PART IV : THE LORD'S PRAYER
PRAYER
Importance Of Instruction On Prayer
One of the duties of the pastoral office, which is of the
highest importance to the spiritual interests of the faithful, is to instruct
them on Christian prayer; the nature and efficacy of which must remain unknown
to many, if not taught by the pious and faithful diligence of the pastor. To
this, therefore, should the care of the pastor be directed in a special manner,
that his devout hearers may understand how and for what they are to ask God.
Whatever is necessary to the performance of the duty of
prayer is comprised in that divine formula which Christ the Lord deigned to
make known to His Apostles, and through them and their successors to all
Christians. Its thoughts and words should be so deeply impressed on the mind
and memory as to be ever in readiness. To assist pastors, however, in teaching
the faithful concerning this prayer, we have set down from those writers who
are conspicuous for learning and fullness in this matter, whatever appeared to
us most suitable, leaving it to pastors to draw upon the same sources for
further information, should they deem it necessary.
Necessity of Prayer
In the first place the necessity of prayer should be
insisted upon. Prayer is a duty not only recommended by way of counsel, but
also commanded by obligatory precept. Christ the Lord declared this when He
said: We should pray always. This necessity of prayer the Church points out in
the prelude, if we may so call it, which she prefixes to the Lord's Prayer:
Admonished by salutary precepts, and taught by divine instruction, we presume
to say, etc.
Therefore, since prayer is necessary to the Christian,
the Son of God, yielding to the request of the disciples, Lord, teach us to
pray, gave them a prescribed form of prayer, and encouraged them to hope that
the objects of their petitions would be granted. He Himself was to them a model
of prayer; He not only prayed assiduously, but watched whole nights in prayer.
The Apostles, also, did not omit to recommend this duty
to those who had been converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. St. Peter and
Besides, so various are our temporal and spiritual
necessities, that we must have recourse to prayer as the best means for
communicating our wants and receiving whatever we need. For since God owes
nothing to anyone, we must ask of Him in prayer those things we need, seeing
that He has constituted prayer as a necessary means for the accomplishment of
our desires, particularly since it is clear that there are blessings which we
cannot hope to obtain otherwise than through prayer. Thus devout prayer has
such efficacy that it is a most powerful means of casting out demons; for there
is a certain kind of demon which is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.
Those, therefore, who do not practice assiduous and
regular prayer deprive themselves of a powerful means of obtaining gifts of
singular value. To succeed in obtaining the object of your desires, it is not
enough that you ask that which is good; your entreaties must also be assiduous.
Every one that asketh, says
The Fruits of Prayer
Moreover, this necessity of prayer is also productive of
the greatest delight and usefulness, since it bears most abundant fruits. When
it is necessary to instruct the faithful concerning these fruits, pastors will
find ample matter in sacred writers. We have made from these sources a
selection which appeared to us to suit the present purpose.
Prayer Honours God
The first fruit which we receive is that by praying we
honour God, since prayer is a certain act of religion, which is compared in
Scripture to a sweet perfume. Let my prayer, says the Prophet, be directed as
incense in thy sight. By prayer we confess our subjection to God; we
acknowledge and proclaim Him to be the author of all good, in whom alone we
center all our hopes, who alone is our refuge, in all dangers and the bulwark
of our salvation. Of this fruit we are admonished also in these words: Call
upon me in the day of trouble; I -will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Prayer Obtains What We Request
Another most pleasing and invaluable fruit of prayer is
that it is heard by God. Prayer is the key of heaven, says
Proof
Nor can we, for a moment, doubt that God in His goodness
awaits and is at all times ready to hear our petitions -- a truth to which the
Sacred Scriptures bear ample testimony. Since, however, the texts are easy of
access, we shall content ourselves with citing as an example the words of
Isaias: Then shalt thou call, and the Lord will hear: thou shalt cry, and he
will say, "Here I am"; and again, It shall come to pass, that before
they call, I will hear: as they are yet speaking, I will hear. With regard to
instances of persons, who have obtained from God the objects of their prayers,
they are almost innumerable, and too well known to require special mention.
Unwise And Indevout Prayers Unheard
Sometimes, indeed, it happens that what we ask of God we
do not obtain. But it is then especially that God looks to our welfare, either
because He bestows on us other gifts of higher value and in greater abundance,
or because what we ask, far from being necessary or useful, would prove
superfluous and injurious. God, says
Sometimes, also, such is the remissness and negligence
with which we pray, that we ourselves do not attend to what we say. Since
prayer is an elevation of the soul to God, if, while we pray, the mind, instead
of being fixed upon God, is distracted, and the tongue slurs over the words at
random, without attention, without devotion, with what propriety can we give to
such empty sounds the name of Christian prayer?
We should not, therefore, be at all surprised, if God
does not comply with our requests; either because by our negligence and
indifference we almost show that we do not really desire what we ask, or
because we ask those things, which, if granted, would be prejudicial to our
interests.
To Devout Prayer And Dispositions God Grants More Than Is
Asked
On the other hand, to those who pray with devout
attention, God grants more than they ask. This the Apostle declares in his
Epistle to the Ephesians, and the same truth is unfolded ill the parable of the
prodigal son, who would have deemed it a kindness to be admitted into the
number of his father's servants.
Nay, God heaps His favours not only on those who seek
them, but also on those who are rightly disposed; and this, not only with
abundance, but also with readiness. This is shown by the words of Scripture:
The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor. For God hastens to grant the inner
and hidden desires of the needy without awaiting their utterance.
Prayer Exercises And Increases Faith
Another fruit of prayer is, that it exercises and
augments the virtues of the soul, particularly the virtue of faith. As they who
have not faith in God, cannot pray as they ought, for how can they call on him,
whom they have not believed ? so the faithful, in proportion to the fervour of
their prayers, possess a stronger and a more assured faith in the protecting
providence of God, which requires principally that in all needs we have
recourse to Him.
Prayer Strengthens Our Hope In God
God, it is true, might bestow on us all things abundantly,
although we did not ask them or even think of them, just as He bestows on the
irrational creation all things necessary for the support of life. But our most
bountiful Father wishes to be invoked by His children; He wishes that, praying
as we ought each day of our lives, we may pray with increased confidence. He
wishes that in obtaining our requests we may more and more bear witness to and
declare His goodness towards us.
Prayer Increases Charity
Our charity is also augmented. In recognising God as the
author of every blessing and of every good, we are led to cling to Him with the
most devoted love. And as those who cherish a mutual affection become more
ardently attached by frequent interviews and conversations, so the oftener the
soul prays devoutly and implores the divine mercy, thus holding converse with
God, the more exquisite is the sense of delight which she experiences in each
prayer, and the more ardently is she inflamed to love and adore Him.
Prayer Disposes The Soul For Divine Blessings
Furthermore, God wishes us to make use of prayer, in
order that burning with the desire of asking what we are anxious to obtain, we
may thus by our perseverance and zeal make such advances in spiritual life, as
to be worthy to obtain those blessings which the soul could not obtain before
because of its dryness and lack of devotion.
Prayer Makes Us Realise Our Own Needfulness
Moreover, God wishes us to realise, and always keep in
mind, that, unassisted by His heavenly grace, we can of ourselves do nothing,
and should therefore apply ourselves to prayer with all the powers of our
souls.
Prayer Is A Protection Against The Devil
The weapons which prayer supplies are most powerful
against our bitterest foes. With the cries of our prayers, says St. Hilary, we
must fight against the devil and his armed hosts.
Prayer Promotes A Virtuous Life
From prayer we also derive this important advantage that
though we are inclined to evil and to the indulgence of various passions, as a
consequence of our natural frailty, God permits us to raise our hearts to Him,
in order that while we address Him in prayer, and endeavour to deserve His
gifts, we may be inspired with a love of innocence, and, by effacing our sins,
be purified from every stain of guilt.
Prayer Disarms The Divine Vengeance
Finally, as
The Parts Of Prayer
The necessity and advantages of Christian prayer being
explained, the faithful should also know how many, and what are the parts of
which it is composed; for that this pertains to the perfect discharge of this
duty, we learn from the Apostle. In his Epistle to Timothy, exhorting to pious
and holy prayer, he carefully enumerates the parts of which it consists: I
desire therefore first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for all men. Although the shades of distinction between
these different parts of prayer are delicate, yet the pastor, should he deem
the explanation useful to his people, should consult, among others, St. Hilary
and
The Two Chief Parts Of Prayer Petition And Thanksgiving
There are two principal parts of prayer, petition and thanksgiving,
and since these are the sources, as it were, from which all the others spring,
they appear to us to be of too much importance to be omitted. For we approach
God and offer Him the tribute of our worship, either to obtain some favour, or
to return Him thanks for those with which His bounty every day enriches and
adorns us. God Himself indicated both these most necessary parts of prayer when
He declared by the mouth of David: Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Who does not perceive how much we stand in need of the
goodness and beneficence of God, if he but consider the extreme destitution and
misery of man?
On the other hand, all that have eyes and understanding
know God's loving kindness toward man and the liberal bounty He exercises in
our behalf. Wherever we cast our eyes, wherever we turn our thoughts, the
admirable light of the divine goodness and beneficence beams upon us. What have
we that is not the gift of His bounty? If, then, all things are the gifts and
favours bestowed on us by His goodness, why should not everyone, as much as
possible, celebrate the praises of God, and thank Him for His boundless
beneficence.
Degrees Of Petition And Thanksgiving
Of these duties of petition and thanksgiving each
contains many subordinate degrees. In order, therefore, that the faithful may
not only pray, but also pray in the best manner, the pastor should propose to
them the most perfect mode of praying, and should exhort them to use it to the
best of their ability.
The Highest Degree Of Prayer: The Prayer Of The Just
What, then, is the best manner and the most exalted
degree of prayer? It is that which is made use of by the pious and the just.
Resting on the solid foundation of the true faith, they rise successively from
one degree of prayer and virtue to another, until, at length, they reach that
height of perfection, whence they can contemplate the infinite power, goodness,
and wisdom of God; where, too, they are animated with the assured hope of
obtaining not only those blessings which they desire in this life, but also
those unutterable rewards which God has pledged Himself to grant to him who
piously and religiously implores His assistance.
Soaring, as it were, to heaven, on these two wings, the
soul approaches, in fervent desire, the Divinity; adores with supreme praise
and thanksgiving Him from whom she has received such inestimable blessings;
and, like an only child, animated with singular piety and profound veneration,
trustfully tells her most beloved Father all her wants.
This sort of prayer the Sacred Scriptures express by the
words pouring out. In his sight, says the Prophet, I pour out my proyer, but
before him I declare my trouble. This means that he who comes to pray should
conceal or omit nothing, but pour out all, flying with confidence into the
bosom of God, his most loving Father. To this the Sacred Scriptures exhort us
in these words: Pour out thy heart before him, cast thy care upon the Lord.
This is that degree of prayer to which
The Second Degree Of Prayer: The Prayer Of Sinners
Another degree of prayer is that of those who are weighed
down by the guilt of mortal sin, but who strive, with what is called dead
faith, to raise themselves from their condition and to ascend to God. But, in
consequence of their languid state and the extreme weakness of their faith,
they cannot raise themselves from the earth. Recognising their crimes and stung
with remorse of conscience, they bow themselves down with humility, and, far as
they are removed from God, implore of Him with penitential sorrow, the pardon
of their sins and the peace of reconciliation.
The prayers of such persons are not rejected by God, but
are heard by Him. Nay, in His mercy, He generously invites such as these to
have recourse to Him, saying: Come to me, all you that labour, and are heavily
laden, and I will refresh you, of this class was the publican, who, though he
did not dare to raise his eyes towards heaven, left the Temple, as (our Lord)
declares, more justified than the Pharisee.
The Third Degree Of Prayer: The Prayer Of Unbelievers
A third degree of prayer is that which is offered by
those who have not as yet been illumined with the light of faith; but who, when
the divine goodness illumines in their souls the feeble natural light, are
strongly moved to the desire and pursuit of truth and most earnestly pray for a
knowledge of it.
If they persevere in such dispositions, God, in His
mercy, will not neglect their earnest endeavours, as we see verified by the
example of Cornelius the centurion. The doors of the divine mercy are closed
against none who sincerely ask for mercy.
The Lowest Degree Of Prayer: The Prayer Of The Impenitent
The last degree is that of those who not only do not
repent of their sins and enormities, but, adding crime to crime, dare
frequently to ask pardon of God for those sins, in which they are resolved to
continue. With such dispositions they would not presume to ask pardon from
their fellow-man.
The prayer of such sinners is not heard by God. It is
recorded of Antiochus: Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of whom he was
not to obtain mercy. Whoever lives in this deplorable condition should be
vehemently exhorted to wean himself from all affection to sin, and to return to
God in good earnest and from the heart.
What We Should Pray For
Under the head of each Petition we shall point out in its
proper place, what is, and what is not a proper object of prayer. Hence it will
suffice here to remind the faithful in a general way that they ought to ask of
God such things as are just and good, lest, praying for what is not suitable,
they may be repelled in these words: You know not what you ask. Whatever it is
lawful to desire, it is lawful to pray for, as is proved by the Lord's ample
promise: You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you, words
in which He promises to grant all things.
