NOTES for Mat 6:7-15
The first three lines of the “Our Father,” the Lord's Prayer, seem to speak of one and the same thing—the Kingdom. A kingdom is the domain of a king. We ask that our world may belong more fully to the King, that there may be more of God in it. In a kingdom, the King is glorified, His name is hallowed, people pray to Him and call upon Him to judge. In a kingdom, the King's will is done and He is obeyed... Even when we say these words thoughtfully rather than automatically, we perceive them in the abstract because we apply them to the whole world rather than to ourselves. Yet Christ says that His Kingdom is within us. We can pray while thinking that the Church should be this Kingdom—that is, I, you, and all of us who say these words together. For this to happen, His name must be hallowed in me, in you, and in us; I, you, and all of us together must do His will. If after the Eucharist we say these words together in precisely this way, perhaps the Kingdom of God will draw nearer, take up more room in our hearts, and reveal itself more clearly in the Church.