# What Is the Lords Prayer About_ - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 10 Aug 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73269754/what_is_the_lords_prayer_about_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon_1.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you friends. Our gospel for today is
[0:03] Speaker 1: Saint Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer the Our Father.
[0:08] Speaker 1: This prayer that's I mean recited probably I don't know,
[0:11] Speaker 1: millions of times a day all over the world at
[0:15] Speaker 1: every Mass. If you're praying the Liturgy of the Hours,
[0:18] Speaker 1: you pray it three times a day. Think of all
[0:20] Speaker 1: the people who would recite these words. They're some of
[0:23] Speaker 1: the best known words on the planet. It might be
[0:26] Speaker 1: good for us, therefore, to walk slowly through Luke's version
[0:30] Speaker 1: of it, to see what this great prayer is about
[0:33] Speaker 1: what we're asking for when we pray the Lord's Prayer.
[0:38] Speaker 1: Here's the first idea. First, I think important observation is
[0:41] Speaker 1: it comes from Jesus' own life of prayer. So he's
[0:46] Speaker 1: been praying, and the disciples notice that, and they say, Lord,
[0:50] Speaker 1: teach us how to pray. Think of a you know,
[0:53] Speaker 1: a great basketball player, a great guitarist, and people watch
[0:56] Speaker 1: and say, oh, teach me how to do that. They
[0:58] Speaker 1: must have noticed how intense his life of prayer was,
[1:01] Speaker 1: and so they say, Lord, help us to pray the
[1:04] Speaker 1: way you do. So this prayer. Think about this, when
[1:06] Speaker 1: you pray the Our Father, it reflects Jesus' own prayer,
[1:11] Speaker 1: his own life of prayer. When you pray, he says,
[1:18] Speaker 1: say Father, Hello, be your name Father. Let's pause right there.
[1:24] Speaker 1: I mean God could be addressed as a lord, master,
[1:27] Speaker 1: all powerful, etc. All those are true designations that we're
[1:33] Speaker 1: invited to call him Father. It's suggested by some scholars
[1:37] Speaker 1: that you know behind that is the is the diminutive
[1:39] Speaker 1: the Hebrew Abbah or like like Daddy. Jesus is uniquely
[1:45] Speaker 1: the son of the Father. He has a unique relationship
[1:49] Speaker 1: with him. How wonderful that as we pray this prayer
[1:52] Speaker 1: he taught us we're invited to share in that intimacy.
[1:56] Speaker 1: Now we're not the sons and daughters of God the
[1:58] Speaker 1: way he's the son of God. But yet he's giving
[2:02] Speaker 1: us the privilege to enter into that kind of intimacy
[2:06] Speaker 1: with God. Don't brush over that word when you start
[2:09] Speaker 1: the our Father, that you're able to say our father,
[2:13] Speaker 1: in addressing the creator of the universe, in addressing the
[2:17] Speaker 1: infinite source of existence itself, we're able to say father
[2:22] Speaker 1: because we share in Christ's own intimacy. First thing, we
[2:27] Speaker 1: ask him, hallowed be thy name. Now may your name
[2:32] Speaker 1: be held Holy? It's not as though our prayer is
[2:34] Speaker 1: making his name holy. We're not praying for that as
[2:38] Speaker 1: though we have the power to do that. I mean,
[2:39] Speaker 1: God's name is always holy. What we're asking for is
[2:45] Speaker 1: that we always hallow the name of God now, to hallow,
[2:51] Speaker 1: to hold as holy. That means, as set apart, may
[2:59] Speaker 1: we always consider God a value so supreme that every
[3:06] Speaker 1: other value by comparison simply falls away. Yeah, I'm interested
[3:11] Speaker 1: in all sorts of things. I value all kinds of things.
[3:14] Speaker 1: I value my job, I value money, I value my family,
[3:17] Speaker 1: I value my country, et cetera, et cetera. And if
[3:20] Speaker 1: I say, well, among these many values, I also value God,
[3:24] Speaker 1: then his name is not being hallowed. It's not being
[3:28] Speaker 1: held wholly. Hero Israel, the Lord, your God is Lord alone.
