The eighth and final of the "Notes on Prayer" series is the result of a collaboration between the late Father Ugo Vanni, an Argentinian Jesuit New Testament scholar who spent most of his teaching career at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who oversees the Holy Year celebrations and the general editor of the "Notes" series.

The prayer that Jesus taught us is the "Our Father." Father Vanni's little volume, which is a concise commentary on the Lord's Prayer, provides some new perspectives about this central prayer of the Christian's life.

The version of the "Our Father," which is the one we use at Mass, in the Liturgy of the Hours, in the recitation of the Holy Rosary, and many other times both liturgically and devotionally, publicly and privately, is found in the Gospel of Matthew.

However, Father Vanni traces hints of the prayer, for example, in Mark's Gospel, where Jesus brings his disciples into his family and thereby introduces them to His Father, making God their and "Our Father."

He goes beyond the Gospels to Paul and hints that some of the elements of the "Our Father" show up in Paul's letters. Paul's preaching about forgiveness in both aspects: it's horizontal, that is, among the members of the church, and vertical, as given to us from God.

Paul tells us that we should pray for everyone, friends and enemies alike, for those we can see and for those who govern us.

This foundational prayer has both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of Jesus' prayer. It is horizontal in that it involves the family of the church here on the earth. It is vertical in that it is directed "up" to Our Father.

The vertical and horizontal are brought together perfectly in the very person of Jesus. And his prayer that brings together both the vertical and horizontal is the "perfect prayer" as it comes from Jesus.

Another interesting point is that Jesus gives us this prayer in the context of his famous Sermon on the Mount. Most likely, we immediately and rightly think of the Sermon on the Mount as the place of giving the "new law" called the Beatitudes.

The mount where Jesus is teaching would have reminded the disciples of Mount Sinai, where Moses encountered God and received the Ten Commandments. The people of Israel received its "constitution," which still guides the Chosen People as well as all Christians.

There are seven petitions in Mathew's version that we so regularly use.

Three direct our "gaze" towards the Father, asking that his "name be hallowed," that his "kingdom come," and that his "will be done." The other four direct us to more "earthly" concerns: "give us our daily bread," "forgive us our trespasses," "lead us not into temptation," and "deliver us from evil."

While all those phrases invite commentary, Father Vanni chooses a few for closer examination.

Calling for the coming of God's kingdom is one of the chief messages of Jesus' preaching, and we ask for this each time we pray the "Our Father." We also pray for God's will to be done. What is this will? Jesus preaches that God has revealed this through the law and prophets of Israel and he himself adds to that revelation of God's will with the Sermon on the Mount.

Asking for daily bread is much more profound than the words alone might indicate. At the time of Jesus, bread was the staple of the Jewish diet. It was essential for every human life, and it was needed daily. It was really the "bread of life."

For Christians, the daily bread is also the "Bread of Life," that is, the Eucharist. Jesus declares himself to be the "Bread of Life," which one asks to be given daily.

We ask that God forgive us our trespasses as we are willing to forgive those who have offended us. In some ways, these are the most challenging and difficult words of Jesus.

We might think of it this way: I can ask God for his forgiveness of my sins and faults, trusting his eternal and merciful love. But the words condition that petition with the explanation that I am asking for God's forgiveness to the degree that I am willing to forgive others their faults.

We conclude this series on Holy Year prayer "notes" as we begin the holy season of Lent. A principal practice of Lent is always more and better prayer. In the next weeks, we'll look at the Lenten season.