Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

Last year in my sermons I discussed the meaning of the Beatitudes and those psalms that are sung at the Divine Liturgy. These texts repeat on a weekly basis in the prayers of the Church so that we sometimes forget to pay them any attention and do not think of the deep message that is hidden within their familiar words. It seems to me that the Lord’s Prayer, which was given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself not simply as a standalone prayer, but as an example or guide for all prayer, unfortunately falls into the same category. Every day, multiple times, in a rote manner we repeat the words of this wondrous prayer, but perhaps do not dive into the meaning of these divine words. Let’s try, in the span of the next several weeks, to remember the meaning of this prayer and, in such a manner, elevate our own personal prayer to a higher spiritual level!

‘Our Father’ can be divided into three basic parts: the invocation, six or seven petitions (depending on how you divide them), and the concluding doxology. Today, let’s discuss the first part.

“Our Father, Who art in the heavens”

With these words our Saviour began to teach His disciples to pray. These short and simple words hold within themselves knowledge about God and man, about the correct relationship a man should have with God and with his neighbour, and about the purpose of human life.

When we call God our father, we express many things. Of course, God is father to all and everything simply because He literally created everything. Although this is so, God is also our father because He desires that we have an especially close relationship with Him, a relationship as if between a father and his children. Far from everyone has a good relationship with their parents, and even when it is good, there are moments of strain. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize that while God is our father, this title is only a conditional comparison to the relationship of children to their parents. As a matter of fact, God knows and loves each of us much more than our earthly father.

If God is our father, it means that we are His children. If we are His children, as St. Paul writes in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Galatians, it means we are heirs to His Heavenly Kingdom. This is very important to remember when we turn in prayer to God. We are not minors, slaves, or hired hands, but lawful heirs to the Kingdom of God and therefore must live and pray in such a way that our place in this Kingdom is not lost.

The word ‘our’ is also very important. It points out that this prayer is a communal prayer of the whole Church, of all those who believe in Christ, and not just our personal prayer. Although we often recite the words of this prayer individually, we are saying them as if from the whole of the Church and not only for our own sake, but for the sake of all believers. The word ‘our’ also reminds us that if God is father to all of us, we are in turn each other’s brothers and sisters. If God hopes that each of us will have a close relationship with Him, it means that we should also have a close bond with the other members of our Church family. This isn’t that simple to do, and sometimes it’s even impossible, but there is one area in which any person should be able to manage this, i .e in prayer. Sometimes it happens that during prayer, we first ask for that which seems to us to be most important for us personally, but it would be better and more correct to first pray for the whole Church, then for our neighbours who are in need of our support in prayer, and only then for ourselves.

The words ‘Who art in the heavens’ are also not chance or superfluous. We all understand that the Lord exists not only in Heaven, but is omnipresent. There is no place where He is not and where He cannot hear our prayers. Our Lord Jesus Christ included these words in His prayer to show us where we must place ourselves. If God is everywhere present, unchangеable and is always and everywhere good, loving, and wonderful, we cannot say the same about humans. Man, although heir to the Heavenly Kingdom with a lawful right to reside there and delight in Heavenly pleasures, is not always like his Heavenly Father, is not always in close spiritual proximity to Him. It is, of course, very sad when we stray from the path and separate ourselves from God. The words ‘Who art in the heavens’ serve as a reminder that the goal of our life is the Kingdom of Heaven where man is without a doubt in close proximity to God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, see how many interesting ideas are found in the first few words of the Lord’s Prayer! Let’s try to always remember that when we pray, we are addressing not some far-off god, but our dear God and Father. Let’s remember that we are His children and heirs, that other people are our brothers and sisters in Christ, that our place is not in this sinful world, but in the light-filled Heavenly Kingdom. Let us therefore raise up prayers and petitions that correspond to these truths.

priest Alexis