In his Angelus address on Sunday, 27 July, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the power of the “Our Father” prayer and called on Christians to live lives that mirror God’s goodness.
Speaking from St. Peter’s Square, the Pope focused on the Gospel passage where Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples. He called it “the prayer that unites all Christians,” saying the Lord invites us to address God “as ‘Abba’, ‘Father’, with childlike simplicity, filial trust… boldness, the certainty of being loved.”
Pope Leo emphasized that the more we approach God with confidence, “the more we discover that we are beloved children and the more we come to know the greatness of his love.”
He recalled the vivid Gospel images of a man rising at midnight to help a friend, and a parent giving good things to their children — both pointing to God’s faithful love.
“God never turns his back on us when we come to him,” the Pope said, even if his answers are difficult to understand. “Let us not cease to pray with confidence, for in him we will always find light and strength.”
But the Pope also urged those present to let their prayer be matched by action. When we recite the Our Father, he said, “we also express our commitment to responding to this gift by loving one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Quoting Saint Cyprien of Carthage, he reminded the crowd: “when we call God ‘our Father’ we ought to behave as children of God.” He continued with the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “You cannot call the God of all kindness your Father if you preserve a cruel and inhuman heart.”
“We cannot pray to God as ‘Father’ and then be harsh and insensitive towards others,” the Pope added. “Let ourselves be transformed by his goodness, his patience, his mercy, so that his face may be reflected in ours as in a mirror.”
He concluded by inviting the faithful to be inspired by the day’s liturgy: “to feel loved and to love as God loves us: with openness, discretion, mutual concern, and without deceit.”
