‘Our Father’ Contains a Trove of Spiritual Treasure

[Michie]

BOOK PICK: ‘Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer’

‘Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer’ delves into the Our Father. (photo: CUA Press)
Clare Walker Books

July 24, 2021
Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer

Wisdom From the Early Church

By John Gavin, SJ

The Catholic University of America Press, 2021

192 pages, $24.95

To order: amazon.com


Jesuit Father John Gavin begins his book with an evocative image: Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on Aug. 24, 79 A.D. This cataclysmic event buried the entire city of nearby Pompeii in burning volcanic ash.

Continued below.
‘Our Father’ Contains a Trove of Spiritual Treasure

 

[BrAndreyu]

I don't have many formula prayers memorized, just the Hail Mary, Our Father, and the Hail, Holy Queen (but that was a few days ago that I memorized that) but I can say that the Lord's Prayer is one of the things that kept me going when I was in jail last April. I'd lay in the bed and just say it for hours to keep myself from freaking out, then I realized that I could say the rosary using my knuckles and I started doing that to the best of my ability (I do not have the Apostle's Creed memorized, or I would substitute the Nicene Creed which I have memorized for it).

Praying and reading the bible were what got me through my time in jail. God willing, I'm never going to have to experience that again because I am taking extreme pains to make sure that I don't break any laws.