Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’

I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

The Pater Noster or the “Lord’s Prayer” is the prayer given by Jesus to his disciples, which he himself does not pray. How can he when he always does the will of his heavenly Father and he has no sin to ask forgiveness for?

No, the Lord’s Prayer is a perfect prayer—for the disciples. It has come down to us in two versions: the longer one in Matthew which we use as it is more attuned to communitarian prayer, and the shorter one in Luke. The Lucan version is Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ request that he teaches them to pray. Interestingly, the prayer takes the form of a cross, the crossing of the vertical and the horizontal lines.

In the vertical perspective, we raise our eyes to heaven, addressing God as Abba (“Father”) in deep respect and adoration, but also with confidence, as Jesus encourages his disciples. We pray that as God’s holy name is “hallowed” and his will perfectly obeyed in heaven, people on earth may learn to do so.

Then we turn our eyes to earth’s horizon, to the lives and concerns of men and women. As we are creatures, we ask God for our sustenance: our daily bread. God provides us food in season and out of season. Still, we see that there is so much hunger in the world. It is said that the earth has enough to feed everyone, but not enough to feed the greedy.

We, therefore, are challenged to share with others, because God intends his creation for all. And because our human nature is stained, we can be tempted to do evil, to hurt our fellow men and women. And we do so. We, therefore, ask the Lord to forgive us our debts or trespasses. But just as the Lord will give us food with the condition that we share it with others, so forgiveness is given if we are open to forgive others who are indebted to us.

Finally, we will face the final test, where our fundamental option is at play. We do not pray that we be delivered from this temptation, but that God will not allow us to succumb to temptation and to fail. We may fall down at certain points in our life, but we pray that God will help us rise again and pick up and mend the broken pieces of our lives.

The Lord’s Prayer is the most beautiful prayer given to us by Jesus himself. Hence, it should be used with attention, devotion, and respect. That is why we are scandalized and hurt when the prayer is used for blasphemous act and presentation, as in drag theatrics.