Study Notes: The “Our Father” and Christian Family Life

LESSON 1

The prayer “Our Father” is one of the important pillars of Catholic catechesis. Why?
Because we find in the text of the “Our Father” all the three dimensions of our Catholic
faith: doctrine, moral, and worship. It is the summary of the whole Gospel. This integrative
role of the "Our Father" is following our Catholic Tradition. (cf. CFC 2108).

The Catechism for Filipino Catholics presents the “Our Father” as composed of three
parts.

1. An address

2.“You petitions”
3.“We petitions”

The opening address sets the tone and orientation. The prayer is God-centered (CFC
2129 citing CCC 2803). The “You Petitions” namely a) Holy be Your Name; b) Your
Kingdom come; and c) Your will be done, draw us to the Father’s glory. Ultimately, they
are different ways of asking God to be God on earth as in heaven. They refer to God’s
eschatological glory, which is Christ’s return in glory of His second coming.

➢ “Holy be your name” - stresses the internal dimension of God’s glory, his nature as
God.
➢ “Your kingdom come” - emphasizes the external dimension that is God’s
relationship to the world.
➢ “Your will be done” - fixes on God’s saving action reaching out to the whole world,
thus highlighting the universality of God’s glory.

The “We petitions” pertain to our basic needs: bread, support against sin, and temptation
and forgiveness. God’s Name, Kingdom and Will are truly committed, by His freely given
love, toward responding to our needs. If God takes care of and beautifies the least of
creatures, the more He cares for us and desires that our lives be beautiful and perfect.
Jesus wants us to stop worrying about our security and future (Mt. 6:31-33). “Seek first
His kingship over you, His way of holiness and all these things will be given to you
besides” (cf. CFC 2168).

➢ “Give us this day our daily bread” - Bread here symbolizes all human food
necessary to sustain our human life and meant to be shared with others. “Bread is
human only when it is shared and support communion with others” (CFC 2170).
 ➢ "And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." - This petition is
"a personal acknowledgment of our own sinfulness. We forgive others, and then
ask God to forgive us. We have no right to ask God to forgive us unless we do the
same for others.” (CFC 2184)
➢ “Lead us not into temptation.” - We ask God that He may not let us enter into, give
in to nor submit to temptation.
➢ “But deliver us from evil.” - In this final petition, we are asking God to preserve us
from the final diabolic onslaught “and pray for that final, definitive, liberation that
only Christ can bring.” (CFC 2195, 2196)
LESSON 2
We, Filipinos are noted for being family-centered. We believe that our very families
are the seedbeds that nurture our personhood. Our sense of belonging and closeness
with the members of our respective families develop our capacity to become loving,
caring, concerned for others, compassionate, forgiving, etc.

God as the most loving God, created man and woman and made them co-creators of His
creation. As the family is the original cell of social life, it is the natural society in which
husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and the gift of life. This new couple,
husband and wife, are given the responsibility to raise their children properly in the way
God wants them to be. "The divine Fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood” (CCC
2214) and therefore, “parents must regard their children as children of God and respect
them as human persons.” (CCC 2222)

In God’s plan of salvation, we belong to His family, the community in which from
childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of
freedom. “The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take
responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor” (CCC 2208).
There are families that are incapable of providing this help. Families should devote time
to praying together and bringing to God each member’s need for forgiveness and healing
as well as asking for the blessings of courage, good health, strength, love, and other
graces.

Authority, stability and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundation for
freedom, security, and fraternity within the society. It devolves then on other persons,
other families and the society in a subsidiary way, to provide for their needs. "Religion
that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widow's
in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (CCC 2208).
 An excerpt from the POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION of Pope
Francis, Amoris Laetitia
(March 16, 2016)

The Bible also presents the family as the place where children are brought up in the faith.
This is evident from the description of the Passover celebration (cf. Ex 12:26-27; Deut
6:20-25) and it later appears explicitly in the Jewish Haggadah, the dialogue
accompanying the rite of the Passover meal. One of the Psalms celebrates the
proclamation of faith within families: “All that we have heard and known, that our fathers
have told us, we will not hide from their children, but tell the coming generation the
glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought. He
established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded
our fathers to teach to their children; that the next generation might know them, the
children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children” (Ps 78:3-6). The family is
thus the place where parents become their children’s first teachers in the faith. They learn
this “trade”, passing it down from one person to another: “When in time to come your son
asks you… You shall say to him…” (Ex 13:14). Thus succeeding generations can raise
their song to the Lord: “young men and maidens together, old and young together!”(Ps
148:12).

17. Parents have a serious responsibility for this work of education, as the Biblical sages
often remind us (cf. Prov 3:11-12; 6:20-22; 13:1; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:17). Children, for
their part, are called to accept and practice the commandment: “Honor your father and
your mother” (Ex 20:12). Here the verb “to honor” has to do with the fulfilment of family
and social commitments; these are not to be disregarded under the presence of religious
motives (cf. Mk 7:11-13). “Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and whoever
glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure” (Sir 3:3-4).

18. The Gospel goes on to remind us that children are not the property of a family but
have their own lives to lead. Jesus is a model of obedience to his earthly parents, placing
himself under their charge (cf. Lk 2:51), but he also shows that children’s life decisions
and their Christian vocation may demand a parting for the sake of the Kingdom of God
(cf. Mt 10:34-37; Lk 9:5962). Jesus himself, at twelve years of age, tells Mary and Joseph
that he has a greater mission to accomplish apart from his earthly family (cf. Lk 2:48-50).
In this way, he shows the need for other, deeper bonds even within the family: “My mother
and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Lk 8:21). All the same,
in the concern he shows for children – whom the societies of the ancient Near East viewed
as subjects without particular rights and even as family property – Jesus goes so far as
to present them as teachers, on account of their simple trust and spontaneity towards
others. “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like a child, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3-4).

Christian Witness:
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is our perfect model of a strong family that
builds up a strong society because of their strong faith, hope, and love for one another
and to God. The story of the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple gives us a
glimpse of Jesus' earthly life and how Mary and Joseph, his parents, become good
examples to Jesus as he grew up in age, stature, but also in wisdom and strength.

The “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9–13)

• Taught by Jesus as a model prayer summarizing the core of Christian life.

• Called the “summary of the Gospel” because it includes:

o His Kingdom and will

o Human needs: sustenance, forgiveness, protection

Three Main Parts:

1. Address – “Our Father who art in heaven”

o “Holy be Your Name”

o “Your Kingdom come”

3. We-Petitions – Focus on human needs:

o “Deliver us from evil”

These petitions teach humility, trust, forgiveness, and dependence on God.

Christian Family Life

• The family is the domestic church, the first school of faith.

• Parents are called to treat children as children of God (CCC 2222) and pass
on Christian values.

• Children are expected to honor their parents (4th Commandment) and follow
their Christian vocation.

Values in the Family:

• Authority, stability, and relationships foster a strong Christian foundation.

• Inspired by the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) as a model of faith, love,
and obedience.

• Christian families help nurture faith, hope, and love through shared prayer,
service, and forgiveness.

Supporting Scripture and Church Teachings

• Matthew 6:31–33 – Seek first the Kingdom of God.

• Psalm 78 – Urges parents to pass on faith to the next generation.

• CFC 2170 – Bread is “human” when shared in communion.

• Amoris Laetitia (Pope Francis) – Families as the center of love and faith.