Yearning for the Father: The Lord's Prayer and the Mystic Journey

Presenting the personal analysis of the Lord's Prayer, this book offers a level of understanding by providing the insights of many religious mystics, the twilight speech of poetry, and contemplative study and meditation. It explores each phrase of this prayer, including: its Aramaic roots; the original form Jesus taught to his followers; and more.

THE LORD'S PRAYER IS UNIVERSAL. Each of us can pray it, bring our own understanding and needs to it, and draw our own comfort from its words. A gift of the Son, it is our simplest, most direct way to speak to our Father. Yet the deep wisdom ingrained in its few phrases has spawned questions and commentaries since the first defining days of Christianity. For twenty centuries, truth seekers have considered it afresh, sharing insights meant to help fellow pilgrims draw nearer to the Father.

Books like this can offer themes for reflection, but it is only when the Holy Spirit enlivens our reading and leads us to act on what we read that we draw closer to, and ultimately can rest in, the Father. It is only in living the prayer that we come to understand it and discover our true birthright, which is nothing less than union with him, a union St. John of the Cross calls 'the most noble and sublime state attainable in this life.'