YOUTCAT contents for At-Home Lesson#5

YOUCAT# 511~515, and 517~521 + p.283 margin [1]

YOUCAT#511 What are the words of the Our Father?

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done

on earth as it is in 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.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

In Latin:

Pater noster, qui es in caelis;

sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum,

fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie;

et dimitte nobis debita nostra,

sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;

et ne nos inducas in tentationem;

sed libera nos a malo.

Quia tuum est regnum, et potestas, et gloria in saecula. Amen.

The Our Father is the only prayer that Jesus himself taught his disciples (Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:2-4). That is why the Our Father is also called “the Lord’s Prayer”. Christians of all Christian denominations pray it daily, both in the liturgy and privately. The conclusion, “For thine is the kingdom . . .” is mentioned as early as the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” (Didache, ca. A.D. 150), and so it can be added to the Our Father.

YOUCAT#512 How did the Our Father come about?

The Our Father came about at the request of one of Jesus’ disciples, who saw his Master praying and wanted to learn from Jesus himself how to pray correctly.

YOUCAT#513 What structure does the Our Father have?

The Our Father consists of seven petitions to our merciful Father in heaven. The first three petitions relate to God and the right way of serving him. The last four petitions present our basic human needs to our Father in heaven. [2803-2806,2857]

YOUCAT#514 What position does the Our Father hold among prayers?

The Our Father is “the most perfect prayer” (St. Thomas Aquinas) and the “summary of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian). [2761,2762-2764,2765-2766,2767-2772, 2774, 2776]

The Our Father is more than a prayer—it is a path that leads directly into the heart of our Father. The early Christians recited this original prayer of the Church, which is entrusted to every Christian at Baptism, three times a day. We, too, should not let a day pass without trying to recite the Lord’s Prayer with our lips, to take it to heart, and to make it come true in our lives.

YOUCAT#515 Where do we get the confidence to call God “Father”?

We can be so bold as to address God as Father because Jesus has called us to a close relationship with himself and made us children of God. In communion with him, “who is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn 1:18), we are privileged to cry, “Abba, Father!” [2777-2778, 2797-2800]

YOUCAT#517 How are we changed by the Our Father?

The Our Father allows us to discover joyfully that we are children of one Father. Our common vocation is to praise our Father and to live together as though “of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32). [2787-2791, 2801]

Because God the Father loves each of his children with the same exclusive love, as though we were the only object of his devotion, we too must get along together in a completely new way: peacefully, full of consideration and love, so that each one can be the awe-inspiring miracle that he actually is in God’s sight.

YOUCAT#518 If the Father is “in heaven”, where is that heaven?

Heaven is wherever God is. The word “heaven” does not designate a place but, rather, indicates God’s presence, which is not bound by space and time. [2794-2796, 2803]

We should not look for heaven above the clouds. Wherever we turn to God in his glory and to our neighbor in his need; wherever we experience the joys of love; whenever we convert and allow ourselves to be reconciled with God, heaven opens there. “Not that God is where heaven is, but rather heaven is where God is” (Gerhard Ebeling).

YOUCAT#519 What does it mean to say, “Hallowed be thy name”?

To “hallow” or to treat God’s name as something holy means to place him above everything else. [2807-2815, 2858]

A “name” in Sacred Scripture indicates the true nature of a person. To hallow God’s name means to do justice to his reality, to acknowledge him, to praise him, to give him due honor, and to live according to his commandments.

YOUCAT#520 What does it mean to say, “Thy kingdom come”?

When we pray, “Thy kingdom come”, we call for Christ to come again, as he promised, and for God’s reign, which has already begun here on earth, to prevail definitively. [2816-2821, 2859]

François Fénelon says, “To will everything that God wills, and to will it always, in all circumstances and without reservations: that is the kingdom of God which is entirely within.”

YOUCAT#521 What does it mean to say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

When we pray for the universal accomplishment of God’s will, we pray that on earth and in our own heart it may become as it already is in heaven. [2822-2827, 2860]

As long as we continue to set our hearts on our own plans, our will, and our ideas, earth cannot become heaven. One person wants this, the other that. We find our happiness, however, when together we want what God wills. Praying means making room bit by bit for God’s will on this earth.

p.283 margin

Heaven on earth is wherever people are filled with love for God, for their fellowmen, and for themselves.

ST. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

(1098-1179)

References / Citations

[1] Miller, Michael J, and Benedict. Youcat English: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. San Francisco, Calif: Ignatius Press, 2011, pp.280-284.

[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994.  https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

[3] BibleGateway (online bible). https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Good-News-Translation-GNT-Bible/