We begin the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father, who art in heaven” because God wants us to keep in mind our goal. We are made for nothing less than him, and only in heaven will we have our complete happiness. For now, we are making our Exodus, like the children of Israel. God summoned Israel out from Egypt: When Israel was a child, I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son (Hos 11:1). Israel knew God’s fatherhood in their Exodus, and we are now learning of God’s fatherhood in our own Exodus. We are leaving sin behind and going to the Promised Land. Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come (Heb 13:14). Pope Francis writes of heaven in this way: “All that we now experience in hope, we shall then see in reality. We are reminded of the words of Saint Augustine: ‘When I am one with you in all my being, there will be no more pain and toil; my life shall be true life, a life wholly filled by you.’” 17 A life filled with God—that is our heavenly goal. The Our Father perfectly expresses our hope that we are being raised up by Christ to be with his Father and ours. Our life is an Exodus, a going out, from this world to the next. The Our Father inflames our hope for heaven. Remembering in contemplation We can say in prayer what Jesus himself said: Father! We are not alone. Christ has united us in himself during our pilgrimage by teaching us to pray “Our Father.” God in heaven is our goal. The Our Father guides us as we leave behind this world and make our way to heaven, just as the Israelites left behind Egypt and limped towards the Promised Land. Our hope is firm, because God is at work in the depths of our hearts, moving us to pray as the Spirit wills. God alone is our happiness, our rest, our glory, our love, our all. God the Father opens heaven for us through the prayer of his Son, who is intimately present to us in Holy Communion at Mass. 22 CHAPTER 1 OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN
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