The Our Father is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, a petitioning and atoning prayer. In its short, simple sentences is contained the entire relationship between man and God, between us and our loving heavenly Father… But words alone do not make a prayer, not even the words of the Our Father… The right words, even the most pious phrases, can be spoken just as easily as a dog asks for its dinner. The dog has also learned what to say, and at the right moment it says the right words. However, this mechanical recitation is as far from prayer as the barking of a dog is from human speech. God can hear and understand, just as we hear and feed the dog. A certain minimum of communication has been achieved, and no effort shall leave the Lord without reward; however, how to truly pray, we have not yet attained.
(Walter J. Ciszek SJ /1904–1984/, memories of Soviet prison, He Leads Me, chapter 5)