Spiritual Goods
In the first place, then, the standard which should
regulate all our wishes is that we desire above all else God, the supreme Good.
After God we should most desire those things which unite us most closely to
Him; while those which would separate us from Him, or occasion that separation,
should have no share whatever in our affections.
External Goods And Goods Of Body
Taking, then, as our standard the supreme and perfect
Good, we can easily infer how we are to desire and ask from God our Father
those other things which are called goods. Goods which are called bodily, such
as health, strength, beauty and those which are external, such as riches,
honours, glory, often supply the means and give occasion for sin; and, therefore,
it is not always either pious or salutary to ask for them. We should pray for
these goods of life only in so far as we need them, thus referring all to God.
It cannot be deemed unlawful to pray for those things for which Jacob and
Solomon prayed. If, says Jacob, he shall give me bread to eat and raiment to
put on, the Lord shall be my God. Give me, says Solomon, only the necessaries
of life.
But when we are supplied by the bounty of God with
necessaries and comforts, we should not forget the admonition of the Apostle:
Let them that buy, be as if they possessed not, and those that use this world,
as if they used it not; for the figure of this world passeth away; and again,
If riches abound, set not your heart upon them. God Himself teaches us that only
the use and fruit of these things belong to us and that we are obliged to share
them with others. If we are blessed with health, if we abound in other external
and corporal goods, we should recollect that they are given to us in order to
enable us to serve God with greater fidelity, and as the means of lending
assistance to others.
Goods Of The Mind
It is also lawful to pray for the goods and adornments of
the mind, such as a knowledge of the arts and sciences, provided our prayers
are accompanied with this condition, that they serve to promote the glory of
God and our own salvation.
The only thing which can be absolutely and
unconditionally the object of our wishes, our desires and our prayers, is, as
we have already observed, the glory of God, and, next to it, whatever can serve
to unite us to that supreme Good, such as faith and the fear and love of God,
of which we shall treat at length when we come to explain the Petitions.
For Whom We Ought to Pray
The objects of prayer being known, the faithful are next
to be taught for whom they are to pray. Prayer comprehends petition and
thanksgiving. We shall first treat of petition.
The Prayer Of Petition Should Be Offered For All
We are to pray for all mankind, without exception of
enemies, nation or religion; for every man, be he enemy, stranger or infidel,
is our neighbour, whom God commands us to love, and for whom, therefore, we
should discharge a duty of love, which is prayer. To the discharge of this duty
the Apostle exhort: when he says: I desire that prayer be made for all men. In
such prayers we should first ask for those things that concern spiritual
interests, and next for what pertains to temporal welfare.
Those For Whom We Should Especially Offer Our Petitions:
Pastors
Before all others the pastors of our souls have a right
to our prayers, as we learn from the example of the Apostle in his Epistle to
the Colossians, in which he asks them to pray for him, that God may open unto
him a door of speech, a request which he also makes in his Epistle to the
Thessalonians. In the Acts of the Apostles we also read that prayers were
offered in the Church without intermission for Peter. St. Basil, in his work On
Morals, urges to a faithful compliance with this obligation. We must, he says,
pray for those who are charged with preaching the word of truth.
Rulers Of Our Country
In the next place, as the same Apostle teaches, we should
pray for our rulers.
Who does not know what a singular blessing a people enjoy
in public officials who are just and upright? We should, therefore, beseech God
to make them such as they ought to be, fit persons to govern others.
The Just
To offer up our prayers also for the good and pious is a
practice taught by the example of holy men. Even the good and the pious need
the prayers of others.
Enemies And Those Outside The Church
The Lord has also commanded us, to pray for those that
persecute and calumniate us. The practice of praying for those who are not
within the pale of the Church, is, as we know on the authority of
Many examples prove that prayers for such as these are
very efficacious when offered from the heart. Instances occur every day in
which God rescues individuals of every condition of life from the powers of
darkness, and transfers them into the
The Dead
Prayers for the dead, that they may be liberated from the
fire of purgatory, are derived from Apostolic teaching. But on this subject we
have said enough when explaining the Holy Sacrifice of the
Sinners
Those who are said to sin unto death derive little
advantage from prayers and supplications. It is, however, the part of Christian
charity to offer up our prayers and tears for them, in order, if possible, to
obtain their reconciliation with God.
With regard to the execrations uttered by holy men
against the wicked, it is certain, from the teaching of the Fathers, that they
are either prophecies of the evils which are to befall sinners or denunciations
of the crimes of which they are guilty, that the sinner may be saved, but sin
destroyed.
The Prayer Of Thanksgiving Should Be Offered For All
In the second part of prayer we render most grateful
thanks to God for the divine and immortal blessings which He has always
bestowed, and still continues to bestow every day on the human race.
Our Thanksgiving Should Especially Be Offered: For The
Saints
This duty we discharge especially when we give singular
praises to God for the victory and triumph which all the Saints, aided by His
goodness, have achieved over their domestic and external enemies.
For The Blessed Virgin Mary
To this sort of prayer belongs the first part of the
Angelic Salutation, when used by us as a prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. For in these words we render
to God the highest praise and return Him most gracious thanks, because He has
bestowed all His heavenly gifts on the most holy Virgin; and at the same time
we congratulate the Virgin herself on her singular privileges.
To this form of thanksgiving the Church of God has wisely
added prayers and an invocation addressed to the most holy Mother of God, by
which we piously and humbly fly to her patronage, in order that, by her
intercession, she may reconcile God to us sinners and may obtain for us those
blessings which we stand in need of in this life and in the life to come. We,
therefore, exiled children of Eve, who dwell in this vale of tears, should
constantly beseech the Mother of mercy, the advocate of the faithful, to pray
for us sinners. In this prayer we should earnestly implore her help and
assistance; for that she possesses exalted merits with God, and that she is
most desirous to assist us by her prayers, no one can doubt without impiety and
wickedness.
To Whom We Should Pray
To God
That God is to be prayed to and His name invoked is the
language of the law of nature, inscribed upon the human heart. It is also the
doctrine of Holy Scripture, in which we hear God commanding: Call upon me in
the day of trouble. By the word God, we mean the three Persons (of the adorable
Trinity).
To The Saints
We must also have recourse to the intercession of the
Saints who are in glory. That the Saints are to be prayed to is a truth so
firmly established in the
God And The Saints Addressed Differently
To remove, however, the possibility of error on the part
of the unlearned it will be found useful to explain to the faithful the
difference between these two kinds of invocation.
We do not address God and the Saints in the same manner,
for we implore God to grant us blessings or to deliver us from evils; while we
ask the Saints, since they are the friends of God, to take us under their patronage
and to obtain for us from God whatever we need. Hence we make use of two
different forms of prayer. To God, we properly say: Have mercy on us, Hear us;
but to the Saints, Pray for us. Still we may also ask the Saints, though in a
different sense, that they have mercy on us, for they are most merciful. Thus
we may beseech them that, touched with the misery of our condition, they would
interpose in our behalf their influence and intercession before God.
In the performance of this duty, it is strictly incumbent
on all not to transfer to any creature the right which belongs exclusively to
God. For instance, when we say the Our Father before the image of a Saint we
should bear in mind that we beg of the Saint to pray with us and to obtain for
us those favours which we ask of God, in the Petitions of the Lord's Prayer, --
in a word, that he become our interpreter and intercessor with God. That this
is an office which the Saints discharge,
Preparation for Prayer
In Scripture we read: Before prayer, prepare thy soul,
and be not as a man that tempteth God. He tempts God who prays well but acts
badly, and while he converses with God allows his mind to wander.
Since, then, the dispositions with which we pray are of
such vital importance, the pastor should teach his pious hearers how to pray.
Humility
The first preparation, then, for prayer is an unfeigned
humility of soul, an acknowledgment of our sinfulness, and a conviction that,
when we approach God in prayer, our sins render us undeserving, not only of
receiving a propitious hearing from Him, but even of appearing in His presence.
This preparation is frequently mentioned in the
Scriptures: He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble, and he hath not
despised their petitions; the prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce
the clouds. Many other passages of the same kind will suggest themselves to
learned pastors. Hence we abstain from citing more here.
Two examples, however, at which we have already glanced
in another place, and which are apposite to our purpose, we shall not pass over
in silence. The publican, who, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up
his eyes toward heaven, and the woman, a sinner, who, moved with sorrow, washed
the feet of Christ the Lord, with her tears, illustrate the great efficacy
which Christian humility imparts to prayer.
Sorrow For Sin
The next (preparation) is a feeling of sorrow, arising
from the recollection of our past sins, or, at least, some sense of regret,
that we do not experience that sorrow. If the sinner bring not with him to
prayer both, or, at least one of these dispositions, he cannot hope to obtain
pardon.
Freedom From Violence, Anger, Hatred And Inhumanity
There are some crimes, such as violence and murder, which
are in a special way obstacles to the efficacy of our prayers, and we must,
therefore, preserve our hands unstained by outrage and cruelty. Of such crimes
the Lord says by the mouth of Isaias: When you stretch forth your hands, I will
turn away my eyes from you; and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear, for
your hands are full of blood
Anger and strife we should also avoid, for they have
great influence in preventing our prayers from being heard. Concerning them the
Apostle says: l will that men pray in every place lifting up pure hands,
without anger and contention.
Implacable hatred of any person on account of injuries
received we must guard against; for while we are under the influence of such
feelings,- it is impossible that we should obtain from God the pardon of our
sins. When you shall stand to pray, He says, forgive, if you have aught against
any man; and, if you will not forgive men, neither will your heavenly Father
forgive you your offences.
Hardness and inhumanity to the poor we should also avoid.
For concerning men of this kind it was said He that stoppeth his ear against
the cry of the poor, shall also cry himself, and shall not be heard.
Freedom From Pride And Contempt Of God's Word
What shall we say of pride? How much it offends God, we
learn from these words: God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble. What of the contempt of the divine oracles? He that turneth away his
ears, says Solomon, from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination.
Here, however, we are not to understand that we are
forbidden to pray for the forgiveness of the injuries we have done, of murder,
anger, insensibility to the wants of the poor, of pride, contempt of God's
word, in fine, of any other sin.
Faith And Confidence
Faith is another necessary quality for this preparation
of soul. Without faith, we can have no knowledge of the omnipotence or mercy of
the supreme Father, which are the sources of our confidence in prayer, as Christ
the Lord Himself has taught: All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer,
believing, you shall receive.
The chief requisite, therefore, of a good prayer is, as
we have already said, a firm and unwavering faith. This the Apostle shows by an
antithesis: How shall they call on him whom they have not believed? Believe,
then, we must, both in order to pray, and that we be not wanting in that faith
which renders prayer fruitful. For it is faith that leads to prayer, and it is
prayer that, by removing all doubts, gives strength and firmness to faith. This
is the meaning of the exhortation of St. Ignatius to those who would approach
God in prayer: Be not of doubtful mind in prayer; blessed is he who hath not
doubted. Wherefore, to obtain from God what we ask, faith and an assured
confidence, are of first importance, according to the admonition of St. James:
Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
Motives Of Confidence In Prayer
There is much to inspire us with confidence in prayer.
Among these are to be numbered the beneficence and bounty of God, displayed
towards us, when He commands us to call Him Father, thus giving us to
understand that we are His children. Again there are the numberless instances
of those whose prayers have been heard.
Further we have as our chief advocate, Christ the Lord,
who is ever ready to assist us, as we read in
Finally, the Holy Ghost is the author of our prayers; and
under His guiding influence, we cannot fail to be heard. We have received the
spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, "Abba, (Father)." This
spirit succours our infirmity and enlightens our ignorance in the discharge of
the duty of prayer; nay, even, as the Apostle says, He asketh for us with
unspeakable groanings.
Should we, then, at any time waver, not being
sufficiently strong in faith, let us say with the Apostles: Lord, increase our
faith; and, with the father (of the demoniac): Help my unbelief.
Correspondence With God's Will
But what most ensures the accomplishment of our desires
is the union of faith and hope with that conformity of all our thoughts, actions,
and prayers to God's law and pleasure. If, He says, you abide in me, and my
words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto
you.
Fraternal Charity
In order, however, that our prayers may have this power
of obtaining all things from God, we must, as was previously served, forget
injuries, cherish sentiments of good will, and practice kindness towards our
neighbour.
How to Pray Well
The manner of praying is also a matter of the highest
moment. Though prayer in itself is good and salutary, yet if not performed in a
proper manner it is unavailing. Often we do not obtain what we ask, because, in
the words of St. James, we ask amiss. Pastors, therefore, should instruct the
faithful in the best manner of asking well and of making private and public
prayer. The rules of Christian prayer have been formed on the teaching of
Christ the Lord.
