Book Description

The prayer given us by Jesus is the perfect and complete prayer, and more. It is the standard and norm for all our prayers and our life of prayer, and still more. The prayer, the Our Father, prayed and lived in the Holy Spirit, guides us step by step in the journey to Life. The Our Father leads us from our very beginning, first awakened as Christians, to the summit of the maturity of Christian discipleship - blessed communion in God the Holy Trinity.We need such a prayer, because we need to truly meet with God.This prayer is simple enough for a child and yet deep, intense and profound enough for a saint. It is easily kept in memory! Yet it cannot be exhausted of its meaning and significance to us in a million lifetimes. The Our Father deserves a lifetime of meditation and it bears fruit for those willing to be open to its wisdom. The Our Father reveals, in its brief form, correspondence with the holy wisdom of traditional Catholic spirituality. This traditional spirituality has been followed for centuries in the Church by her saints, and is known as the "Three Ways" - the Purgative, the Illuminative and the Unitive stages of the interior life. The spiritual insights of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux, and many other saints are found enclosed in this simple prayer. The structure of the Our Father is seen to correspond with the structure of our Holy Mass - the very "source and summit of the Christian life." The Our Father reveals the will and the work of God in us - and as His divine work, inviting us to a saving participation and cooperation with Him, it is rightly called "a liturgy" - an Interior Liturgy at work in the soul.Dr. Thomas Richard also authored the book The Ordinary Path to Holiness (Alba House). Together with his wife he offers presentations and retreats to parishes having the desire and intention for renewal.REVIEW: Thomas, I can now finally tell you my opinions ... about your beautiful book.My reading confirmed my first feeling, that you manage to give a full picture of Christian life, with a very useful concern for the daily life of common Christians - this shared preoccupation was in fact the reason of our first contact. I actually think you propose a complete spiritual voyage, taking into account the main moments of every personal configuration to Christ. I'm really glad to know that your apostolic activity may diffuse those ideals, at the same time wide and practical. I'm discovering the strength and vitality of Catholicism in America, so many personal and collective activities, faithful to God and His Church, and I'm thankful to have been able to know your apostolate and your book.Many praises, you will say, but it is how I feel. .... Your parallelism between Saint Theresa of Avila and the petitions of the Our Father is illuminating - we have already spoken on this ....Fr. Laurent TouzeTheologian, Lecturer in Spiritual TheologyPontifical University of the Holy CrossRomeREVIEW: Drawing from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, Dr. R. Thomas Richard provides a banquet of doctrinal insights for the spiritual life in The Interior Liturgy of the Our Father. He presents a glimpse of what God is about in the depths of the soul, what he calls the interior liturgy, through synthesizing the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, the structure of the Mass, and the traditional stages of spiritual growth. In addition to this, he sprinkles his work with practical spiritual exercises so that readers have an opportunity to internalize the truths he elucidates. Dr. Richard's explanation of our spiritual journey in the Trinity would benefit especially those well catechized Catholics seeking a more extensive integration of the Our Father into their prayer life.Anthony Lilles, S.T.D.Theology Professor and Academic Dean, St. John Vianney Theological SeminaryArchdiocese of Denver