[3:33] Speaker 1: The Shamah Deuteronomy, chapter six, This fundamental prayer of ancient Judaism.
[3:40] Speaker 1: Not one value among many, not just the highest value
[3:44] Speaker 1: among many. But you are Lord alone. You alone are
[3:49] Speaker 1: the center of my life. No value is even in
[3:53] Speaker 1: competition with you. And see, as I've said many times
[3:58] Speaker 1: to you before, when we get this right, we get
[4:02] Speaker 1: everything else right. When God's name is held holy as hallowed, well,
[4:07] Speaker 1: then all the rest of my interests and all the
[4:09] Speaker 1: other values find their place around that central value. That's
[4:14] Speaker 1: why that's the first thing we ask the Father. May
[4:17] Speaker 1: we hold your name, your presence as hallowed as holy.
[4:25] Speaker 1: What's next? May your kingdom come? Well, that's the heart
[4:30] Speaker 1: of Jesus preaching right when he first appears in the
[4:33] Speaker 1: hills of Galilee. What's on his lips is the message
[4:35] Speaker 1: of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
[4:38] Speaker 1: And repent and believe the good news. The Kingdom, the Kingdom?
[4:41] Speaker 1: What is it? I always follow origin here at the
[4:44] Speaker 1: Great Church Father, He said, Jesus is alto Basilea. That
[4:50] Speaker 1: means he's the Kingdom in person. See, the Kingdom of
[4:54] Speaker 1: God means God's reign, God's way of ordering things. Because
[4:59] Speaker 1: for Centuri Israel longed for this, that the God who
[5:03] Speaker 1: made the world, who created the human race and wanted
[5:06] Speaker 1: us to be his priests and his prophets and his followers,
[5:10] Speaker 1: that world has fallen into sinful disarray, and no earthly
[5:15] Speaker 1: ruler could set it right. And so Israel begged, Lord, come,
[5:21] Speaker 1: how long, o Lord? When will you come to set
[5:24] Speaker 1: things right? Well, that's God's kingdom, God's reign. How has
[5:28] Speaker 1: it happened. It's happened in him. In Jesus, he's the
[5:32] Speaker 1: auto basileia, the kingdom in person. He himself is the
[5:36] Speaker 1: coming together of divinity and humanity. He himself is God's
[5:40] Speaker 1: justice and peace reigning on the earth. And so when
[5:44] Speaker 1: we say, may your Kingdom come, we're saying, may we
[5:48] Speaker 1: be drawn more and more completely into the power of Jesus.
[5:56] Speaker 1: May this reign embodied in him? Because normative for me,
[6:03] Speaker 1: extraordinary thing when you think about it, that's what we're
[6:06] Speaker 1: asking for every time we say Thy kingdom come than this,
[6:12] Speaker 1: and it's it's mysterious. Give us each day our daily bread.
[6:19] Speaker 1: Now that sounds rather ordinary. But why do I say mysterious? Well,
[6:22] Speaker 1: the Greek behind this phrase is very strange. Art epi
[6:27] Speaker 1: Uzion is the Greek. It means literally, give us the
[6:33] Speaker 1: super substantial bread. Oh see, I mean substance is like
[6:38] Speaker 1: on top of or more of give us the super
[6:42] Speaker 1: substantial bread. It's very interesting. You look in the Old Vulgate,
[6:46] Speaker 1: the ancient Latin rendering of the New Testament, and you'll
[6:50] Speaker 1: find Saint Jerome translates this as panem super substantialem super
[6:58] Speaker 1: substantial bread, not daily bread. Now, I won't bore you
[7:01] Speaker 1: with the details of how we got to daily and
[7:03] Speaker 1: there's a way the scholars understand that. But I want
[7:06] Speaker 1: to stay with this peculiar expression at the heart of
[7:11] Speaker 1: the Lord's prayer. Give us each day our super substantial bread.