We Must Pray In Spirit And In Truth
We must, then pray in spirit and in truth; for the
heavenly Father seeks those who adore Him in spirit and in truth. He prays in
this manner whose prayer proceeds from an interior and intense ardour of soul.
Mental Prayer
This spiritual manner of praying does not exclude the use
of vocal prayer. Nevertheless, that prayer which is the vehement outpouring of
the soul, deservedly holds the first place; and although not uttered with the
lips, it is heard by God to whom the secrets of hearts are open. He heard the
silent prayer of Anna, the mother of Samuel, of whom we read, that she prayed,
shedding many tears and only moving her lips. Such was also the prayer of
David, for he says: My heart hath said to thee, my f ace hath sought thee. In
reading the Bible one will meet many similar examples.
Vocal Prayer
But vocal prayer has also its advantages and necessity.
It quickens the attention of the mind, and kindles the fervour of him who
prays. We sometimes, says
Private And Public Prayer
There are two sorts of prayer, private and public.
Private prayer is employed in order to assist interior attention and devotion;
whereas in public prayer, which has been instituted to excite the piety of the
faithful, and has been prescribed for certain fixed times, the use of words is
indispensably required.
Those Who Do Nor Pray In Spirit
This practice of praying in spirit is peculiar to
Christians, and is not at all used by infidels. Of these Christ the Lord has
said: When you pray, speak not much, as the heathens; for they think that in
their much speaking they may be heard. Be not ye, therefore, like to them, for
your Father knoweth what is needful for you before you ask him.
But though (our Lord) prohibits loquacity, He is so far
from forbidding continuance in prayer which proceeds from the eager and
prolonged devotion of the soul that by His own example He exhorts us to such
prayer. Not only did He spend whole nights in prayer, but also prayed the third
time, saying the self-same words. The inference, therefore, to be drawn from
the prohibition is that prayers consisting of mere empty sounds are not to be
addressed to God.
Those Who Do Not Pray In Truth
Neither do the prayers of the hypocrite proceed from the
heart; and against the imitation of their example, Christ the Lord warns us in
these words: When ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites that love to stand
and pray in the synagogues, and corners of the streets, that they may be seen
by men. Amen I say, to you they have received their reward. But thou, when thou
shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy
Father in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. Here the
word chamber may be understood to mean the human heart, which we should not
only enter, but should also close against every distraction from without that
could deprive our prayer of its perfection. For then will our heavenly Father,
who sees perfectly our hearts and secret thoughts, grant our petitions.
We Must Pray With Perseverance
Another necessary condition of prayer is constancy. The great
efficacy of perseverance, the Son of God exemplifies by the conduct of the
judge, who, while he feared not God, nor regarded man, yet, overcome by the
persistence and importunity of the widow, yielded to her entreaties." In
our prayers to God we should, therefore, be persevering.
We must not imitate the example of those who become tired
of praying, if, after having prayed once or twice, they succeed not in
obtaining the object of their prayers. We should never be weary of the duty of
prayer, as we are taught by the authority of Christ the Lord and of the
Apostle. And should the will at any time fail us, we should beg of God by
prayer the strength to persevere.
We Must Pray In The Name Of Jesus Christ
The Son of God would also have us present our prayers to
the Father in His name; for, by His merits and the influence of His mediation,
our prayers acquire such weight that they are heard by our heavenly Father. For
He Himself says in St. John: Amen, Amen, I say unto you, if you ask the Father
any thing in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked any
thing in my name: ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full; and
again: Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do.
We Must Pray With Fervour, Uniting Petition To
Thanksgiving
Let us imitate the fervour of the Saints in prayer; and
to petition let us unite thanksgiving, imitating the example of the Apostles,
who, as may be seen in the Epistles of St. Paul, always observed this salutary
practice.
Fasting And Almsdeeds Should Be Joined To Prayer
To prayer let us unite fasting and almsdeeds. Fasting is
most intimately connected with prayer. For the mind of one who is filled with
food and drink is so borne down as not to be able to raise itself to the
contemplation of God, or even to understand what prayer means.
Almsdeeds have also an intimate connection with prayer.
For what claim has he to the virtue of charity, who, possessing the means of
affording relief to those who depend on the assistance of others, refuses help
to his neighbour and brother ? How can he, whose heart is devoid of charity,
demand assistance from God unless, while imploring the pardon of his sins, he
at the same time humbly beg of God to grant him the virtue of charity ?
This triple remedy was, therefore, appointed by God to
aid man in the attainment of salvation. For by sin we offend God, wrong our
neighbour, or injure ourselves. The wrath of God we appease by pious prayer;
our offences against man we redeem by almsdeeds; the stains of our own lives we
wash away by fasting. Each of these remedies, it is true, is applicable to
every sort of sin; they are, however, peculiarly adapted to those three which
we have specially mentioned.
OPENING WORDS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER
"Our Father who art in heaven"
Importance Of Instruction On These Words
The form of Christian prayer given us by Jesus Christ is
so composed and arranged that before coming to requests and petitions certain
words must be used as a sort of preface calculated to increase our confidence
in God when we are about to address Him devoutly in prayer; and this being so
it will be the pastor's duty to explain each of these words separately and with
precision, so that the faithful may have recourse to prayer more readily
because of the knowledge that they are going to commune and converse with a God
who is also their Father. Regarding this preface, if we merely consider the
number of words of which it is composed, it is brief indeed; but if we regard
the ideas, it is of the greatest importance and replete with mysteries.
"Father"
The first word, which, by the order and institution of
God we employ in this prayer, is Father. Our Saviour could, indeed, have
commenced this divine prayer with some other word, conveying more the idea of
majesty, such, for instance, as Lord or Creator. Yet He omitted all such
expressions because they might rather inspire fear, and instead of them He has
chosen a term inspiring confidence and love in those who pray and ask anything
of God; for what is sweeter than the name Father, conveying, as it does, the
idea of indulgence and tenderness ? The reasons why this name Father is
applicable to God, can be easily explained to the faithful by speaking to them
on the subjects of creation, providence, and redemption.
God Is Called Father Because He Created Us
Thus having created man to His own image -- a favour He
accorded to no other living creature -- it is with good reason that, in view of
this unique privilege with which He has honoured man, Sacred Scripture calls
God the Father of all men; not only of the faithful, but also of the
unbelieving.
God Is Called Father Because He Provides For Us
From His providence also may be drawn an argument. By a
special superintending care and providence over our interests God displays a
paternal love for us.
God's Care For Us Is Seen In The Appointment Of Guardian
Angels
But in order to comprehend more clearly the fatherly care
of God for men, it will be well in the explanation of this particular point to
say something regarding the guardian Angels under whose protection men are
placed.
By God's providence Angels have been entrusted with the
office of guarding the human race and of accompanying every human being so as
to preserve him from any serious dangers. Just as parents, whose children are
about to travel a dangerous and infested road, appoint guardians and helpers
for them, so also in the journey we are making towards our heavenly country our
heavenly Father has placed over each of us an Angel under whose protection and
vigilance we may be enabled to escape the snares secretly prepared by our
enemy, repel the dreadful attacks he makes on us, and under his guiding hand
keep the right road, and thus be secure against all false steps which the wiles
of the evil one might cause us to make in order to draw us aside from the path
that leads to heaven.
How We Are Helped By The Angels
And the immense advantage springing from the special care
and providence of God with regard to men, the execution of which is entrusted
to Angels, who by nature hold an intermediate place between God and man, will
be clear from a multitude of examples with which Sacred Scripture supplies us
in abundance, and which show that in God's goodness it has often happened that
Angels have wrought wondrous works under the very eyes of men. This gives us to
understand that many and equally important services, which do not fall under
our sight, are wrought by our Angels, the guardians of our salvation, in our
interest and for our advantage.
The Angel Raphael, the divinely appointed companion and
guide of Tobias, conducted him and brought him back safe and sound; saved him
from being devoured by an enormous fish; made known to him the extremely useful
properties possessed by the liver, gall and heart of the monster; expelled the
demon; repressed and fettered his power and prevented him from injuring Tobias;
taught the young man the true and legitimate notion and use of matrimony; and
finally restored to the elder Tobias the use of his sight.
In the same way the Angel who liberated the Prince of the
Apostles, will supply copious material for the instruction of the pious flock
regarding the striking fruits of the vigilance and protection of the Angels.
The pastor need do no more than depict the Angel lighting up the darkness of
the prison, touching Peter's side and awakening him from his sleep, loosing his
chains, breaking his bonds, ordering him to rise, to take up his sandals and to
follow; and then the pastor will point out how Peter was led forth out of
prison by the same Angel, how he was enabled to pass without let or hindrance
through the midst of the guard, how the doors were thrown open, and finally how
he was placed in safety.
The historical part of Sacred Scripture, as we have
already remarked, is full of such examples, all of which go to show the extent
of the benefits bestowed by God on man through the ministry and intervention of
Angels whom He deputes not only on particular and private occasions, but also
appoints to take care of us from our very births. He furthermore appoints them
to watch over the salvation of each one of the human race.
This teaching, if carefully explained, will have the
effect of interesting and compelling the minds of the faithful to acknowledge
and venerate more and more the paternal care and providence of God towards
them.
God's Care For Us Seen In The Love He Has Ever Shown To
Man
And here the pastor should especially praise and proclaim
the treasures of God's goodness towards the human race. Though from the time of
our first parents and from the moment of our first sin down to this very day we
have offended Him by countless sins and crimes, yet He still retains His love
for us and never renounces His singular solicitude for our welfare.
To imagine that He has forgotten us would be an act of
folly and nothing short of a most outrageous insult. God was angry with the
Israelites because of the blasphemy they had been guilty of in imagining that
they had been abandoned by providence. Thus do we read in Exodus: They tempted
the Lord, saying: "Is the Lord amongst us or not?" and in Ezechiel
the divine anger is inflamed against the same people for having said: The Lord
seeth us not: the Lord hath forsaken the earth. These examples should suffice
to deter the faithful from entertaining the criminal notion that God can ever
possibly forget mankind. To the same effect we may read in Isaias the complaint
uttered by the Israelite. against God; and, on the other hand, the kindly similitude
with which God refutes their folly: Sion said: "The Lord hath forsaken me,
and the Lord hath forgotten me." To which God answers: Can a woman forget
her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should
forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have engraven thee in my hands.
Although these passages clearly establish the point under
discussion, yet thoroughly to convince the faithful that never for a moment can
God forget man or cease to lavish on him tokens of His paternal tenderness, the
pastor should still further confirm this by the striking example of our first
parents. They had ignored and violated God's command. When you hear them
sharply accused and that dreadful sentence of condemnation pronounced against
them: Cursed is the earth in thy work, with labour and toil shalt thou eat
thereof all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth; " when you see them
driven out of Paradise; when you read that to preclude all hope of their return
a cherub was stationed at the entrance of Paradise, brandishing a flaming sword
turning every way; and finally, when you know that, to avenge the injury done
Him, God had afflicted them with punishments, internal and external, would you-
not be inclined to think that man's case was hopeless? Would you not consider
that not only was he bereft of all divine help, but was even abandoned to every
misfortune? Yet, surrounded as he then was by so many evidences of divine wrath
and vengeance, a gleam of the goodness of God towards him is seen to shine
forth. For the Lord God, says Sacred Scripture, made for Adam and his wife
garments of skins and clothed them, which was a very clear proof that at no
time would God abandon man.
This truth, that the love of God can be exhausted by no
human iniquity, was indicated by David in these words: Will God in his anger
shut up his mercies? It was set forth by Habacuc when, addressing God, he said:
When thou art angry thou wilt remember mercy; and by Micheas, who thus
expresses it: Who is a God like to thee who takest away iniquity and passest by
the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? He will send his fury in no more,
because he delighteth in mercy.
And thus precisely does it happen. At the very moment
when we imagine ourselves to be utterly lost and altogether bereft of His
protection, then it is that God in His infinite goodness seeks us out in a
special way and takes care of us. Even in His anger He stays the sword of His
justice, and ceases not to pour out the inexhaustible treasures of His mercy.
God Is Called Father Because He Has Granted Us Redemption
The creation of the world and God's providence are, then,
of great weight in bringing into relief the singular love of God for the human
race and the special care He takes of man. But far above these two shines the
work of redemption, so much so indeed that our most bountiful God and Father
has crowned His infinite goodness towards us by granting us this third favour.
Accordingly the pastor should instruct his spiritual
children and constantly recall to their minds the surpassing love of God for
us, so that they may be fully alive to the fact that having been redeemed in a
wonderful manner they are thereby made the sons of God. To them, says St. John,
He gave power to be made the sons of God . . . and they are born of God.
This is why Baptism, the first pledge and token of our
redemption, is called the Sacrament of regeneration; for it is by Baptism that
we are born children of God: That which is born of the Spirit, says our Lord,
is spirit; and: You must be born again. In the same way we have the words of
St. Peter: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the
word of God who liveth.
By reason of this redemption we have received the Holy
Ghost and have been made worthy of the grace of God. As a consequence of this
gift we are the adopted sons of God, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans
when he said: Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you
have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: "Abba,
Father." The force and efficacy of this adoption are thus set forth by St.
