Jesus presents the heart of prayer as a loving experience of a relationship with God as Abba, Father, and self-giving surrender to Him, to His plan, to His Kingdom. It is by God's pure graciousness that we are given the privilege of invoking God as "Father". The Our Father is an eschatological prayer in which the Church focuses her attention on the end-time events and prays about them. It is God's agenda for us and our world. It is a prayer for the final consummation and revelation of God's salvation - His definitive saving actions on the last day, all so dear to the heart of God. These words do not come from us, but from the mouth of God and will return to Him eventually but not till its work is finished. (Is. 55:10-11).

In the early Church, the Lord's Prayer was a Holy Treasure reserved for the members of the Church. Christians prayed it daily as a mark of their Christian identity. Candidates for baptism received this prayer as they entered the catechumenate stage, as a sign of their 'communion' with the Church. It is always a part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist and recited before communion. The communion service on Good Friday begins with the recitation of the Our Father.

Let us with awe and reverence pray this prayer taught us by God Himself. All true prayer changes the mind of the one who prays. May we too be transformed.