[7:17] Speaker 1: Are we praying just for ordinary sustenance? No, it seems
[7:21] Speaker 1: to me that would be ordinary bread. You know, Lord,
[7:23] Speaker 1: help us to have enough to live on. Okay, okay,
[7:27] Speaker 1: but we're not asking for that. We're asking for the
[7:30] Speaker 1: pan him super substantialum, the super substantial bread. Catholics begin
[7:38] Speaker 1: to hear an overtone, don't we what's the Eucharist? Not
[7:43] Speaker 1: ordinary bread, but bread that has been transsubstantiated into the
[7:52] Speaker 1: body and blood of Christ. No longer ordinary bread, but
[7:56] Speaker 1: now the body and blood of Christ under the appearances
[7:58] Speaker 1: of bread and wine, The super substantial bread for which
[8:02] Speaker 1: we pray every time we pray. The Lord's prayer is
[8:05] Speaker 1: precisely Christ in his eucharistic form. See, we pray that
[8:11] Speaker 1: his kingdom might come, his reign. Yes, and we want
[8:15] Speaker 1: to be fed because we're not just following a guru
[8:18] Speaker 1: or a leader. We want to be drawn into him.
[8:23] Speaker 1: How's that happen through the super substantial bread that we
[8:30] Speaker 1: pray for every time we pray this prayer. Then forgive
[8:36] Speaker 1: us our sins. Oh it's extraordinary body, isn't it. I
[8:40] Speaker 1: mean Jesus, great teacher, of course, the Principece, of course,
[8:45] Speaker 1: the one who's established this new way of life. Yes,
[8:49] Speaker 1: all that's true. I think you could argue. The most
[8:54] Speaker 1: important thing that Jesus does is he forgives our sins.
[9:00] Speaker 1: Go and sin no more to the woman caught in adultery,
[9:04] Speaker 1: Pick up your mad and walk. Your sins have been forgiven.
[9:10] Speaker 1: Neither do I condemn you. The forgiveness of sins is
[9:15] Speaker 1: at the very heart of what Jesus is about. Now
[9:18] Speaker 1: now why why? Well, see if Lewis saw this at
[9:22] Speaker 1: the limit, if you've offended me, I could forgive you.
[9:25] Speaker 1: I could say, look, I'm not going to hold that
[9:27] Speaker 1: against you. I forgive you. But if I were to
[9:30] Speaker 1: walk up to you and say I forgive all your sins,
[9:34] Speaker 1: I mean you think I was out of my mind,
[9:36] Speaker 1: And you'd be right, because I have no business forgiving
[9:39] Speaker 1: all of your sins. Who's the only one who could
[9:44] Speaker 1: reasonably do that or say that? Who could say, my son,
[9:48] Speaker 1: your sins are forgiving you. Who could say that no
[9:52] Speaker 1: ordinary human being, but only as Lewis saw, the one
[9:57] Speaker 1: who is indeed offended in every sin to Yeah, if
[10:03] Speaker 1: I'm offended by you, I could in principle forgive you,
[10:06] Speaker 1: But I can't forgive you for all your sins. But
[10:09] Speaker 1: the God who is offended in every sin can say
[10:15] Speaker 1: to us, my son, my daughter, your sins are forgiven. See.
[10:22] Speaker 1: This is how we're drawn into the Kingdom of God.
[10:25] Speaker 1: This is how we're drawn into the power of Jesus.
[10:27] Speaker 1: Is he forgives our sins. And so in this great prayer,
[10:32] Speaker 1: that's what we're asking for. Lord, Please forgive our sins.