John: Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called, and should be the sons of God.
Duties We Owe Our Heavenly Father
These points having been explained, the faithful should
be reminded of all they owe in return to God, their most loving Father, so that
they may be aware of the extent of the love, piety, obedience and respect they
are bound to render to Him who has created them, who watches over them, and who
has redeemed them; and with what hope and trust they should invoke Him.
But to enlighten the ignorant and to correct the false
ideas of such as imagine prosperity and success in life to be the only test
that God preserves and maintains His love towards us, and that the adversities
and trials which come from His hand are a sign that He is not well disposed
towards us and that He entertains hostile dispositions towards us, it will be
necessary to point out that even if the hand of the Lord sometimes presses
heavily upon us, it is by no means because He is hostile to us, but that by
striking us He heals us, and that the wounds coming from God are remedies.
He chastises sinners so as to improve them by this
lesson, and inflicts temporal punishments in order to deliver them from eternal
torments. For though He visits our iniquities with a rod and our sins with
stripes, yet his mercy he will not take away from us.
The faithful, therefore, should be recommended to
recognise in such chastisements the fatherly love of God, and ever to have in
their hearts and on their lips the saying of Job, the most patient of men: He
woundeth and cureth; he striketh and his hands shall heal; as well as to repeat
frequently the words written by Jeremias in the name of the people of Israel:
Thou hast chastised me and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke: convert me and I shall be converted; for thou art the Lord my God;
and to keep before their eyes the example of Tobias who, recognising in the
loss of his sight the paternal hand of God raised against him, cried out: I
bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, because thou hast chastised me and thou hast
saved me.
In this connection the faithful should be particularly on
their guard against believing that any calamity or affliction that befalls them
can take place without the knowledge of God; for we have His own words: A hair
of your heads shall not perish. Let them rather find consolation in that divine
oracle read in the Apocalypse: Those whom I love I rebuke and chastise; and let
them find comfort in the exhortation addressed by St. Paul to the Hebrews: My
son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou weaned whilst thou
art rebuked by him: for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth, and he scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth.... But if you be without chastisement, ... then
are you bastards and not sons.... Moreover if we have had the fathers of our
flesh for instructors, and we reverenced them, shall we not much more obey the
Father of spirits and live?
"Our"
When we invoke the Father and when each one of us calls
Him our Father, we are to understand thereby that from the privilege and gift
of divine adoption it necessarily follows that all the faithful are brethren
and should love each other as such: You are all brethren for one is your Father
who is in heaven." This is why the Apostles in their Epistles address all
the faithful as brethren.
Another necessary consequence of this adoption is that
not only are the faithful thereby united in the bonds of brotherhood, but that,
the Son of God being truly man, we are called and really are his brethren also.
Thus, in his Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle, speaking of the Son of God,
wrote as follows: He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: "I will
declare thy name to my brethren. And long before this, David had foretold this
of Christ the Lord; while Christ Himself thus addresses the women in the
Gospel: Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee; there they shall see
me. These words, as we know, He pronounced only after His Resurrection and when
He had already put on immortality, thus showing that no one is at liberty to
imagine that the bonds of brotherhood with us have been severed by His
Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. Not only has the Resurrection of Christ
not dissolved this union and love, but we know that one day, when from His
throne of glory and majesty He shall judge mankind of all ages, He will call
even the very least of the faithful by the name of brethren.
Indeed, how can we be other than brethren of Christ,
seeing that we are called His co-heirs? Doubtless He is the first begotten, the
appointed heir of all things; but we are begotten in the second place after
Him, and are His co-heirs according to the measure of heavenly gifts we receive
and according to the extent of the charity by which we show ourselves servants
and cooperators of the Holy Ghost. He it is who by His inspirations moves and
inflames us to virtue and good works, in order that we may be strengthened by
His grace valiantly to undertake the combat that must be waged to secure
salvation. And if we wisely and firmly carry on this combat we shall at the
close of our earthly career be rewarded by our heavenly Father with the just
recompense of that crown promised and held out to all those who run the same
course. God, says the Apostle, is not unjust that He should forget your work and
love.
Dispositions That Should Accompany The Words, "Our
Father": Fraternal Regard
How sincere should be the manner in which we ought to
utter the word our, we learn from St. Chrysostom. God, he says, listens
willingly to the Christian who prays not only for himself but for others;
because to pray for ourselves is an inspiration of nature; but to pray for
others is an inspiration of grace; necessity compels us to pray for ourselves,
whereas fraternal charity calls on us to pray for others. And he adds: That
prayer which is inspired by fraternal charity is more agreeable to God than
that which is dictated by necessity.
In connection with the important subject of salutary
prayer, the pastor should be careful to remind and exhort all the faithful of
every age, condition and rank, never to forget the bonds of universal
brotherhood that bind them, and consequently ever to treat each other as
friends and brothers, and never to seek arrogantly to raise themselves above
their neighbours.
Though there are in the Church of God various gradations
of office, yet this diversity of dignity and position in no way destroys the
bond of fraternal union; just as in the human body the various uses and
different functions of our organs in no way cause this or that part of the body
to lose the name or office of an organ of the body.
Take, for instance, one who wields kingly power. If he is
a Christian, is he not the brother of all those united in the communion of the
Christian faith? Yes, beyond all doubt; and why? Because there is not one God
giving existence to the rich and noble, and another giving existence to the
poor and to subjects. There is but one God, the Father and Lord of all; and
consequently we have all the same nobility of spiritual birth, all the same dignity,
all the same glory of race; for all have been regenerated by the same Spirit
through the same Sacrament of faith, and have been made children of God and
co-heirs to the same inheritance. The wealthy and great have not one Christ for
their God; the poor and lowly, another; they are not initiated by different
Sacraments; nor can they expect a different inheritance in the kingdom of
heaven. We are all brethren and, as the Apostle says in his Epistle to the
Ephesians: We are members of Christ's body, of his flesh and of his bones. This
is a truth which the same Apostle thus expresses in his Epistle to the
Galatians: You are the children of God, by faith in Jesus Christ; for as many
of you as have been baptised in Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither
Greek nor Jew, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.
Now this is a point which calls for accuracy on the part
of the pastor of souls, and one on which he should purposely dwell at
considerable length; for it is a subject that is calculated both to strengthen
and animate the poor and lowly, and to restrain and repress the arrogance of
the rich and powerful. Indeed it was to remedy this latter evil that the
Apostle insisted on brotherly charity and so often impressed it on the ears of
his hearers.
Filial Confidence And Piety
Do not, then, forget, oh Christian, that when about to
address this prayer to God, you ought to approach Him as a son to his Father;
and hence in beginning your prayers and in pronouncing the words Our Father you
should consider the rank to which God in His goodness has raised you when He
commands you to fly to Him, not as a timid and fearful servant to his master,
but willingly and confidently, like a child to its father.
In this remembrance and in this thought, consider with
what fervour and piety you should pray. Endeavour to act as becomes a child of
God; that is to say, see that your prayers and actions are never unworthy of
that divine origin with which He has been pleased in His infinite bounty to
ennoble you. It is to the discharge of this duty that the Apostle exhorts us
when he says: Be ye therefore imitators of God as most dear children, so that
what the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians may be truly said of us: You are
all the children of light, and the children of the day.
"Who art in Heaven"
Meaning Of These Words
All who have a correct idea of God will grant that He is
where and in all places. This is not to be taken in the sense that He is
distributed into parts and that He occupies and governs one place with one part
and another place with another part. God is a Spirit, and therefore utterly
incapable of division into parts. Who will dare to assign to any particular
place or circumscribe within any limits that God who says of Himself: Do I not
fill heaven and earth? On the contrary, these words must be taken in this
sense, that by His power and virtue He embraces heaven and earth and all things
contained therein; but that He Himself is not contained in any place. God is
present to all things, either creating them, or preserving them after He has
created them; but He is confined to no place, is limited by no bounds, nor in
any way hindered from being everywhere present by His substance and power, as
is indicated by holy David in the words: If I ascend into heaven thou art
there.
But though God is present in all places and in all
things, without being bound by any limits, as has been already said, yet in
Sacred Scripture it is frequently said that He has His dwelling in heaven. And
the reason is because the heavens which we see above our heads are the noblest
part of the world, remain ever Incorruptible, surpass all other bodies in
power, grandeur and beauty, and are endowed with fixed and regular motion.
God, then, in order to lift up the minds of men to
contemplate His infinite power and majesty, which are so preeminently visible
in the work of the heavens, declares in Sacred Scripture that heaven is His
dwelling-place. Yet at the same time He often affirms, what indeed is most
true, that there is no part of the universe to which He is not present
intimately by His nature and His power.
Lessons Taught By The Words, "Who Art In
Heaven"
In connection with this consideration, however, let the
faithful keep before their minds not only the image of the common Father of
all, but also of a God reigning in heaven; and hence when about to pray, let
them remember that they should raise heart and soul to heaven, and that the
more the name of Father inspires them with hope and trust, the more should the
sublime nature and divine majesty of our Father who is in heaven inspire them
with sentiments of Christian humility and respect.
These words, furthermore, determine what we ought to ask
of God in prayer; for every demand regarding the needs and wants of this life,
if it have not some reference to the goods of heaven and if it be not directed
to that end, is vain and unworthy of a Christian.
Let the pastor, therefore, instruct his pious hearers
regarding this particular element of prayer, confirming his own words by the
authority of the Apostle: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that
are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "HALLOWED
BE THY NAME"
Why This Petition Is Placed First
What we are to ask of God and in what order, the Master
and Lord of all has Himself taught and commanded. For prayer is the ambassador
and interpreter of our thoughts and desires; and consequently we pray well and
properly when the order of our petitions follows the order in which the things
sought are desirable.
Now, genuine charity tells us to direct our whole soul
and all our affections to God, for He alone being the one supreme Good, it is
but reasonable that we love Him with superior and singular love. On the other
hand, God cannot be loved from the heart and above all things else, unless we
prefer His honour and glory to all things created. For all the good that we or
others possess, all that in any way bears the name of good, comes from Him, and
is therefore inferior to Him, the sovereign Good.
Hence, that our prayers may be made with due order, our
Saviour has placed this Petition regarding the sovereign Good at the head of
all the other Petitions of the Lord's Prayer, thus showing us that before
asking the things necessary for ourselves or for others, we ought to ask those
that appertain to God's honour, and to manifest and make known to Him the
affections and desires of our hearts in this regard. Acting thus, we shall be
faithful to the claims and rules of charity, which teaches us to love God more
than ourselves and to ask, in the first place, those things we desire on His account,
and next, those things we desire on our own.
Object Of The First Three Petitions
But as our desires and petitions concern such things only
as are needed, and as nothing can be added to God; that is to say. to the
Divine Nature, nor can His Divine Substance, which is ineffably rich in all
perfection, be in any way increased, we must remember that the things we ask of
God on God's own account are extrinsic and concern His exterior glory.
Thus we desire and beg that His name may be more and better
known in the world, that His kingdom may be extended, and that each day new
servants may come to obey His holy will. These three things, His name, His
kingdom, and obedience (to His will), do not appertain to the intrinsic nature
and perfection of God, but are extrinsic thereto.
To enable the faithful to understand still more clearly
the force and bearing of these Petitions, the pastor should take care to point
out to them that the words, On earth as it is in heaven, may be understood of
each of the first three Petitions, as follows: Hallowed be thy name on earth as
it is in heaven; Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven; and, Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Hallowed Be Thy Name
In praying that the name of God may be hallowed, our
meaning is that the sanctity and glory of the divine name may be increased.
On Earth As It Is In Heaven"
But in this connection the pastor should observe and
should point out to his pious hearers that our Saviour does not in this
expression say that the name of God is to be sanctified on earth in the same
manner as it is in heaven; that is, that its earthly sanctification is to be
equal in magnificence to its heavenly, a thing which is absolutely impossible,
but only that such sanctification proceed from love and from the inmost
affections of the soul. True, indeed, the divine name has in itself no need to
be sanctified, since it is terrible and -holy,' as God Himself in His very
Nature is holy, nor can any holiness be attributed Him which He has not
possessed from all eternity; yet seeing that here below an honour far inferior
to that which He deserves is rendered to Him, and that sometimes even He is
dishonoured by cursing and blasphemy, we therefore desire and beg that His name
may be exalted here on earth with praise, honour, and glory, after the example
of that praise, honour and glory which are given Him in heaven.
What Sanctification of God's Name we should Pray For
That The Faithful May Glorify Him
In other words we pray that our minds, our souls and our
lips may be so devoted to the honour and worship of God as to glorify Him. with
all veneration both interior and exterior, and, after the model of the heavenly
citizens, to celebrate with all our might the greatness, the glory and the
holiness of the name of God.
That Unbelievers May Be Converted
Thus, then, as the heavenly spirits with perfect
unanimity exalt and glorify God, so do we pray that the same be done over all
the earth; that all nations may come to know, worship, and reverence God; that
all without a single exception may embrace the Christian religion, may devote
themselves wholly to the service of God, and may be convinced that in Him is
the source of all sanctity and that there is nothing pure, nothing holy, that does
not proceed from the sanctity of His divine name. According to the testimony of
the Apostle, The church is cleansed by the laver of water in the word of life.
and the word of life signifies the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost in which we are baptised and sanctified.
And since there is no expiation, no purity, no integrity,
in him over whom the divine name has not been invoked, we desire and pray that
all mankind may abandon the darkness of their impious infidelity, and, enlightened
by the rays of divine light, may come to recognise the power of this name and
look to it alone for true sanctity, and that thus receiving the Sacrament of
Baptism in the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, they may receive the
plenitude of sanctity from the right hand of God Himself.
That Sinners May Be Converted
Moreover, our desires and our supplications extend
equally to those, who, stained with sin and wickedness, have lost the purity of
their Baptism and their robe of innocence, thus permitting the unclean spirit
to take up his abode once more in their unhappy souls. We therefore desire and
pray God that in these also His name may be sanctified; that they may reenter
into themselves and, returning to a right frame of mind, may recover their
former holiness through the Sacrament of Penance, and become once more the pure
and holy temple and dwelling-place of God.
That God May Be Thanked For His Favours
Finally, we pray that God may make His light to shine on
the minds of all, so as to enable them to see that every best gift and e very
perfect gift coming from the Father of lights, is conferred on us by Him, and
consequently that temperance, justice, life, health, in a word, all goods of
soul, body and possessions, all goods both natural and supernatural, must be
recognised as gifts given by Him from whom, as the Church proclaims, proceed
all blessings. If the sun by its light, if the stars by their motion and
revolutions, are of any advantage to man; if the air with which we are surrounded
serves to sustain us; if the earth with its abundance of produce and its fruits
furnishes the means of subsistence to all men; if our rulers by their vigilance
enable us to enjoy peace and tranquillity, it is to the infinite goodness of
God that we owe these and innumerable blessings of a similar kind,-nay, those
very causes which philosophers call secondary, we should regard as so many
hands of God, wonderfully fashioned and fitted for our use, by means of which
He distributes His blessings and diffuses them everywhere in profusion.
That The Church May Be Recognised By All
But what we most particularly ask in this Petition is
that all may acknowledge and revere the spouse of Jesus Christ, our most holy
mother the Church, in which alone is to be found the copious and inexhaustible
fountain that cleanses and effaces all the stains of sin, and from which are
drawn all the Sacraments of salvation and sanctification, those Sacraments
through which, like so many sacred channels, is diffused over us by the hand of
God the dew, of sanctity. To that Church alone and to those whom she embraces
in her bosom and holds in her arms, appertains the invocation of that divine
name, outside of which there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby
we must be saved.
What Sanctification Of God's Name We Should Practice
The pastor should be careful to insist particularly on
the fact that it is the duty of a good son not only to pray to God his Father
in words, but also to endeavour by his conduct and actions to promote the
sanctification of the divine name. And would to God there were none who, though
continually praying for the sanctification of God's name, yet, as far as in
them lies, violate and profane it by their deeds, and by whose fault God
Himself is sometimes blasphemed. It was of such as these that the Apostle said:
The name of God through you is blasphemed among the Gentiles; and in Ezechiel
we read: They entered among the nations whither they went, and profaned my holy
name, when it was said of them: "This is the people of the Lord, and they
are come forth out of his land"; for according to the sort of life and
conduct led by those professing a particular religion, so precisely in the eyes
of the unlettered multitude will be the opinion held of that religion and of
its author.
Those, therefore, who live according to the dictates of
the Christian religion which they have embraced, and who regulate their prayers
and actions by its precepts, furnish others with a powerful motive for greatly
praising, honouring and glorifying the name of our heavenly Father. As for us,
it is a duty which the Lord has imposed on us, to lead others by shining deeds
of virtue to praise and glorify the name of God. This is how He addresses us in
the Gospel: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father who is in heaven; and the Prince of the Apostles
says: Having your conversation good among the Gentiles, that they may, by the
good works which they shall behold in you, glorify God.
THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "THY
KINGDOM COME"
Importance Of Instruction On This Petition
The kingdom of heaven which we pray for in this second
Petition is the great end to which is referred, and in which terminates all the
preaching of the Gospel; for from it St. John the Baptist commenced his
exhortation to penance: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. With
it also the Saviour of the world opened His preaching. In that admirable
discourse on the mount in which He points out to His disciples the way to
happiness, having proposed, as it were, the subject-matter of His discourse,
our Lord commences with the kingdom of heaven: Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Again, to those who would detain Him with
them, He assigns as the necessary cause of His departure: To other cities,
also, I must preach the kingdom of God; therefore am I sent. This kingdom He
afterwards commanded the Apostles to preach. And to him who expressed a wish to
go and bury his father, He replied: Go thou, and preach the kingdom of God. And
after He had risen from the dead, during those forty days in which He appeared
to the Apostles, He spoke of the kingdom of God.
This second Petition, therefore, the pastor should treat
with the greatest attention, in order to impress on the minds of his faithful
hearers its great importance and necessity.
Greatness Of This Petition
In the first place pastors will be greatly assisted
towards an accurate and careful explanation of this Petition by the thought
that (the Redeemer Himself) commanded this Petition, although united to the
others, to be also offered separately, in order that we may seek with the
greatest earnestness that for which we pray; for He says: Seek first the
kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
So great and so abundant are the heavenly gifts contained
in this Petition, that it includes all things necessary for the security of
soul and body. The king who pays no attention to those things on which depends
the safety of his kingdom we should deem unworthy of the name. If a man is so
anxious for the welfare of his kingdom, what must be the solicitude, what the
providential care, with which the King of kings guards the life and safety of
man?
We compress, therefore, within the small compass of this
Petition for God's kingdom all that we stand in need of in our present
pilgrimage, or rather exile, and all this God graciously promises to grant us;
for He immediately subjoins: All these things shall be added unto you. Thus
does he declare that He is that king who with bountiful hand bestows upon man
an abundance of all things, whose infinite goodness enraptured David when he
sang: The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing.
Necessity Of Rightly Making This Petition
It is not enough, however, that we utter an earnest
petition for the kingdom of God; we must also add to our prayer the use of all
those means by which that kingdom is sought and found.- The five foolish
virgins uttered earnestly the same petition in these words: Lord, Lord, open to
us; but they used not the means necessary to secure its attainment, and were
therefore rightly excluded. For God Himself has said: Not every one that saith
to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Motives For Adopting The Necessary Means
The priest, therefore, who is charged with the care of
souls, should draw from the exhaustless fountain of the divine Scriptures those
powerful motives which are calculated to move the faithful to the desire and
pursuit of the kingdom of heaven, which portray in vivid coloring our
deplorable condition, and which should make so sensible an impression upon them
that, entering into themselves, they may call to mind that supreme happiness
and those unutterable goods with which the eternal abode of God our Father
abounds.
Here below we are exiles, inhabitants of a land in which
dwell those demons whose hatred for us cannot be softened, who are the
determined and implacable foes of mankind. What shall we say of those intestine
conflicts and domestic battles in which the soul and the body, the flesh and
the spirit, are continually engaged against each other, in which we have always
to fear defeat, nay, in which instant defeat becomes inevitable, unless we be
defended by the protecting hand of God? Feeling this weight of misery the
Apostle exclaims: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?
The misery of our condition, it is true, strikes us at once
of itself; but if contrasted with that of other creatures, it strikes us still
more forcibly. Although irrational and even inanimate, the lower creatures are
seldom seen so to depart from the acts, the instincts and the movements
imparted to them by nature, as to fail of obtaining their appointed and
determined end. This is so obvious in the case of beasts, fishes and birds that
there is no need to dwell on it. But if we look to the heavens, do we not
behold the verification of these words of David? For ever, O Lord, thy word
standeth firm in the heavens. Constant in their motions, uninterrupted in their
revolutions, they never depart in the least from the laws divinely prescribed.
The earth, too, and universal nature, as we at once perceive, adhere strictly
to, or at least depart but very little from the laws of their being.
But unhappy man is guilty of frequent falls. Seldom does
he carry out his good resolutions; often he abandons and despises what he has
well commenced; his best purposes which pleased for a time, are often suddenly
abandoned, and he plunges into designs as degrading as they are pernicious.
What then is the cause of this misery and inconstancy?
Manifestly a contempt of the divine inspirations. We close our ears to the
admonitions of God, our eyes to the divine lights which shine before us; nor do
we hearken to those salutary commands which are delivered by our heavenly
Father.
To paint to the eyes of the faithful the misery-of man's
condition, to detail its various causes, and to point out the efficacious
remedies are, therefore, among the objects which should employ the zealous
exertions of the pastor. In the discharge of this duty, his labor will be not a
little lightened if he consults what has been said on the subject by those holy
men, John Chrysostom and Augustine, and still more if he refers to our
exposition of the Creed. For with a knowledge of these truths, who will be so
obstinate in sin as not to endeavour, with the help of God's preventing grace,
to rise, like the prodigal son spoken of in the Gospel, to stand erect, and
hasten into the presence of his heavenly Father and king ?
"Thy Kingdom"
Having pointed out the advantages to be derived by the
faithful from this Petition, the pastor should next explain the favours which
it seeks. This becomes the more necessary as the words, kingdom of God, have a
variety of significations, the exposition of each of which will not be found
without its advantages in elucidating other passages of Scripture, and is
necessary to a knowledge of the present subject.
The Kingdom Of Nature
In their ordinary sense, which is frequently employed by
Scripture, the words, kingdom of God, signify not only that power which God
possesses over all men and over the entire universe, but, also, His providence
which rules and governs all things. In his hands, says the Prophet, are all the
ends of the earth. The word ends includes those things also which lie buried in
the depths of the earth, and are concealed in the most hidden recesses of creation.
In this sense Mardochaeus exclaims: O Lord, Lord, almighty king, for all things
are in thy power, and there is none that can resist thy will: thou art God of
all, and there is none that can resist thy majesty.
The Kingdom Of Grace
By the kingdom of God is also understood that special and
singular providence by which God protects and watches over pious and holy men.
It is of this peculiar and admirable care that David speaks when he says: The
Lord rules me, I shall want nothing, and Isaias: The Lord our king he will save
us.
But although, even in this life, the pious and holy are
placed, in a special manner, under this kingly power of God; yet our Lord
Himself informed Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, that is to say,
had not its origin in this world, which was created and is doomed to perish. In
this perishable way power is exercised by kings, emperors, commonwealths,
rulers, and all whose titles to the government of states and provinces is
founded upon the desire or election of men, or who have intruded themselves, by
violent and unjust usurpation, into sovereign power.
Not so Christ the Lord, who, as the Prophet declares, is
appointed king by God, and whose kingdom, as the Apostle says, is justice: The
kingdom of God's justice and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Christ our Lord
reigns in us by the interior virtues of faith, hope and charity. By these
virtues we are made a portion, as it were, of His kingdom, become subject in a
special manner to God, and are consecrated to His worship and veneration; so
that, as the Apostle could say: I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, we
too are able to say: I reign, yet not , but Christ reigneth in me.
This kingdom is called justice, because it has for its
basis the justice of Christ the Lord. Of it our Lord says in St. Luke: The
kingdom of God is within you. For although Jesus Christ reigns by faith in all
who are within the bosom of our holy mother, the Church; yet in a special
manner He reigns over those who are endowed with a superior faith, hope and
charity, and have yielded themselves pure and living members to God. It is in
these that the kingdom of God's grace is said to consist.
The Kingdom Of Glory
By the words kingdom of God is also meant that kingdom of
His glory, of which Christ our Lord says in St. Matthew: Come ye blessed of my
Father, possess the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of
the world. This kingdom the thief, when he had admirably acknowledged his
crimes, begged of Christ in the words related by St. Luke: Lord, remember me,
when thou comest into thy kingdom. Of this kingdom St. John speaks when he
says: Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God; and of it the Apostle says to the Ephesians: No fornicator,
or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God. To it also refer some of the parables made
use of by Christ the Lord when speaking of the kingdom of heaven.
But the kingdom of grace must precede that of glory; for
God's glory cannot reign in anyone in whom His grace does not already reign.
Grace, according to the Redeemer, is a fountain of water springing up to
eternal life; while as regards glory, what can we call it except a certain
perfect and absolute grace? As long as we are clothed with this frail mortal
flesh, as long as we wander in this gloomy pilgrimage and exile, weak and far
away from God, we often stumble and fall, because we rejected the aid of the
kingdom of grace, by which we were supported. But when the light of the kingdom
of glory, which is perfect, shall have shone upon us, we shall stand forever
firm and secure. Then shall all that is defective and unsuitable be utterly
removed; then shall every infirmity be strengthened and invigorated; in a word,
God Himself will then reign in our souls and bodies. But on this subject we
have dealt already at greater length in the exposition of the Creed, when
speaking of the resurrection of the flesh.
"Come"
Having thus explained the ordinary acceptation of the
words, kingdom of God, we now come to point out the particular objects
contemplated by this Petition.
We Pray For The Propagation Of The Church
In this Petition we ask God that the kingdom of Christ,
that is, His Church, may be enlarged; that Jews and infidels may embrace the
faith of Christ and the knowledge of the true God; that schismatics and
heretics may return to soundness of mind, and to the communion of the Church of
God which they have deserted; and that thus may be fulfilled and realised the
words of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Isaias: Enlarge the place of thy
tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles; lengthen thy cords, and
strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt pass on to the right hand and to the
left, for he that made thee shall rule over thee. And again: The Gentiles shall
walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising; lift up thy eyes
round about and see; all these are gathered together, they are come to thee;
thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.
For The Conversion Of Sinners
But in the Church there are to be found those who profess
they know God, but in their works deny Him; whose conduct shows that they have
only a deformed faith; who, by sinning, become the dwelling-place of the devil,
where the demon exercises uncontrolled dominion. Therefore do we pray that the
kingdom of God may also come to them so that the darkness of sin being
dispelled from around them, and their minds being illumined by the rays of the
divine light, they may be restored to their lost dignity of children of God;
that heresy and schism being removed, and all offences and causes of sins being
eradicated from His kingdom, our heavenly Father may cleanse the floor of His
Church; and that, worshipping God in piety and holiness, she may enjoy
undisturbed peace and tranquillity.
That Christ May Reign Over All
Finally, we pray that God alone may live, alone may reign
within us; that death may no longer exist, but may be absorbed in the victory
achieved by Christ our Lord, who, having broken and scattered the power of all
His enemies, may, in His might, subject all things to His dominion.
Dispositions That Should Accompany This Petition
The pastor should also be mindful to teach the faithful,
as the nature of this Petition demands, the thoughts and reflections with which
their minds should be impressed in order to offer this prayer devoutly to God.
We Should Prize God's Kingdom Above All Things
He should exhort them, in the first place, to consider
the force and import of that similitude of the Redeemer: The kingdom of heaven
is like a treasure hidden in a field: which when a man hath found he hideth,
and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
He who knows the riches of Christ the Lord will despise all things when
compared to them; to him wealth, riches, power, will appear as dross. Nothing
can be compared to, or stand in competition with that inestimable treasure.
Whoever, then, is blessed with this knowledge will say with the Apostle: I
esteem all things to be but loss, and count them but as dung, that I may gain
Christ. This is that precious jewel of the Gospel, and he who sells all his
earthly goods to purchase it shall enjoy an eternity of bliss.
Happy we, should Jesus Christ shed so much light on us,
as to enable us to discover this jewel of divine grace, by which He reigns in
the hearts of those that are His. Then should we be prepared to sell all that
we have on earth, even ourselves, to purchase and secure its possession; then
might we say with confidence: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
But would we know the incomparable excellence of the
kingdom of God's glory, let us hear the words and teaching of the Apostle: Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man,
what things God hath prepared for them that love him.
We Must Realise That We Are Exiles
To obtain the object of our prayers it will be found most
helpful to reflect within ourselves who we are, -- namely, children of Adam,
exiled from Paradise by a just sentence of banishment, and deserving, by our
unworthiness and perversity, to become the objects of God's supreme hatred, and
to be doomed to eternal punishment.
This consideration should excite in us humility and
lowliness. Thus our prayers will be full of Christian humility; and wholly
distrusting ourselves, like the publican, we will fly to the mercy of God.
Attributing all to His bounty we will render immortal thanks to Him who has
imparted to us that Holy Spirit, relying on whom we are emboldened to say: Abba
(Father).
We Must Labor To Obtain God's Kingdom
We should also be careful to consider what is to be done,
what avoided, in order to arrive at the kingdom of heaven. For we are not
called by God to lead lives of ease and indolence. On the contrary, He declares
that the kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away; and,
If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. It is not enough,
therefore, that we pray for the kingdom of God; we must also use our best
exertions. It is a duty incumbent on US to cooperate with the grace of God, to
use it in pursuing the path that leads to heaven. God never abandons us; He has
promised to be with us at all times. We have therefore only this to see to,
that we forsake not God, or abandon ourselves.
In this kingdom of the Church, God has provided all those
succours by which He defends the life of man, and accomplishes his eternal
salvation; whether they are invisible to us, such as the hosts of angelic
spirits, or visible, such as the Sacraments, those unfailing sources of
heavenly grace. Defended by these divine safeguards, not only may we securely
defy the assaults of our most determined enemies, but may even lay prostrate,
and trample under foot, the tyrant himself with all his nefarious legions.
Recapitulation
To conclude, let us then earnestly implore the Spirit of
God that He may command us to do all things in accordance with His holy will;
that He may so overthrow the empire of Satan that it shall have no power over
us on the great accounting day; that Christ may be victorious and triumphant;
that the divine influence of His law may be spread throughout the world; that
His ordinances may be observed; that there be found no traitor, no deserter;
and that all may so conduct themselves, as to come with joy into the presence
of God their King, and may reach the possession of the celestial kingdom, prepared
for them from all eternity, in the fruition of endless bliss with Christ Jesus.
THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "THY WILL
BE DONE"
The Relation Of This Petition To The Previous One
Whoever desires to enter into the kingdom of heaven should
ask of God that His will may be done. For Christ the Lord has said: Not every
one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he
that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Consequently this Petition follows immediately after the one
which prays for the kingdom of heaven.
Necessity Of This Petition
In order that the faithful may know the necessity of this
Petition and the numerous and salutary gifts which we obtain through it, the
pastor should direct their attention to the misery and wretchedness in which
the sin of Adam has involved mankind.
Man's Proneness To Act Against God's Will
From the beginning God implanted in all creatures an
inborn desire of pursuing their own happiness that, by a sort of natural
impulse, they may seek and desire their own end, from which they never deviate,
unless impeded by some external obstacle.- This impulse of seeking God, the
author and father of his happiness, was in the beginning all the more noble and
exalted in man because of the fact that he was endowed with reason and
judgment. But, while irrational creatures, which, at their creation were by
nature Food, continued, and still continue in that original state
and-condition, unhappy man went astray, and lost not only original justice,
with which he had been supernaturally gifted and adorned by God, but also
obscured that singular inclination toward virtue which had been implanted in
his soul. All, He says, have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together;
there is none that doth good, no, not one. For the imagination and thought of
man's heart are prone to evil from his youth. Hence it is not difficult to
perceive that of himself no man is wise unto salvation; that all are prone to
evil; and that man has innumerable corrupt propensities, since he tends
downwards and is carried with ardent precipitancy to anger, hatred, pride.
ambition, and to almost every species of evil.
Man's Blindness Concerning God's Will
Although man is continually beset by these evils, yet his
greatest misery is that many of these appear to him not to be evils at all. It
is a proof of the most calamitous condition of man, that he is so blinded by
passion and cupidity as not to see that what he deems salutary generally
contains a deadly poison, that he rushes headlong after those pernicious evils
as if they were good and desirable, while those things which are really good
and virtuous are shunned as the contrary. Of this false estimate and corrupt judgment
of man God thus expresses His detestation: Woe to you that call evil good, and
good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
In order, therefore, to delineate in vivid coloring the
misery of our condition, the Sacred Scripture compares us to those who have
lost their sense of taste and who, in consequence, loathe wholesome food, and
prefer that which is unwholesome.
Man's Weakness In Fulfilling God's Will
It also compares us to sick persons who, as long as their
malady lasts, are incapable of fulfilling the duties and offices proper to
persons of sound and vigorous health. In the same way neither can we, without
the assistance of divine grace, undertake actions such as are acceptable to
God. Even should we, while in this condition, succeed in doing anything good,
it will be of little or no avail towards attaining the bliss of heaven. But to
love and serve God as we ought is something too noble and too sublime for us to
accomplish by human powers in our present lowly and feeble condition, unless we
are assisted by the grace of God.
Another very apt comparison to denote the miserable
condition of mankind is that wherein we are likened to children who, if left to
go their own way, are thoughtlessly attracted by everything that presents
itself. Truly we are children, thoughtless children, wholly devoted to vain
conversations and frivolous actions, once we become destitute of divine
assistance; and hence the reproof which divine wisdom directs against us: O
children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things
which are hurtful to themselves? while the Apostle thus exhorts us: Do not
become children in sense.
Not only this, but our folly and blindness are even
greater than those of children; for they are merely destitute of human prudence
which they can of themselves acquire in course of time; whereas, if not
assisted by God's help and grace, we can never aspire to that divine prudence
which is so necessary to salvation. And if God's assistance should fail us, we
at once cast aside those things that are truly good and rush headlong to
voluntary ruin.
Remedy For These Evils
But should this darkness of spirit be removed with God's
help; should we but perceive these our miseries; and, shaking off our
insensibility, should we take account of the presence of the law of the members
and recognise the struggle of the senses against the law of the spirit; and
were we aware of every inclination of our nature to evil; how in that event
could we fail to seek with earnest endeavour a suitable remedy for the great
evils with which our nature is oppressed, and how fail to sigh for that
salutary rule in accordance with which every Christian's life should be
modelled and guided?
Now this is what we ask when we address to God these
words: Thy will be done. We fell into this state of misery by disobeying and
despising the divine will. God vouchsafes to propose to us, as the sole
corrective of such great evils, a conformity to His will, which by sinning we
despised; He commands us to regulate all our thoughts and actions by this
standard. Now it is precisely His help to accomplish this that we ask when we
suppliantly address to God the prayer, Thy will be done.
Man's Passions Rebel Against God's Will
The same should also be the fervent prayer of those in
whose souls God-already reigns; who have been already illumined with the divine
light, which enables them to obey the will of God. Although thus prepared, they
have still to struggle against their own passions on account of the tendency to
evil implanted in man's sensual appetite. Hence even though we are of the
number of the just, we are still exposed to great danger from our own frailty,
and should always fear lest, drawn aside and allured by our concupiscences,
which war in our members, we should again stray from the path of salvation. Of
this danger Christ the Lord admonishes us in these words: Watch ye and pray
that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh
is weak.
It is not in the power of man, not even of him who has
been justified by the grace of God, to reduce the irregular desires of the
flesh to such a state of utter subjection that they may never afterwards rebel.
By justifying grace God no doubt heals the wounds of the soul; but not those
also of the flesh concerning which the Apostle wrote: J know that there
dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good.
The moment the first man forfeited original justice,
which enabled him to bridle the passions, reason was no longer able to restrain
them within the bounds of duty, or to repress those inordinate desires which
are repugnant to reason. This is why the Apostle tells us that sin, that is to
say, the incentive to sin, dwells in the flesh, thus giving us to understand
that it does not make a mere temporary stay within us as a passing guest, but
that as long as we live it maintains its abode in our members as a permanent
inhabitant of the body.
Continually beset as we are by our domestic and interior
enemies, it is easy for us to understand that we must fly to God's help and beg
of Him that His will may be done in us.
"Thy Will"
Though the faithful are not to be left in ignorance of
the import of this Petition, yet in this connection many questions concerning
the will of God may be passed over which are discussed at great length and with
much utility by scholastic doctors. Accordingly we shall content ourselves with
saying that by the will of God is here meant that will which is commonly called
the will of sign; that is to say, whatever God has commanded or counselled us
to do or to avoid.
Hence, under the word will are here comprised all things
that have been proposed to us as a means of securing the happiness of heaven,
whether they regard faith or whether they regard morals, all, in a word, that
Christ the Lord has commanded or forbidden either directly or through His
Church. It is of this will that the Apostle thus writes: Become not unwise, but
understand what is the will of God.
"Be Done"
We Ask That We May Fulfil What God Desires Of Us
When, therefore, we pray, Thy will be done, we first of
all ask our heavenly Father to give us the strength to obey His Commandments,
and to serve Him in holiness and justice all our days; to do all things
according to His will and pleasure; to discharge all the duties prescribed for
us in Sacred Scripture; under His guidance and assistance to perform all that
becomes those who are born, not of the will of the flesh but of God, thus
following the example of Christ the Lord who was made obedient unto death, even
unto the death of the cross; finally, to be ready to bear all things rather
than depart from His holy will in even the slightest degree.
Assuredly there is no one who burns with a more ardent
desire and anxiety to obtain (the effect of this Petition) than he who has been
so blessed as to be able to understand the sublime dignity attaching to those
who obey God. For such a one thoroughly understands how true it is to say that
to serve God and obey Him is to reign. Whoever, says the Lord, shall do the
will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother that
is to say, to him am I attached by the closest bonds of good will and love.
