In Brief

In response to his disciples’ request “Lord, teach us to pray”1, Jesus entrusts them with the fundamental Christian prayer, the Our Father.

“The Lord’s Prayer is truly the summary of the whole gospel”2, the “most perfect of prayers.”3 It is at the center of the Scriptures.

It is called “the Lord’s Prayer” because it comes to us from the Lord Jesus, the master and model of our prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer is the quintessential prayer of the Church. It is an integral part of the major hours of the Divine Office and of the sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Integrated into the Eucharist it reveals the eschatological character of its petitions, hoping for the Lord, “until he comes”.4