The Lord’s Prayer

by Monica Pugh | November 26, 2025

“Let’s pray an Our Father,” are  words we often hear when we gather with family and friends or our parish community. One of the most beautiful things about prayer is how we can pray the common prayers all together in one voice. But the Our Father, the Lord’s Prayer, is different because it was given to us by Jesus as recorded in the gospels of Matthew 6 and Luke 11. It is a communal prayer within the communion of saints.

I admit for many years of my life I dismissed this prayer as a part of Mass and one children must learn to recite. But it is the number one prayer to use in community where we first acknowledge God’s holiness and continue with seven petitions including asking for forgiveness.

The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer that comes to life in our souls when we are open, surrender our fears, and pray the words from the depths of our heart. It includes asking for forgiveness because unforgiveness blocks our prayers and ability to understand how God loves.

We pray to God, our Father, guided by the Holy Spirit, through and because of Jesus’ death on the cross for each one of us. Jesus gives us this prayer, just like he did for his disciples who witnessed his death on the cross.

Not only did they witness Jesus’ death, but they were also willing to be persecuted or die for their unwavering belief in their Savior, our Messiah.

This prayer recently took on new meaning for me as I prayed it during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with a fresh attitude, a broken, humbled attitude, with my heart and soul open to receive from God.

As life happens to each of us, we hope to learn how to surrender every good and bad moment to God. Prayer is our willingness to accept God’s love no matter what or how we pray and no matter whether we are experiencing joy or sorrow. But if we choose unforgiveness in our hearts, receiving and giving in prayer can be blocked.

Learning how to pray, forgive, and seek forgiveness is a continual spiritual journey we are all encouraged to take so we can experience the fullness of knowing God’s grace and mercy through the death of his son. We can begin our journey this Advent with how we pray the Lord’s Prayer whether alone or in community.

As we near the end of our pilgrimage through the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, we are reminded of what a Jubilee year was in Leviticus 25 for the ancient Israelites.

It was a year of rest, freedom, restoration, and cancelation of debts.

It was a time of new beginnings and forgiveness.

As the new liturgical year begins, consider the sacrament of reconciliation while also praying the Our Father any time with an open, surrendered, forgiving heart.

Begin your year again with fresh thoughts, eyes, and prayers in hope of receiving God’s love to overflowing so that you can give it away. Our diocesan year of prayer may be ending; but our prayers are always beginning again.