix as a symbol as opposed to other Christian churches that use an empty cross? It is common to hear from those outside the Church that He is risen, but we “leave Him hanging there” or that the crucifix reduces the power of the Resurrection. Also, the crucifix is often thought of as gruesome or morbid. These misconceptions are due to a lack of understanding what the crucifix actually means to us as Catholics.

Today we celebrate a very blessed day for our parish as it is the feast of our namesake, Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ.

Before leaving his Apostles, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper in order that He may remain physically present with His people for all time. He knew we would need Him to sustain us, both spiritually and physically, as we navigate the stormy seas that exist in our lives. In Matthew 14, Jesus walks on water. Peter, having faith in his beloved friend, asks the Lord to call him out on the water to join Him, which he did. As the winds stirred the water, Peter became afraid and started to sink, crying out to the Lord for help. Jesus reached out His hand and saved Peter. We are Peter, struggling through the trials that life throws at us, and the Eucharist is, in fact, Jesus physically liŌing us up above the fray.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. There is a book by lay Catholic theologian, Frank Sheed, called Theology and Sanity. Early in the book, Sheed gives a very thorough explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity, which has been touted as one of the best explanations available. If you have a mind for philosophy or want to dive deeper into the doctrine, it is well worth the read, but I will summarize his essential points.

Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church on the feast of Pentecost. After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles, along with Mary and a few others, went to the upper room to pray and wait for the spirit that Jesus had promised to send. After the ninth day, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, enabling them to speak different languages and evangelize so they could accomplish the mission of making disciples of all people, as Jesus had commanded them. The body of Christ on earth was born and, ever since, has been animated by the Holy Spirit. Today, each of us is also a member of the body of Christ and we continue to be animated by that same Holy Spirit.

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This week we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. All three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) describe this event in essentially the same way. In this moment, there are two things that occur: Jesus gives instructions and Jesus takes His place. These two things have practical implications for us today, which we will examine here.

“But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazorean.’” (Matthew 2:22-23)

We do not know how long the Holy Family was in Egypt waiting for further instructions from God. It could have been a year, but it could have just as easily been 10 years of not knowing how or when their circumstances might change. Regardless of the length of time, trusting in God’s will, they waited patiently and peacefully. Because Egypt was unfamiliar territory to them, their time spent there could be considered a time of tribulation for the family. They would have had to find a home, learn how to communicate, and figure out how to fit into the new culture. They would have had to miss their family and friends back home and find new people with whom to connect. Joseph would have had to find work in order to provide for the basic needs of his family. Working through these different problems would have brought challenges, but the Holy Family persevered with the faith that God would provide for their every need and reveal solutions as problems arose. Most certainly, the majority of us have had to endure various tribulations of our own without knowing how long each would last. However, reflecting on those times, can you see how God provided you with everything you needed at the time to endure each of them?