Our prayer is public and common
Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer, section 8
St. Cyprian notices the common language of the prayer Christ teaches. The Father is our Father; the petitions concern shared provision, forgiveness and deliverance. Cyprian connects that language to the unity of God’s people. Even a person praying alone receives words that turn attention beyond the self. Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer, section 8
He recalls believers praying together after the Lord’s ascension. The shared prayer is a witness to concord, rather than an occasion to compete for whose need matters most. We should preserve this corporate dimension while recognizing that individual sorrows and needs can still be brought before the Father. Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer, section 8 Acts 1:14
Matthew records the Lord’s Prayer within Christ’s instruction about prayer. The disciples are taught to seek the Father’s name, kingdom and will, and to ask together for daily bread, forgiveness and deliverance. The plural language belongs to the actual prayer received from Christ. Matthew 6:9-13
A present response is to remember the people included in the words we say: the parish, those in need and those whose circumstances differ from ours. We can bring them before God without turning the prayer into a list of invented promises. The Lord gives common words through which concern for others can remain within our own prayer. Matthew 6:9-13
When you next pray the prayer given by Christ, attend to its shared petitions. Ask for mercy as a member of His people and remember someone who needs daily provision or forgiveness. Cyprian’s explanation invites us to receive the prayer’s unity faithfully, with a heart that has room for the neighbor. Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer, section 8
For prayer, use the Lord’s Prayer given by Christ in Matthew 6:9–13.
Sources and edition notes
- Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer. Source. Translated by Robert Ernest Wallis. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050704.htm.
Scripture references link to these comparison editions: NKJV. Biblical passages are paraphrased. Biblical language within a patristic quotation follows the identified historical English translation.