image002This Advent, we will begin learning together the Lord’s Prayer in Latin.  We have been singing it with our daily Mass people for over a year now, but we hope to also teach it to our parishioners who can only come on the weekends.  It may take us a while to master it, but it can be easily mastered, and it will be something we will be doing as a whole parish (our English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parishioners alike), so that when we come together at Christmas and Easter, we can share this common song.  Keep in mind that we do this in obedience to the Church universal, as every Catholic on earth is supposed to know this common chant.  This paragraph, from Vatican II, explains why:

“Since the faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is desirable that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Profession of Faith and the Lord’s Prayer, according to the simpler settings.”  (Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 54.)

Our Lady of the Mountains is a parish that is faithful and obedient in its worship.  The prayer to Our Father was given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself and is “truly the summary of the whole Gospel” and “the most perfect of prayers” (see the Catechism, Part IV, Christian Prayer).  In the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord’s Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy (Catechism, 2770).  Desiring to fulfill the Council’s vision of a Church united in prayer with our hearts and with our language, we will begin learning the simple musical setting of the Pater Noster beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, 2015.

The words and music can be found in both our Lumen Christi Missal (pages 831-832) and in our St. Michael Hymnal (page 86).  Below is a tutorial link of the Pater Noster from YouTube that may also help you and your family master the melody and text.