The Catechism of the Catholic Church ends with a study of the Lord’s Prayer and the final paragraph of that last section is:
“By the final ‘Amen,’ we express our ‘fiat’ concerning the seven petitions: ‘So be it.'” –2865 Catechism of the Catholic Church
St. Augustine concluded that you could go through all the prayers of the Bible and not find anything that is not completely contained in the Lord’s Prayer. (CCC 2762) Tertullian stated that the Lord’s Prayer “is truly the summary of the whole gospel.” (CCC 2761)
Let’s be completely honest, when heavy hitters like St. Augustine and Tertullian have weighed in on the Lord’s Prayer, what is someone like me to add? I find the whole section on the Lord’s Prayer some of the best reflection on prayer and living a faith-filled life that I have ever read. (If you haven’t read it yet, run don’t walk to grab your Catechism. It starts at paragraph 2759.)
And in that final 2865th paragraph, after 2864 paragraphs defining and describing what we believe as a community of faith, it seems appropriate that whole of the Catechism ends with our assent, our fiat to all that Jesus handed to us in this prayer.
We pray to Our Father, because through Jesus’s becoming man, we have a share in his family.
We pray for His kingdom to come because we are poor in spirit and long for that day, “as the deer longs for streams for water. (Psalm 42:1)
We pray for His will to be done because left on our own, we mourn and are in need of comfort.
We pray for our daily bread because we are poor, hungry, thirsty.
We pray for forgiveness of our debts, because we are called to be the merciful; to have already forgiven those who are in debt to us. Despite our limitations, we want to love with the heart of God.
We pray to avoid temptation because we want to be pure in heart.
We pray for deliverance from evil because we are persecuted and we desire peace.
Our infinite God’s entry into finite time and space, which began with Mary’s fiat, now continues each time we repeat Our Lord’s Prayer, with our own fiat. Our “So be it,” to God’s will, God’s plan.
No wonder the early Christians prayed it three times each day.
Amen.
While wearing many hats, Sheryl O’Connor is the wife and study buddy of Thomas O’Connor. Not having received the gift of having their own children, their home is filled with 2 large dogs and their hearts with the teens and youth with whom they work in their parish collaborative. Sheryl is the Director of Strong Families Programs for Holy Family Healthcare which means her job is doing whatever needs to be done to help parents build strong Catholic families. Inspired by the works of mercy, Holy Family Healthcare is a primary healthcare practice in West Michigan which seeks to honor the dignity of every individual as we would Christ. Find out more at https://www.holyfamilyhealthcare.org/
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