A WAY OF BEING IN THE WORLD

T he Gospels often speak to us about Jesus’ prayer. His prayer appears to us both as received and transmitted. Received by his participation in the synagogue prayer, transmitted because it responds to the disciples’ question: “Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples” (Lk 11,1). Jesus did not leave us many prayers, but he did give us one: the Pater Noster (cf. Luke 11:1-4). Not only that; after having delivered the Pater he tells, in Luke’s version, a parable, that of the importunate friend (cf. Luke 11:5-8) which he follows with exhortations (cf. Luke 11:9-13). What does it mean? That to understand the prayer of the Pater, which is one of the central points of his teaching on prayer, we must take into account these two additions. In the first, the importunate friend, Jesus underlines the basic attitude of prayer: trust. We must pray to the Father, yes, but with trust, as we do to a friend whose prayers we do not doubt will be heard. In the exhortations, however, prayer is a question, and a search; prayer requires perseverance. Finally, Jesus makes a comparison between the earthly father and the heavenly one. Trust, therefore, but also question, search and persevere.

Let’s underline the text of the Pater. In Greek the term is patêr. But Jesus prayed in Aramaic, so he did not say patêr but Aun (even today in Chaldean churches it is recited this way). In Hebrew it is Avinu. Already 2000 years before Jesus, Gudea king of Lagash (Mesopotamia) prayed in this way: “I have no father, I have no mother, you are my father”. What does it mean? That the paternity of God is written in the viscera and mind of every man. Aun was used to designate the origin of being. Invoking the Father, therefore, means reuniting with one’s own inner principle. In Matthew, as is known, Aun is defined as “ours” and not “mine”. Why? You should know that in the East, in certain languages, “we” is a sign of forgetting oneself. For example, in Persia they said: “Our eye shines” as if to say “before you I erase myself, your appearance makes my eye bright, I am only a witness among all”. The “we” therefore does not indicate a “collectivity” but the objectivity of those who have surpassed themselves. The sanctification of the name follows. Sanctifying the name of God is a request that must be understood in its Semitic meaning, where “sanctifying” must be understood as “revealing”. The Father is asked to reveal himself, to turn his face towards us. The Kingdom in the reading of the Greek Fathers is the Holy Spirit. By “Kingdom” we must therefore understand the illumination that descended on the disciples at Pentecost, instilling two things: sober intoxication and inspired and frank speech. And thus we come to the word, bread, which has a fascinating path in the history of humanity and therefore in the Bible. Bread passes from the fields to the table, from the pantry to the altars, from the struggle to procure it to its consecration. Among the fruits of the earth it is the noblest and has become the destiny of the new man, the first fruits of divine life in us. Forgiveness is another type of bread (think of the bread of Father Cristoforo in The Betrothed), because we need not only to nourish the body but also the heart, in relationships that are often difficult and conflictual. And the only element that makes them live and not survive in some way is mutual forgiveness. In the last petition we ask not to be abandoned in the hour of temptation. Be careful, it means, not to be removed from temptation (which will always come) but to be supported when it happens.

The Pater Noster is more than a formula; it is a life that expresses itself, a way of being in the world.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey