Q. 60. What do we pray for in the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “hallowed be your name”?

• WSC 101
• Heidelberg Catechism 122
• Luther’s Small Catechism
• Geneva Catechism 266–267

Name. See Notes on Q. 17.

God … his glory. “Concerning the one who calls God ‘Father,’ it is appropriate to ask nothing before one prays for the glory of the Father, and to regard everything else secondary to the work of praising him. For hallowed means ‘glorified.’ For he is perfect in his own glory, and that remains the same forever. However, he commands us when we pray to seek to give him glory by our lives. This is the very thing he had said before, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:16). So too, the seraphim give glory to God: Holy, holy, holy (Revelation 4:8)” (John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 19.7).

Known, honored … all his creatures. The Church ought to grieve over the world’s ignorance and blasphemy of God’s name, and earnestly pray for his name to be “great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11). “May you, O Father, be truly known by all intelligent beings, and with affections suitable to that knowledge: may you be duly honored, loved, and feared by all in heaven and in earth, by all angels and all men” (Notes on the Bible, Matthew 6:9). First and foremost, God’s name must be kept holy in the Church. “Help us to truly know you, to honor, glorify, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them: your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. … Help us to direct all our living—what we think, say, and do—so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us but always honored and praised” (Heidelberg Catechism 122).

Praised. See “Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving (p. 268).