Day 354: The Prayer of the Church

This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. the first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day, in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety. CCC 2767

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the Our Father as the prayer of the Church. There is no other prayer that is so central to Christian prayer life, given by Christ and present in three important sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. It is in the Mass that this prayer "reveals its full meaning and efficacy" in the Eucharist (CCC 2770). In this imperfect world, the Our Father sustains hope in us "until he comes" (CCC 2772).

The Catechism Compendium summarizes the place the Our Father has in the prayer of the Church:

The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of the Church par excellence. It is “handed on” in Baptism to signify the new birth of the children of God into the divine life. The full meaning of the Our Father is revealed in the eucharist since its petitions are based on the mystery of salvation already accomplished, petitions that will be fully heard at the coming of the Lord. The Our Father is an integral part of the Liturgy of the Hours.(#581)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

Anyone could say the words of the Our Father, but it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can say it truthfully and allow it to transform our lives. It is good to begin prayer by asking the Holy Spirit to teach us to pray, recognizing that we need the Holy Spirit. St. John Chrysostom emphasized the communal aspect of the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus taught us to say "our Father" rather than "my Father." We pray with and for one another. (p. 224)