Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Hail Mary, full of grace.

Now we enter into the second half of the Our Father, in which we petition God for His help.

When God saved the Israelites from slavery, He led them into the desert. And there, every morning in the desert, God sent them manna — flakes that were made into bread. Everyone could eat their fill each day, but the manna would rot if they tried to store it overnight. By teaching us to ask for our daily bread, Jesus calls us to find peace in trusting him to provide for us every single day, just as he did the Israelites. God desires us to be fully present, not looking backward in regret or forward in anxiety, but to love and serve where we are here and now.

Going beyond the bread God gave the Israelites, in John chapter 6, Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” When we ask for our daily bread, we recognize that the Father gives us Jesus in the Eucharist as our truest nourishment. Jesus is the daily bread that we need to feed us, to fill us, and to lead us to eternal life.

As Christians, we believe that God is our Father in Heaven. This belief is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, who referred to God as his Father and encouraged his followers to do the same. In the Lord’s Prayer, which is one of the most famous prayers in Christianity, Jesus begins by addressing God as “Our Father in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9-13). When we call God “Our Father,” we are acknowledging that he is the creator of all things and that we are his children. This relationship is not based on biology, but on our faith in God and our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior. Through Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God and given the right to call him “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). read more

Calling God “Our Father” also reminds us that we are part of a larger community of believers. We are not alone in our faith journey, but are united with other Christians around the world who share our belief in God as our Father.