17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

To All Who Recite Daily: Our Father Who Art in Heaven 

Lord, Teach Us to Pray: — The Heartbeat of Discipleship 
(17 Week in Ordinary Time, Luke 11:1-13, 27 July 2025) 

In today’s Gospel passage (Lk 11:1-13), Saint Luke narrates the circumstances in which Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer. They, the disciples, already know how to pray by reciting the formulas of the Jewish tradition, but they too wish to experience the same “quality” of Jesus’ prayer because they can confirm that prayer is an essential dimension in their Master’s life. Indeed, each of his important actions is marked by long pauses in prayer. Moreover, they are fascinated because they see that he does not pray like the other teachers of the time, but rather his prayer is an intimate bond with the Father, so much so that they wish to be a part of these moments of union with God, in order to completely savor its sweetness. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 2019) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Epiphany- In today’s Gospel, Saint Luke opens before us a moment of profound spiritual desire: Lord, teach us to pray. It is a simple request, yet it bears within it a hunger that reaches to the very heart of what it means to be human. The disciples, though familiar with the liturgical prayers of their tradition, perceive something entirely different in Jesus. They see not merely a teacher of prayer, but one who is prayer — one who lives in a continual relationship of love with the Father. 

Prayer as Participation, Not Performance- The request of the disciples is not merely technical — as though they were asking for better techniques or more refined liturgical formulae. They see that Jesus’ prayer is not a task he performs, but a life he inhabits. His prayer springs from identity, from his very being as the Son. The Church Fathers would say that when Jesus prays, he reveals the eternal dialogue of the Trinity — the Word returning to the Father in love, through the Spirit. 

From a philosophical perspective, prayer is not first a doing, but a being-in-relation. Gabriel Marcel spoke of the human being not as a solitary I, but as one always called into relation, into disponibilité — availability to the other. In Jesus, the disciple’s glimpse what true availability looks like: a heart utterly open to the Father, a life not compartmentalized but wholly given in love. 

Thus, when Jesus teaches them the Pater Noster, he does not give them mere words; he gives them access to his own relationship with the Father. He invites them into divine sonship: When you pray, say: Father [. . .]. 

The Our Father: Ontological Realism, Not Abstraction- The Our Father is not only a prayer of words, but a prayer of identity. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. This is the language of transformation — not that we simply recite it, but that we become it. As St. Cyprian of Carthage wrote: We do not say ‘My Father,’ but Our Father — for the prayer of the Son is the prayer of the Church. 

There is deep theological meaning here: we are not atomized individuals approaching an impersonal God, but members of a Body, praying with the Son to the Father in the Spirit. In Christ, prayer is ontologically real — it changes us, configures us, draws us into divine life. 

Persistence, Trust, and Divine Generosity- After teaching the prayer, Jesus immediately speaks of perseverance — the friend knocking at midnight, the father who gives not a snake but a fish. Why this shift? 

Because real prayer is not magic. It is not about bending God’s will to ours, but allowing our hearts to be formed in the furnace of communion. Philosophically, we could say that prayer is not transactional but teleological — oriented toward the final end of human life, which is union with God. 

Jesus assures us that the Father desires to give us the greatest gift of all: the Holy Spirit — not just something, but Someone. Prayer, then, is not primarily about results, but relationship. It is a school of desire, where we learn to want what God wants to give. 

The Priest and the Our Father- For those of us called to priestly ministry, this Gospel holds particular resonance. The priest is not simply one who teaches people how to pray, but one who must himself become prayer — as Jesus was. The risk is always that we become functionaries of the sacred, rather than friends of the Father. But the disciple’s longing — teach us to pray — must be the priest’s daily cry. 

Only in sustained intimacy with the Father, can we minister without burning out. Only in habitual prayer can we give from the abundance of what we ourselves have received. Nemo dat quod non habet — we cannot give what we do not possess. 

Portrait of the Our Father: A Prayer of Being, Relation, and Transformation 

The Our Father as Revelation of Identity- At the heart of the Pater Noster is not simply a series of requests, but a foundational truth: we are children. The prayer begins not with Almighty God or Sovereign Judge, but Our Father. Theologically, this is not a metaphor but an ontological declaration. In Christ, we do not approach God as strangers or servants, but as sons and daughters — by adoption in the Son: 

Theology of Divine Filiation: The prayer flows from Jesus’ own sonship. When He teaches us to pray, He is not giving us words, but access to His own relationship with the Father. We enter into Trinitarian life — pray-ing with the Son to the Father in the Spirit. 

Philosophical Personalism: Echoing the thought of St. John Paul II, to call God Father affirms our identity as persons-in-relation. The self is not autonomous, but always from another and for another. The I is rooted in the Thou: Before we speak to God, God has already spoken us into being. Before we pray, we are already ad-dressed (Karl Rahner). 

The Our Father as Ethical Configuration-Each petition of the prayer is not simply a request for divine action, but a shaping of the human heart toward the divine will. 

Hallowed be thy name — This is not a passive glorification but a desire that our lives reflect God’s holi-ness. It is an ethical reorientation: to live in a way that sanctifies God’s name in the world. 

Thy kingdom come — This is a prayer that invites action. We ask that the reign of God — truth, justice, peace — be realized not only eschatologically but through our witness. 

Thy will be done — This is the surrender of ego. In philosophical terms, this is the overcoming of will to power (Nietzsche) in favor of will to communion (Hans Urs Von Balthasar). It is the configuration of human freedom to divine freedom, which is always love. 

The Our Father as Eschatological Hope-The second half of the prayer deals with our temporal needs — but each is cast in light of ultimate dependence on God and the coming of His kingdom: 

Give us this day our daily bread — More than mere material sustenance, the Church Fathers saw here a reference to the super-substantial bread (Mathew 6:11, Greek: epiousios) — the Eucharist. Thus, the prayer points toward the sacramental life, which sustains the pilgrim soul. 

Forgive us… as we forgive — Divine mercy is never received in isolation. To ask for forgiveness is to com-mit oneself to mercy toward others. Philosophically, this reflects the logic of gift: what is received as gift must be passed on as gift. 

Lead us not into temptation… deliver us from evil — These closing petitions acknowledge the cosmic struggle in which human life is immersed. Evil is not merely moral failure but a real ontological resistance to God’s reign. The prayer places us under divine protection, affirming human frailty and God’s sovereignty. 

The Our Father as Liturgical Formation- Liturgically, the Our Father has always held a central place in Christian worship, especially the Eucharist. It is both personal and communal — Our Father — thus forming the Church as a people united not by blood but by grace. 

` Sacramental Philosophy: The prayer shapes our vision of the world — not as random or indifferent, but as transparent to the presence of God. It forms a sacramental consciousness: God is always near, always acting, always inviting. 

Mystical Theology: The Our Father is a ladder to divine union. As the mystics taught, to truly pray this prayer is to ascend — to be drawn into the divine life, not merely in word, but in being: If you have said the Our Father well, you have said everything (Tertullian). 

Concluding Summary: Prayer as Configuration in Christ 

Dear Epiphany, to pray the Our Father is to allow Christ to pray within us. It is a prayer of transformation — of mind, heart, and will. It is not merely communication with God, but communion. In the final analysis, the Our Father is not a text to be recited, but a form of life to be lived — a life patterned after the Son, in continual re-turn to the Father, through the Spirit, for the sake of the world. 

Fraternally,
Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC, Pastor