[10:36] Speaker 1: Do that which you alone, as the Son of God,
[10:41] Speaker 1: can do. And then right away the implication the next
[10:47] Speaker 1: thing we ask for as we forgive those who trespass
[10:51] Speaker 1: against us. It's been said, I remember a great school teacher, mine,
[10:56] Speaker 1: a sister long long ago us. And every time we
[11:01] Speaker 1: pray this prayer that this challenge is right in our face. Lord,
[11:06] Speaker 1: please forgive me for my sins. Yes, yes, and this
[11:10] Speaker 1: incomparable grace comes of the forgiveness of my sins. Well,
[11:15] Speaker 1: now I've got to be about the business of forgiving
[11:18] Speaker 1: those who've offended me. Otherwise, I've not imbibed the forgiveness
[11:23] Speaker 1: of Christ. I've just you know, I put it on
[11:26] Speaker 1: like a garment that I can take off. If I've
[11:28] Speaker 1: really taken it on, I've imbibed it. It's become part
[11:32] Speaker 1: of my life. Well, then I become a Christ to others.
[11:38] Speaker 1: Think of someone who has trespassed against you right now.
[11:42] Speaker 1: I mean specifically, what you're praying for is the grace
[11:47] Speaker 1: now to forgive that person as you've been forgiven. I
[11:53] Speaker 1: don't know, one of the most challenging elements in the
[11:56] Speaker 1: whole spiritual life, I think. And then last detail, as
[12:01] Speaker 1: Luke tells us, do not subject us to the final
[12:05] Speaker 1: test Now. To understand this, we have to go back
[12:08] Speaker 1: to the first century. There was a presupposition that before
[12:12] Speaker 1: the Messiah came, there'd be a period of testing and
[12:17] Speaker 1: of trial. Some of the apocalyptic language of the New
[12:21] Speaker 1: Testament reflects this idea that before the Messiah comes to
[12:25] Speaker 1: set things right, there'll be a terrible time of trial.
[12:28] Speaker 1: Now here's I think how we understand this. Yes, when
[12:32] Speaker 1: Jesus comes into our dysfunctional world, that's what the kingdom means,
[12:36] Speaker 1: And we're praying for it. May your kingdom come, Your
[12:38] Speaker 1: will be done, give us the super substantial bread, come
[12:42] Speaker 1: into this dysfunctional world of ours. What will happen is
[12:46] Speaker 1: the dysfunctional world is going to rise up in resistance.
[12:50] Speaker 1: Now I can see that and the grand scale, but
[12:53] Speaker 1: I can feel it in my own life. Right, fellow sinners,
[12:57] Speaker 1: you can do that too. As Christ comes into my life,
[13:02] Speaker 1: I start resisting. You know, I don't want that. I
[13:06] Speaker 1: don't want him to be Lord in my life. I
[13:08] Speaker 1: don't want to change. I'm like the the Israelites in
[13:12] Speaker 1: the desert. I mean, take me back to the flesh
[13:14] Speaker 1: pots of Egypt. I don't like this new spiritual liberty.
[13:19] Speaker 1: So expect it. That's the point here. Every time we
[13:22] Speaker 1: pray to our Father, we're expecting a resistance to Christ.
[13:26] Speaker 1: Lead us not into temptation. Right, and other versions of this,
[13:31] Speaker 1: expect it. Don't be don't be shocked, don't be surprised
[13:35] Speaker 1: when a resistance to Christ rises up in you. That's
[13:38] Speaker 1: that's the old sinful self. And so the last thing
[13:41] Speaker 1: we ask for is, Lord, do not subject us to
[13:46] Speaker 1: the final test, lead us not into temptation. Lord, protect
[13:50] Speaker 1: me from my resistant self. There's so much more. We
[13:56] Speaker 1: could say, read so many the spiritual masters as they
[13:59] Speaker 1: talk about the Lord's prayer, but every step of it
[14:03] Speaker 1: is opening up a window and a door to the
[14:06] Speaker 1: spiritual life. Next time you pray it, whether it's the
[14:09] Speaker 1: liturgy or just you know, privately, I'd invite you to
[14:13] Speaker 1: do it very slowly. As you do meditate on each
[14:16] Speaker 1: of these phrases, you'll find the whole spiritual life is
[14:20] Speaker 1: displayed before you, and God bless you.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.