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The Lord’s Prayer has many profound phrases, though typically we are too busy to recognize them.
For example, do we pause or consider what we are saying when we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses“?
Have mercy on me, a sinner
The Our Father is a prayer in which we praise God for his goodness, but also one in which we recognize our own faults and failings.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us of this spiritual truth in its section on prayer:
With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God.
CCC 2839
This is an important reality to recognize, as we are often tempted to live our lives as if we don’t sin.
Spiritual pride can often lead us away from God, thinking that God is the one who made a mistake and not us.
The Catechism continues, bringing to mind parables from the gospels that we should recall when reciting this petition:
Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a “confession” of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.
CCC 2839
We are that prodigal son or daughter, confessing our wrongdoing before the Father, letting him hold us with his warm embrace of mercy:
“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry.
Luke 15:21-24
Each time we pray the Our Father, we have an opportunity to run back into the loving arms of God, confessing our guilt to him.
