Since Jesus first taught the Lord’s prayer, it has been a comfort to many. It’s so simple that it’s been the prayer companion of children, and yet it’s a prayer that grows with our growth so that even the wisest and oldest of Christians would never dare to say they have mastered the treasures of wisdom it contains. The Lord’s prayer remains calm and even tempered throughout all the changing scenes of the past two thousand years, suited just as much for stained glass high church cathedrals as it is for an infant’s bedside. The Lord’s Prayer seems to anticipate every difficulty and danger, seems to answer every problem, and seems to offer every comfort to Christ’s disciples in every tribulation the world has known for the past two thousand years. Its petitions are serious and yet they bring a lightness to the heart when they are prayed. In spite of all the subtle and simple grandeur of this prayer, for some the Lord’s prayer is associated with things like penance or just vain repetition. But whether your heart shuts off or comes alive when you hear the Lord’s prayer, it remains how Jesus taught His disciples to pray when specifically asked.
