Last week, I wrote about the first word of the “Our Father:” in Syriac, Aboun.
The very next line has sometimes struck people as puzzling because it seems to suggest that the Name of God is not, as matters stand right now, holy.
In Syriac, we pray: Aboun d.baš.ma.yo net.qa.daš šmōkh. Directly translated, this is: “Our Father in heaven, let your name be hallowed.” But what does it mean for God’s Name to be hallowed?
The original sense of the root qadeš seems to have been “separated,” referring to the act of distinguishing what is divine from what is earthly or profane.
The implication must be not just “different” but more so, “higher because belonging to God.”
In the same way, the word “temple” probably comes from a root cognate with the Greek temnō, meaning “I cut off.” So the temple was that land and building cut off from what is profane for a special purpose, or in recognition of its special character.
These two examples indicate that the distinction between the sacred and the profane is fundamental to the religious mind. We begin by acknowledging the greatness of God, and then we seek to bridge the gap between our earthly state and the divine through prayer. Of course, the true bridge is Christ: God incarnate as Man.
Christ established the church, a community called out from among the multitude.
The church perpetuates the sacraments and, with them, the priesthood. The priest acts as a mediator who celebrates the Holy Mysteries (or Sacraments), through which the reception of divine grace on earth is assured. Just as a bridge connects two shores, we must first acknowledge the distance between heaven and earth. Why would I look for a bridge if I denied that there was anything to cross?
So now we see that the fundamental sense of the opening of the “Our Father” is: “Our Father, may You who are in heaven show Your Name to be separate from and above all that is earthly.”
In other words, we pray that Our Father in heaven may show us that His Name, His very essence, is not only different but transcendent over all that is earthly.
Since God’s Name refers to His very essence, to “sanctify” His Name is to reveal Himself to us in His transcendent greatness. For God to hallow His Name is not merely to have good things said about Him in an ordinary way, but rather to manifest Himself to us in His majesty.
A parallel thought appears in John 12:28 when Our Lord says: “Father, glorify thy name.”
A voice then came from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” People did not know whether an angel had spoken, or whether they only heard thunder. Then, in St John’s Apocalypse, 14:2, he declares: “And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder …”
The entire thrust of the opening of the prayer is to affirm that there is a distance between heaven and earth which can be bridged in one way and in one way only: by an act of God.
But there is something we can do nonetheless—we can appeal to God to do reach down from heaven by revealing Himself to us: to net.qa.daš, as it were, His Name. This means that He shows us what He revealed to the chosen apostles at the Transfiguration.
The extent to which we open this prayer by situating ourselves far below God, and Himself far above, cannot be overstated. Equally, the entire logic of the Our Father” is that prayer can reach God, and that He will respond. In the end, the vast distance between heaven and earth shows the greater goodness of God, who created us for Himself and brings us to Himself.
Further, it is God who is being asked to sanctify His name, to show that it is holy, more than worldly. This is a familiar Semitic way of speaking: the passive is used to indicate that God is the actor.
A moment’s reflection reveals that God’s name, His very being, is already holy.
We humans cannot make it holier than it is; but while we cannot hallow His Name, we can pray that He does so. That is, that He reveals His holiness and glory to us.
Thus, the fact that Our Father is said to be in heaven is critical to the meaning: we are asking for something of heaven’s transcendence to be revealed to us. We are praying that we might behold God in all His Majesty, to witness the Transfiguration of All.