How we—and the world—need holy priests and bishops, and, thus, a holy Church! How we—and the world—need holy husbands and wives, and, thus, holy marriages! The secular gods of this age, and their contemporary followers, grow stronger, bolder, less timid or ashamed, as the heart of this age grows colder, harder, and more brutal. The need for holy righteousness in Church and home only becomes more acute. We need to pray, fellow Catholics! We need to learn to pray, and then to begin anew a life of prayer.
This remarkable prayer, the Our Father, can lead us into spiritual renewal. Like a spiritual director, it shows us the way of prayer, points the direction of prayer, leads us in ascent of prayer, to follow our Lord in mission. The Our Father leads us into, and through, the three stages of spiritual life that he intends us to travel and experience, along the way of our vocation to true maturity in Christ. He takes us by the hand as beginners, in the Purgative Stage, and leads us to a doorway of inner darkness, on to Illumination in mystical encounter, and infused contemplation. It is here that we most personally and intimately meet him, and grow to know him, and most deeply hear him pronounce our true calling to the glory of his kingdom and beatitude. The Our Father, the most overlooked and under-prayed of prayers, says it all.
