My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are nineteen (19) In Brief articles in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which treat the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father.” The following reflection considers CCC, 2865.
When praying the Lord’s Prayer, as so many of our prayers, we end with a single word: “Amen” (cf. Matthew 6:13). This word serves as an oath of sorts, “that it be so…” “So be it done.” In concluding the Lord’s Prayer with the word “Amen” we express our fiat, our concurrence, with the aforementioned seven petitions, requests or demands. Merriam Webster reminds us that “Amen” is used at the end of a prayer, especially to express agreement or approval as well as a solemn ratification or hearty approval.
In making the Sign of the Cross, in praying the Creed, at the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer, in receiving Holy Communion in the “Ordinary Form” the word “Amen” plays a prominent role. Sometimes this word of Hebrew origin is translated as “truly” or “verily.” The word “Amen” derives from the verb meaning “to be firm” or “to prop.” “Amen” is used to confirm a covenant or an oath, often occurring at the close of a psalm or other prayer (cf. Numbers 5:22; Deuteronomy 27:15; Nehemiah). The Douay-Rheims edition of the Holy Bible the word “Amen” occurs 174 times in some 145 verses. Twenty-eight of these occurrence are in the Gospel of Saint Matthew alone. For example Jesus says “Amen I say unto you, till Heaven and Earth pass, on jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled (Matthew 5:18) and “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26) and “Amen I say to you , it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Matthew 8:10) and “when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man Come” (Matthew 10:23) and “Whosoever sahll give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a dicsiple, Amen I say to you he shall not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). When we respond “Amen” we are giving our assent to what has gone before (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:6).
When we pray “Amen” at the end of the Lord’s Prayer we are reaffirming what we said in the earlier petitions and ratify “what God has taught us” as Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (+386) wrote centuries ago.. In commenting on the “Amen” of the Lord’s Prayer, Saint Thomas Aquinas, OP (+1274) points out that the Hebrew term was not translated out of reverence for Christ who used the term so frequently (Lectura super Matthaeum). Let us always be faithful to Jesus Himself, the great Amen (cf. Revelation 3:14).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr