Meditating on the Our Father

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blessedstar

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St Teresa of Avila meditated on the Lord’s Prayer.

By what method do you meditate on the ‘Our Father’, the Lord’s Prayer and what have been your insights and fruits of this meditation?

Thank you for your replies in advance.
 
Interesting. Was your post perhaps inspired by the Daily Mass gospel being about the Our Father? 😃

Can’t really say I meditate on it per se. Perhaps I should do so more, after all, having come from the Lord’s own lips it is as perfect a prayer as we will ever have. Shows us that perfect prayer doesn’t have to be long.

The Our Father serves as a model of the types of prayer that we can and should use - praise and adoration, petition, submission to God’s will. And it reminds us that the praise and the submission to God’s will should always come first in our prayer, before the petition. I guess the fruit is that I have tried to pray more in this way lately 😉

It also reminds us of all the non-material things we should be praying for - such as mercy, forgiveness, the strength to love and serve others, protection and guidance. And it reminds us to reflect God’s love and mercy as much as we can to others if we hope to receive these things for ourselves.

Additionally, it is a communal prayer - the ‘Our Father’, not the ‘My Father’, and phrased as ‘us’ and ‘we’, never ‘I’. Thus when we pray it we are, even if only on a subconscious level, including everyone in our prayers. It has a great levelling effect on me, reminding me of all those who have it just as bad or worse than I do at any given time.

Just a mishmash of some of my thoughts, for what they’re worth.
 
The Lord’s Prayer:
Code: 
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.

Amen!
 
blessedstar said:
St Teresa of Avila meditated on the Lord’s Prayer.

By what method do you meditate on the ‘Our Father’, the Lord’s Prayer and what have been your insights and fruits of this meditation?

Thank you for your replies in advance.
Click to expand...
Understanding the Lord’s Prayer after reading St. Teresa’s teaching on it, I found it difficult getting past the first two words,
“Our Father,” without being filled with awe.

Jim
 
So many beautiful replies! I’m going to take my time and meditate upon the things you all have posted.

By the way does anyone have a link for St Teresa’s meditations on the ‘Our Father’? I’d be very grateful if someone would post that link up.

Thank you
 
blessedstar said:
So many beautiful replies! I’m going to take my time and meditate upon the things you all have posted.

By the way does anyone have a link for St Teresa’s meditations on the ‘Our Father’? I’d be very grateful if someone would post that link up.

Thank you
Click to expand...
I don’t believe she had mediations on the Our Father per se, but rather wrote about it in her book, “The Way of Perfection.”

You can read it on line here.

catholicfirst.com/thefaith/catholicclassics/stteresa/way/wayofperfection.cfm

Jim
 
I love to say the Lord’s Prayer because if you notice it puts our focus on God first - showing how our priorities should be. Then it leads into our physical and spiritual needs. I often begin by saying each of the first few sentences slowly:

Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Then I lead onto the next part with my mind firmly focused on the Glory of God:gopray:
 
blessedstar said:
St Teresa of Avila meditated on the Lord’s Prayer.

By what method do you meditate on the ‘Our Father’, the Lord’s Prayer and what have been your insights and fruits of this meditation?

Thank you for your replies in advance.
Click to expand...
The Catechism offers a beautiful meditation on the prayer, which begins here.

An on-line meditation on the 7 petitions, in reverse sequence, begins here.

The most importany key is to pray slowly, and deeply consider every word and every phrase that you are speaking. It helps to pray out loud.

fide
 
Hi Blessedstar,

A few weeks ago while browsing the archive of Catholic Answers Live, I found a great show with Dr. Scott Hahn on this very subject.

You can listen to it by going to this link

catholic.com/radio/calendar.php

and finding in that calendar the show of July 22, 2002
 
jlcasey said:
I love to say the Lord’s Prayer because if you notice it puts our focus on God first - showing how our priorities should be. Then it leads into our physical and spiritual needs. I often begin by saying each of the first few sentences slowly:

Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Then I lead onto the next part with my mind firmly focused on the Glory of God:gopray:
Click to expand...
Thank you, this is beautiful.🙂
 
fide said:
The Catechism offers a beautiful meditation on the prayer, which begins here.

An on-line meditation on the 7 petitions, in reverse sequence, begins here.

The most importany key is to pray slowly, and deeply consider every word and every phrase that you are speaking. It helps to pray out loud.

fide
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for taking the time and thought to post up those links. I will read through them. Again thank you very much and God Bless you.
 
Catolico said:
Hi Blessedstar,

A few weeks ago while browsing the archive of Catholic Answers Live, I found a great show with Dr. Scott Hahn on this very subject.

You can listen to it by going to this link

catholic.com/radio/calendar.php

and finding in that calendar the show of July 22, 2002
Click to expand...
Thank you very much Catolico for finding this for me. Everyone has been so kind with their help in this. I am very grateful. Thank you very much Catolico, I’ll listen to this this evening when the house is quiet. God Bless you.
 
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