The Saints, with scarcely a single exception, failed not
to make the principal gift contemplated by this Petition the object of their
fervent prayers to God. All, indeed, have in substance made use of this
admirable prayer, but not unfrequently in different words. David, whose strains
breathe such wondrous sweetness, pours out the same prayer in various
aspirations: O ! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications; Lead
me into the path of thy commandments; Direct my steps according to thy word,
and let no iniquity have dominion over me. In the same spirit he says: Give me
understanding, and I will learn thy commandments; Teach me thy judgments; Give
me understanding that I may know thy testimonies. He often expresses and
repeats the same sentiment in other words. These passages should be carefully
noticed and explained to the faithful, that all may know and comprehend the
greatness and profusion of salutary gifts which are comprehended in the first
part of this Petition.
We Ask That We May Not Yield To Our Own Inordinate
Desires
In the second place, when we say, Thy will be done, we
express our detestation of the works of the flesh, of which the Apostle writes:
The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness immodesty,
lust, etc.; if you live according to the flesh you shall die. We also beg of
God not to suffer us to yield to the suggestions of sensual appetite, of our
lusts, of our infirmities, but to govern our will by His will.
The sensualist, whose every thought and care is absorbed
in the transient things of this world, is estranged from the will of God. Borne
along by the tide of passion, he indulges his licentious appetites. In this
gratification he places all his happiness, and considers that man happy who
obtains whatever he desires. We, the contrary, beseech God in the language of
the Apostle that we make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscence, but
that His will be done.
We are not easily induced to entreat God not to satisfy
our inordinate desires. This disposition of soul is difficult of attainment,
and by offering such a prayer we seem in some sort to hate ourselves. To those
who are slaves to the flesh such conduct appears folly; but be it ours
cheerfully to incur the imputation of folly for the sake of Christ who has
said: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. This is especially
so since we know that it is much better to desire what is right and just, than
to obtain what is opposed to reason and religion and to the laws of God.
Unquestionably the condition of the man who attains the gratification of his
rash and inordinate desires is less enviable than that of him who does not
obtain the object of his pious prayers.
We Ask That Our Mistaken Requests Be Not Granted
Our prayers, however, have not solely for object that God
should deny us what accords with our desires, when it is clear that they are
depraved; but also that He would not grant us those things for which, under the
persuasion and impulse of the devil, who transforms himself into an Angel of
light, we sometimes pray, believing them to be good.
The desire of the Prince of the Apostles to dissuade the
Lord from His determination to meet death, appeared not less reasonable than
religious; yet the Lord severely rebuked him, because he was led, not by
supernatural motives, but by natural feeling.
What stronger proof of love towards the Lord than that
shown by the request of St. James and St. John, who, filled with indignation
against the Samaritans for refusing to entertain their Master, besought Him to
command fire to descend from heaven and consume those hard-hearted and inhuman
men? Yet they were reproved by Christ the Lord in these words: You know not of
what spirit you are; the son of man came not to destroy souls but to save them.
We Ask That Even Our Good Requests Be Granted Only When
They Are According To God's Will
We should beseech God that His will be done, not only
when our desires are wrong, or have the appearance of wrong. We should ask this
even when the object of our desire is not really evil, as when the will,
obeying its instinctive impulse, desires what is necessary for our
preservation, and rejects what seems to be opposed thereto. When about to pray
for such things we should say from our hearts, Thy will be done, in imitation
of the example of Him from whom we receive salvation and the science of
salvation, who, when agitated by a natural dread of torments and of a cruel
death, bowed in that horror of supreme sorrow with meek submission to the will
of His heavenly Father: Not my will but thine be done.
We Ask That God May Perfect In Us What His Grace Has
Begun
But, such is the degeneracy of our nature that, even when
we have done violence to our passions and subjected them to the will of God, we
cannot avoid sin without His assistance, by which we are protected from evil
and directed in the pursuit of good. To this Petition, therefore, we must have
recourse, beseeching God to perfect in us those things which He has begun; to
repress the turbulent emotions of passion; to subject our sensual appetites to
reason; in a word, to render us entirely conformable to His holy will.
We Ask That All May Know God's Will
We pray that the whole world may receive the knowledge of
God's will, that the mystery of God, hidden from all ages and generations, may
be made known to all.
"On Earth as it is in Heaven"
We also pray for the standard and model of this
obedience, that our conformity to the will of God be regulated according to the
rule observed in heaven by the blessed Angels and choirs of heavenly spirits,
that, as they willingly and with supreme joy obey God, we too may yield a
cheerful obedience to His will in the manner most acceptable to Him.
God requires that in serving Him we be actuated by the
greatest love and by the most exalted charity; that although we devote
ourselves entirely to Him with the hope of receiving heaven as reward, yet the
reason we look forward to that reward should be that the Divine Majesty has
commanded us to cherish that hope. Let all our hopes, therefore, be based on
the love of God, who promises to reward our love with eternal happiness.
There are some who serve another with love, but who do so
solely with a view to some recompense, which is the end and aim of their love;
while others, influenced by love and loyalty alone, look to nothing else in the
services which they render than the goodness and worth of him whom they serve,
and, knowing and admiring his qualities consider themselves happy in being able
to render him these services. This is the meaning of the clause On earth as it
is in heaven appended (to the Petition).
It is then, our duty to endeavour to the best of our
ability to be obedient to God, as we have said the blessed spirits are, whose
profound obedience is praised by David in the Psalm in which he sings: Bless
the Lord, all ye hosts; ye ministers of his that do his will.
Should anyone, adopting the interpretation of St.
Cyprian, understand the words in heaven, to mean in the good and the pious, and
the words on earth, in the wicked and the impious, we do not disapprove of the
interpretation, by the word heaven understanding the spirit, and by the word
earth, the flesh, that every person and every creature may in all things obey the
will of God.
This Petition Contains an Act of Thanksgiving
This Petition also includes thanksgiving. We revere the
most holy will of God, and in transports of joy celebrate all His works with
the highest praise and acknowledgment, being assured that He has done all
things well. It is certain that God is omnipotent; and the consequence
necessarily forces itself on the mind that all things were created at His
command. We also confess the truth that He is the supreme Good. We must,
therefore, confess that all His works are good, for to all He imparted His own
goodness. But if we cannot fathom in everything the divine plan, let us in all
things banish every doubt and hesitation from the mind, and with the Apostle
declare that his ways are unsearchable.
But the most powerful incentive to revere the will of God
is that He has deigned to illumine by His heavenly light; for, He hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of the Son of his love.
The Dispositions that should Accompany this Petition
A Sense Of Our Own Weakness Of Will
To close our exposition of this Petition we must revert
to a subject at which we glanced in the beginning. It is that the faithful in
uttering this Petition should be humble and lowly in spirit: keeping in view
the violence of their inborn passions which revolt against the will of God;
recollecting that in this duty (of obedience) man is excelled by all other
creatures, of whom it is written: All things serve thee; and reflecting, that
he who is unable without divine help to undertake, not to say, perform,
anything acceptable to God, must be very weak indeed.
Appreciation Of The Dignity Of Doing God's Will
But as there is nothing greater, nothing more exalted, as
we have already said, than to serve God and live in obedience to His law and
Commandments, what more desirable to a Christian than to walk in the ways of
the Lord, to think nothing, to undertake nothing, at variance with His will? In
order that the faithful may adopt this rule of life, and adhere to it with
greater fidelity, (the pastor) should borrow from Scripture examples of
individuals, who, by not referring their views to the will of God, have failed
in all their undertakings.
Resignation To God's Will
Finally, the faithful are to be admonished to acquiesce
in the simple and absolute will of God. Let him, who thinks that he occupies a
place in society inferior to his deserts, bear his lot with patient
resignation; let him not abandon his proper sphere, but abide in the vocation
to which he has been called. Let him subject his own judgment to the will of
God, who provides better for our interests than we can even desire ourselves.
If troubled by poverty, by sickness, by persecution, or afflictions and anxieties
of any sort, let us be convinced that none of these things can happen to us
without the permission of God, who is the supreme Arbiter of all things. We
should, therefore, not suffer our minds to be too much disturbed by them, but
bear up against them with fortitude, having always on our lips the words: The
will of the Lord be done; and also those of holy Job, As it hath pleased the
Lord, so it is done: blessed be the name of the Lord.
THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "GIVE US
THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD"
The Relation Of The Following Petitions To Those That
Preceded
The fourth and following Petitions, in which we
particularly and expressly pray for the needs of soul and body, are subordinate
to those which preceded. According to the order of the Lord's Prayer we ask for
what regards the body and the preservation of life after we have prayed for the
things which pertain to God. For since man has God as his last end, the goods
of human life should be subordinated to those that are divine. These goods
should be desired and prayed for, either because the divine order so requires,
or because we need them to obtain divine blessings, that being assisted by
these (temporal things) we may reach our destined end, the kingdom and glory of
our heavenly Father, and the reverential observance of those commands which we
know to emanate from His holy will. In this Petition, therefore, we should
refer all to God and His glory.
How To Pray For Temporal Blessings
In the discharge of his duty towards the faithful the
pastor, therefore, should endeavour to make them understand that, in praying
for the use and enjoyment of temporal blessings, our minds and our desires are
to be directed in conformity with the law of God, from which we are not to
swerve in the least. By praying for the transient things of this world, we
especially transgress; for, as the Apostle says, We know not what we should
pray for as we ought. These things, therefore, we should pray for as we ought,
lest, praying for anything as we ought not, we receive from God for answer, You
know not what you ask.
Means Of Ascertaining Purity Of Intention In Offering
This Petition
A sure standard for judging what petition is good, and
what bad, is the purpose and intention of the petitioner. Thus if a person
prays for temporal blessings under the impression that they constitute the
sovereign good, and rests in them as the ultimate end of his desires, wishing
nothing else, he unquestionably does not pray as he ought. As St. Augustine
observes, we ask not these temporal things as our goods, but as our
necessaries. The Apostle also in his Epistle to the Corinthians teaches that
whatever regards the necessary purposes of life is to be referred to the glory
of God: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all to the glory
of God.
Necessity of the Fourth Petition
In order that the faithful may see the importance of this
Petition, the pastor should remind them how much we stand in need of external
things, in order to support and maintain life; and this they will the more
easily understand, if he compares the wants of our first parent with those of
his posterity.
Man Needs Many Things For His Bodily Life
It is true that in that exalted state of innocence, from
which he himself, and, through his transgression, all his posterity fell, he
had need of food to recruit his strength; yet there is a great difference
between his wants and those to which we are subject. He stood not in need of
clothes to cover him, of a house to shelter him, of weapons to defend him, of
medicine to restore health, nor of many other things which are necessary to us
for the protection and preservation of our weak and frail bodies. To enjoy
immortality, it would have been sufficient for him to eat of the fruit which the
blessed tree of life yielded without any labor from him or his posterity.
Nevertheless, since he was placed in that habitation of
pleasure in order to be occupied, he was not, in the midst of these delights,
to lead a life of indolence. But to him no employment would have been
troublesome, no duty unpleasant. From the cultivation of those beautiful
gardens he would always have derived fruits the most delicious, and his labours
and hopes would never have been frustrated.
To Supply His Bodily Wants Man Must Labor
His posterity, on the contrary, are not only deprived of
the fruit of the tree of life, but also condemned to this dreadful sentence:
Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof
all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and
thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken; for dust
thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
Without God's Help Man's Labor Is Vain
Our condition, therefore, is entirely different from what
his and that of his posterity would have been, had Adam listened to the voice
of God. All things have been thrown into disorder, and have changed sadly for the
worse. Of the resultant evils, this is not the least, that the heaviest cost,
and labor, and toil, are frequently expended in vain; either because the crops
are unproductive, or because the fruits of the earth are smothered by noxious
weeds that spring up about them, or perish when stricken and prostrated by
heavy rains, storms, hail, blight or blast. Thus is the entire labor of the
year quickly reduced to nothing by some calamity of air or soil, inflicted in
punishment of our crimes, which provoke the wrath of God and prevent Him from
blessing our efforts. The dreadful sentence pronounced against us in the
beginning remains.
Pastors, therefore, should apply themselves earnestly to
the treatment of this subject, in order that the faithful may know that men
fall into these perplexities and miseries through their own fault; that they
may understand that while they must sweat and toil to procure the necessaries
of life, unless God bless their labours, their hope must prove fallacious, and
all their exertions unavailing. For neither he that planteth is anything, nor
he that watereth but God who giveth the increase; unless the Lord build the
house, they labour in vain that build it.
Inducements to Use this Petition
Parish priests, therefore, should point out that the
things necessary to human existence, or, at least, to its comfort, are almost
innumerable; for by this knowledge of our wants and weaknesses, Christians will
be compelled to have recourse to their heavenly Father, and humbly to ask of
Him both earthly and spiritual blessings.
They will imitate the prodigal son, who, when he began to
suffer want in a far distant country, and could find no one to give him even
husks in his hunger, at length entering into himself, perceived that from the
evils by which he was oppressed, he could expect relief from no one but from
his father.
Here the faithful will also have recourse more
confidently to prayer, if, in reflecting on the goodness of God, they recollect
that His paternal ears are ever open to the cries of His children. When He
exhorts us to ask for bread, He promises to bestow it on us abundantly, if we
ask it as we ought; for, by teaching us how to ask, He exhorts; by exhorting,
He urges; by urging, He promises; by promising, He puts us in hope of most
certainly obtaining our request.
