Discover what The Lord’s Prayer really means, reinterpreted for a modern audience
In this new work by the much loved Pope Francis, he offers remarkable insights into what the most popular prayer in Christianity can tell us about living a life of meaning, purpose and strength.
Going through the prayer verse by verse he reminds us of its timeless words, and addresses the concerns of us all, whether Christian or not, seeking to guide us while exploring the importance of social justice, helping others and forgiveness - all key elements of Pope Francis’ papacy.
Through his eyes, we realise the sentiments in Our Father are very much of today’s world, challenging our doubts and bringing us courage.
Pope Francis is the first Latin American to be elected Pope. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was ordained as a priest in 1969. In 1998 he became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and, in 2001, a cardinal. Following the resignation of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in 2013, he was elected Pope in February of that year, choosing the name ‘Francis’.
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
This is how you are to pray:
Our Father …”
—MATTHEW 6:5–9
Teach us to pray.
Both Image and Rider Books are honored to publish Our Father: Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer on the fifth anniversary of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s election as pope, when he took the name of Francis in honor of Saint Francis, the patron saint of the poor. In this book, a conversation with Fr. Marco Pozza, a priest and prison chaplain from Padua, Italy, the pope offers his heartfelt thoughts on the universal prayer for strength, mercy, and forgiveness.
To mark this special celebration, this book is supplemented with some of Pope Francis’s most thoughtful meditations on the Lord’s Prayer from throughout his papacy. Certain adjustments in the translation of the original Italian texts, including punctuation and grammar, have been made for the sake of cohesion and consistency.
We hope this book of meditations on the words Jesus used to instruct us on how to pray will bring you comfort, inspiration, and, ultimately, the joy of knowing that our heavenly Father is always with us.
To all, our prayers and blessings.
Gary Jansen, Director of Image Books
Father.
Without saying this word, without taking it to heart, we cannot pray.
To whom do I pray? Almighty God? Too far away. I cannot feel that he is near. Even Jesus did not refer to God as “the Almighty God.” To whom do I pray? The cosmic God? That is fashionable these days, praying to the cosmic God. But that is nothing but a polytheistic idea of who God is, typified by a lite culture.
To whom do we pray? No, not a cosmic God, but a …
Father. We have to pray to the Father! It is a powerful word, “father.” We have to pray to the one who has begotten us, the one who has given us life. He has given life to everyone, of course, but “everyone” is too anonymous. He has given life to you. He has given life to me. He is also the one who accompanies us on our journey. He knows our whole lives, the good and the not-so-good. If we do not begin our prayer with this word, spoken not with our lips but with our hearts, we cannot pray as Christians.
We have a Father who is close to us, one who embraces us. All of these anxieties, all of the worries we may have, let us leave them to the Father. He knows what we need.
But wait. How do we understand the word “Father”? Is he my Father? No, he is our Father! I am not an only child; none of us is. And if I cannot be a brother, it will be hard for me to truly be a son of this Father, because he is a Father of all. My Father, and that of my brothers and sisters. If I am not at peace with my brothers and sisters, I cannot say “Father” to him.
We cannot pray with enemies in our hearts. This is not easy, I know. Sometimes people will say, “‘Father’? I can’t say ‘Father,’ that doesn’t work for me.” I understand that. Some people have said to me, “I can’t say ‘our,’ because my brother, my enemy, did this or that to me—he should go to hell; he’s not family to me!” Acceptance is not easy. But Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit. He is the one who teaches us, from the inside, from the heart, how to say “Father” and how to say “our.” Let us then ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to say “Father” and to be able to say “our,” thus making peace with our enemies.
This book contains my conversations with Fr. Marco Pozza on the Our Father. Jesus did not give us this prayer simply as a formula for addressing God. With this prayer he is inviting us to turn to the Father so that we can discover who we are and live as his true children and as brothers and sisters together. Jesus shows us what it means to be loved by the Father and reveals to us that the Father wants to pour forth upon us the same love that he has for his Son from all eternity.
So I hope that in saying the Our Father, every one of us will feel ever more loved, forgiven, bathed in the dew of the Holy Spirit, and will thus be able in turn to love and forgive every other brother, every other sister.
This will give us an idea of what heaven is like.
Francis
Holy Father, for me the evening of March 13, 2013, the night of your election as pope, was a bit strange. I had turned on the television right after reciting vespers, so according to the Church’s liturgy I was already well into March 14, and March 14 is my mom’s birthday. On March 13, you came out onto the loggia of the Vatican and we learned with great amazement that you were going to be called Francis, Pope Francis, and my dad’s name is Francis. That evening I felt that God was closer to me than ever before. This is why I like to begin by calling you Holy Father. For two reasons: first, because the word “Father” reminds us that we are all children, and then “Holy” because you are a father who proclaims the holiness of God. I would like to start right here, from the concept of “father,” because in the prayer that my dad taught me when I was a child, the Our Father, there is almost amazement at seeing a God who would allow his creatures to address him so intimately. I would like to know what it feels like for you to pray the Our Father, to speak to God so intimately.
For me it is reassuring. The Our Father gives me a sense of security: I do not feel uprooted; I do not have the sense of being an orphan. I have a father, a “dad,” who brings me a history, shows me how things work, takes care of me, and leads me forward. He ischildren