The Our Father 24/7—Pray Unceasingly

Prayer is the most potent, most creative and most fruitful force in the world. Persistent and enduring prayer is a weapon that would change even a heart of iron. Pray continuously even when we do not see a result immediately, but believe that at the appropriate time God will respond to our prayers. He will lead us on.

Our persistence in prayer, endurance in prayer or perseverance in prayer is like a stonecutter breaking a big hard piece of rock. He keeps on hammering even when she is not able to see the slightest crack on the rock. He keeps on hammering 10 times, twenty times, fifty times, a hundred times etc. and perhaps at the 150^th blow the stone breaks into two. Now with our logical mind we would say that the stonecutter should have made that last blow first. But the stonecutter knows that every blow that went before that last blow is as important as the last blow; though they made no cracks in the stone.

St. Augustine lived a very immoral and sinful life before his conversion. His mother, St. Monica, a pious and good lady tried to advice him. She tried to use force through his friends and relatives but no change was there in the life of the youth. At last she had recourse to prayer. She prayed for nineteen long years for the conversion of Augustine. At last he was converted; not just to a good person but he became a model of sanctity for humanity – a saint. A child of prayers and tears cannot be lost.

The Our Father, prayer, praying unceasingly

Yes. Perseverance in prayer can work miracles (Luke 11: 1-13). Prayer is inevitable if we want to grow in life. But the question is what shall we pray or how shall we pray? As we saw in the gospel once the apostles of Jesus went to Jesus and asked, master, teach us to pray. Jesus taught them a simple but a comprehensive prayer—The Our Father.

The Our Father is a very practical prayer, it could be prayed by anybody and it includes all our petitions and wishes. All seem to understand this prayer in their own practical and little ways. Once a family got transferred from Delhi to Poona. After they had settled down they were having their family prayer in the evening, the child began to pray. “Our father who art in heaven hallowed be they name… Give us today our Poona bread…” The mother was shocked, she asked him what are you praying? The son said, now be practical dear mother, when we were in Delhi, we prayed; give us today our delly (Delhi) bread. Now that we are in Poona, how can we ask God to bring bread from Delhi for us? That is regarding the simplicity and practicality of this prayer but beyond the practicality and simplicity of this prayer, it is deep and rich in meaning.

Firstly, The Our Father brings us to a close relationship with god. Once a great and powerful king was coming home after a great victory in a war. The streets were laid clean. The people have gathered in great crowds to see the king coming after victory. They stood in respectful fear of the king. All were silent. All of a sudden, a child ran on to the road, running to the chariot to greet the king. The soldiers and the people were surprised and perplexed. One soldier managed to run after the child and caught hold him and asked: “do you know who he is?” the child looked at him with a smile and said: “he is my father.” The soldier could not say anything. There is no room for formalities or fear between a father and his children.

When we pray The Our Father prayer. In prayer, we realise that god is our father; we all are the sons and daughters of the same father. Therefore, there is no room for fear to meet or relate to him.

Secondly, The Our Father sets first things first. After addressing God as our father, there are six petitions, of which three are petitions of adoration to god; hallowed be they name, thy kingdom come, and they will be done. In other words, not my nature, not my kingdom, and not my will; but let god’s nature, god’s kingdom and god’s will be established.

To pray is to bend us to the nature, kingdom, and will of God; and not twist god’s nature, kingdom and will to suit our purpose. In The Our Father God is given his proper and first place. And once that is done the rest will automatically fall in the proper place too.

In the second part of The Our Father we have three petitions for human well-being, well knit together. We pray for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil.

When we say, give us today our daily bread, it means to say give us today all that we need to sustain our lives—our food, clothing, health, etc. Thus all our present life is brought into the presence of God. When we say, forgive us our sins; we recall all our wrong doings, mistakes and failures of the past. All our past life is brought into the presence of God to be revitalized. Our entire past is brought into the presence of God. When we say, lead us not into temptation, or trial. We are recalling our future life, future journey and bringing it to the presence of God. Thus in short, with the tree petitions our entire life, past, present and the future is brought into the presence of god.

Thirdly, if we have to go one step deeper into the prayer taught by our Lord, we can see in these three petitions the entire Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is brought into our lives too.

When we say give us today our daily bread, we are reminded of God the father, who is the sustainer, protector and provider of all good things. When we say forgive us our sins, we are reminded of God the son, who came to forgive us our sins, the redeemer of humanity. When we say lead us not into temptations and guide on the right path, we are reminded of god the holy spirit, who is our guide, protector and comforter on our way.

Thus in this beautiful prayer, our entire life is brought into the presence of god; and the entire Godhead—the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit—is brought into our lives. Let us persevere and be persistent in our prayers, not merely looking for an immediate answer but believing that our prayers will be answered in the best possible manner at the best possible time. Pray like Jesus, calling God ‘our Father’. Let is bring our entire life—our past, present, and future—to God; and bring the entire godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—to us. Being a prayerful person is to have the spirit of The Our Father in us unceasingly.

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