On the Spot: Our Father in Heaven

On the Spot aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us (cf 1 Peter 3:15). In this issue, we look at the misconceptions, both literal and spiritual, which children sometimes hold concerning the Our Father, and consider some of the levels of meaning we can explore with them. ‘Our Father who are in Heaven, hello be my name, my king done come, my will be done...’ And that's before we even start on trespasses, temptation and deliver us from evil. It takes a good deal of patient work with young children, as teachers and parents will testify, to simply instil the correct wording of the prayer into their heads, especially when the majority of the class or group are experiencing it for the first time.