"Bread"
When, therefore, the faithful are thus animated and
encouraged, (the pastor) should next proceed to declare the objects of this
Petition; and first, what that bread is which we ask.
It should then be known that, in the Sacred Scriptures,
by the word bread, are signified many things, but especially two: first,
whatever we use for food and for other corporal wants; secondly, whatever the
divine bounty has bestowed on us for the life and salvation of the soul.
We Ask For Temporal Blessings
In this Petition, then, according to the interpretation
and authority of the holy Fathers, we ask those helps of which we stand in need
in this life on earth.
It Is Lawful To Pray For Temporal Blessings
Those, therefore, who say that it is unlawful for
Christians to ask from God the earthly goods of this life, are by no means to
be listened to; for not only the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, but also
very many examples, both in the Old and New Testaments, are opposed to this
error.
Thus Jacob, making a vow, prayed as follows: If God shall
be with me, and shall keep me in the way, by which I walk, and shall give me
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and I shall return prosperously to my
father's house, the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up
for a title, shall be called the house of God; and of all things thou shalt
give to me, I will offer up tithes to thee. Solomon also asked a certain means
of subsistence in this life, when he prayed: Give me neither beggary nor
riches: give me only the necessaries of life.
Nay, the Saviour of mankind Himself commands us to pray
for those things which no one will dare deny appertain to the benefit of the
body. Pray, He says, that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.
St. James also says: Is any one of you sad? Let him pray. Is he cheerful in
mind? Let him, sing. And the Apostle thus addressed himself to the Romans: I
beseech you, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the
Holy Ghost, that you assist me in your prayers for me to God, that l may be
delivered front the unbelievers that are in Judea. As, then, the faithful are
divinely permitted to ask these temporal succours, and as this perfect form of
prayer was given us by Christ the Lord, there remains no doubt that such a
request constitutes one of the seven Petitions.
The Wants, Not The Luxuries Of This Life Are Meant By The
Word "Bread"
We also ask our daily bread; that is, the things
necessary for sustenance, understanding by the word bread, what is sufficient
for raiment and for food, whether that food be bread,- or flesh, or fish, or
anything else. In this sense we find Eliseus to have used the word when
admonishing the king to provide bread for the Assyrian soldiers, to whom was
then given a large quantity of various kinds of food. We also know that of
Christ the Lord it is written, that He went into the house of a certain prince
of the Pharisees on the sabbath day to eat bread, by which words we see are
signified the things that constitute food and drink.
To comprehend the full signification of this Petition, it
is, moreover, to be observed that by this word bread ought not to be understood
an abundant and exquisite profusion of food and clothing, but what is necessary
and simple, as the Apostle has written: Having food and wherewith to he
covered, with these we are content; and Solomon, as said above: Give me only
the necessaries of life.
"Our"
Of this frugality and moderation we are admonished in the
next word; for when we say our, we ask for bread sufficient to satisfy our
necessities, not to gratify luxury.
We do not say our in the sense that we are able of
ourselves, and independently of God, to procure bread; for we read in David:
All expect of thee that thou give them food in season: when thou givest to them
they shall gather up: when thou openest thy hand they shall all be filled with
good; and in another place, The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord, and thou
givest them meat in due season. (We say our bread, then), because it is
necessary for us and is given to us by God, the Father of all, who, by His
providence, feeds all living creatures.
It is-also called
our bread for this reason, that it is to be acquired by us lawfully, not by
injustice, fraud or theft. What we procure in evil ways is not our own, but the
property of another. Its acquisition or possession, or, at least, its loss, is
generally calamitous; while, on the contrary, there is in the honest and
laborious gains of good men peace and great happiness, according to these words
of the Prophet: For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou,
and it shall be well with thee. Indeed to those who seek subsistence by honest
labor, God promises the fruit of His kindness in the following passage: The
Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of
thy hands, and will bless thee.
Not only do we beg of God to grant us to use, with the
aid of His goodness, the fruit of our virtuous toil -- and that is truly called
ours -- but we also pray for a good mind, that we may be able well and
prudently to use what we have honestly acquired.
"Daily"
By the word (daily) also is suggested the idea of
frugality and moderation, to which we referred a short time ago; for we pray
not for variety or delicacy of food, but for that which may satisfy the wants
of nature. This should bring the blush of shame to those who, disdaining
ordinary food and drink, look for the rarest viands and wines.
Nor by this word daily are they less censured to whom
Isaias holds out those awful threats: Woe to you that join house to house, and
lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the
midst of the earth? Indeed the cupidity of such men is insatiable, and it is of
them that Solomon has written: A covetous man shall-not be satisfied with
money. To them also applies that saying of the Apostle: They who would become
rich fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil.
We also call it our daily bread, because we use it to
recruit the vital power that is daily consumed by the natural heat of the
system.
Finally, another reason for the use of the word daily is
the necessity of continually praying to God, in order that we may be kept in
the practice of loving and serving Him, and that we may be thoroughly convinced
of the fact that on Him depend our life and salvation.
"Give"
With regard to the two words give us, what ample matter
they supply for exhorting the faithful piously and holily to worship and revere
the infinite power of God, in whose hands are all things, and to detest that
abominable boast of Satan: To me all things are delivered, and to whom I will I
give them, must be obvious to everyone. For it is by the sovereign will of God
alone that all things are dispensed, and preserved, and increased.
But what necessity, some one may say, is there imposed on
the rich to pray for their daily bread, seeing that they abound in all things?
They are under the necessity of praying thus, not that those things be given
them which by the goodness of God they have in abundance, but that they may not
lose their possessions. Hence the Apostle writes that the rich should learn
from this not to be highminded, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God, who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy.
St. Chrysostom adduces as a reason for the necessity of
this Petition, not only that we may be supplied with food, but that we be
supplied with it by the hand of the Lord, which imparts to our daily bread so
wholesome and salutary an influence as to render the food profitable to the
body, and the body subject to the soul.
"us"
But why say give us, in the plural number, and not give
me? Because it is the duty of Christian charity that each individual be not
solicitous for himself alone, but that he be also active in the cause of his
neighbour; and that, while he attends to his own interests, he forget not the
interests of others.
Moreover, the
gifts which are bestowed by God on anyone are given, not that he alone should
possess them, or that he should live luxuriously in their enjoyment, but that
he should impart his superfluities to others. For, as St. Basil and St. Ambrose
say, It is the bread of the hungry that you withhold; it is the clothes of the
naked that you lock up; that money you bury under ground is the redemption, the
freedom of the wretched.
"This Day"
The words this day remind us of our common infirmity. For
who is there that, although he does not expect to be able by his own individual
exertions to provide for his maintenance during a considerable time does not
feel confident of having it in his power to procure necessary food for the day?
Yet even this confidence God will not permit us to entertain, but has commanded
us to ask Him for the food even of each successive day; and the necessary
reason is, that as we all stand in need of daily bread, each should also make
daily use of the Lord's Prayer.
So far we have spoken of the bread which we eat and which
nourishes and supports the body; which is common to believers and unbelievers,
to pious and impious, and is bestowed on all by the admirable bounty of God,
Who maketh his sun to rise on the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just
and the unjust.
The Spiritual Bread Asked for in this Petition
It remains to speak of the spiritual bread which we also
ask in this Petition, by which are meant all things whatever that are required
in this life for the health and safety of the spirit and soul. For as the food
by which the body is nourished and supported is of various sorts, so is the
food which preserves the life of the spirit and soul not of one kind.
The Word Of God Is Our Spiritual Bread
The Word of God is the food of the soul, as Wisdom says:
Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. And when
God deprives men of the means of hearing His Word, which He is wont to do when
grievously provoked by our crimes, He is said to visit the human race with
famine; for we thus read in Amos: I will send forth a famine into the land, not
a famine of bread, or a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.
And as an incapability of taking food, or of retaining it
when taken, is a sure sign of approaching death, so is it a strong argument for
their hopelessness of salvation, when men either seek not the Word of God, or,
having it, endure it not, but utter against God the impious cry, Depart from
us, We desire not the knowledge of thy ways. This is the spiritual folly and
mental blindness of those who, disregarding their lawful pastors, the Catholic
Bishops and priests, and, abandoning the Holy Roman Church, have transferred
themselves to the direction of heretics that corrupt the Word of God.
Christ Is Our Spiritual Bread, Especially In The Holy
Eucharist
Now Christ the Lord is that bread which is the food of
the soul. I am, He says of Himself, the living bread which came down from
heaven. It is incredible with what pleasure and delight this bread fills devout
souls, even when they must contend with earthly troubles and disasters. Of this
we have an example in the Apostles, of whom it is written: They, indeed, went
into the presence of the council rejoicing. The lives of the Saints are full of
similar examples; and of these inward joys of the good, God thus speaks: To him
that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna.
But Christ the Lord is especially our bread in the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which He is substantially contained. This
ineffable pledge of His love He gave us when about to return to the Father, and
of it He said: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me,
and I in him, Take ye and eat: this is my body. For matter useful to the
faithful on this subject the pastor should consult what we have already said on
the nature and efficacy of this Sacrament.
The Eucharist is
called our bread, because it is the food of the faithful only, that is to say,
of those who, uniting charity to faith, wash away the defilement of their sins
in the Sacrament of Penance, and mindful that they are the children of God,
receive and adore this divine Sacrament with all possible holiness and
veneration.
Why The Holy Eucharist Is Called Our "Daily"
Bread
The Eucharist is called daily (bread) for two reasons.
The first is that it is daily offered to God in the sacred mysteries of the
Christian Church and is given to those who seek it piously and holily. The
second is that it should be received daily, or, at least, that we should so
live as to be worthy, as far as possible, to receive it daily. Let those who
hold the contrary, and who say that we should not partake of this salutary
banquet of the soul but at distant intervals, hear what St. Ambrose says: If it
is daily bread, why do you receive it yearly?
Exhortations
In the explanation of this Petition the faithful are
emphatically to be exhorted that when they have honestly used their best
judgment and industry to procure the necessary means of subsistence, they leave
the issue to God and submit their own wish to the will of Him who shall not
suffer the just to waver for ever. For God will either grant what is asked, and
thus they will obtain their wishes; or He will not grant it, and that will be a
most certain proof that what is denied the good by Him is not conducive either
to their interest or their salvation, since He is more desirous of their
eternal welfare than they themselves. This topic the pastor will be able to
amplify, by explaining the reasons admirably collected by St. Augustine in his
letter to Proba.
In concluding his explanation of this Petition the pastor
should exhort the rich to remember that they are to look upon their wealth and
riches as gifts of God, and to reflect that those goods are bestowed on them in
order that they may share them with the indigent. With this truth the words of
the Apostle, in his First Epistle to Timothy,' will be found to accord, and
will supply parish priests with an abundance of matter wherewith to elucidate
this subject in a useful and profitable manner.
THE FIFTH PETITION
OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR
DEBTORS"
The Importance Of Explaining This Petition
So many are the things which display at once God's
infinite power and His equally infinite wisdom and goodness, that wheresoever
we turn our eyes or direct our thoughts, we meet with the most certain signs of
omnipotence and benignity. And yet there is truly nothing that more eloquently
proclaims His supreme love and admirable charity towards us, than the
inexplicable mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ, whence springs that
never-failing fountain to wash away the defilements of sin. (It is this
fountain) in which, under the guidance and bounty of God, we desire to be
merged and purified, when we beg of Him to forgive us our debts.
This Petition contains a sort of summary of those
benefits with which the human race has been enriched through Jesus Christ. This
Isaias taught when he said: The iniquity of the house of Jacob shall be
forgiven; and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away.
David also shows this, proclaiming those blessed who could partake of that
salutary fruit: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.
The pastor, therefore, should study and explain
accurately and diligently the meaning of this Petition, which, we perceive, is
so important to the attainment of salvation.
Difference Between This And The Preceding Petitions
In this Petition we enter on a new manner of praying. For
hitherto we asked of God not only eternal and spiritual goods, but also
transient and temporal advantages; whereas, we now ask to be freed from the
evils of the soul and of the body, of this life and of the life to come.
Dispositions with which this petition should be Offered
Since, however, to obtain what we ask we must pray in a
becoming manner, it appears expedient to explain the disposition with which
this prayer should be offered to God.
Acknowledgment Of Sin
The pastor, then, should admonish the faithful, that he
who comes to offer this Petition must first acknowledge, and next feel sorrow
and compunction for his sins. He must also be firmly convinced that to sinners,
thus disposed and prepared, God is willing to grant pardon. This confidence is
necessary to sinners, lest perhaps the bitter remembrance and acknowledgment of
their sins should be followed by that despair of pardon, which of old seized
the mind of Cain and of Judas, both of whom looked on God solely as an avenger
and punisher, forgetting that He is also mild and merciful.
In this Petition, therefore, we ought to be so disposed,
that, acknowledging our sins in the bitterness of our souls, we may fly to God
as to a Father, not as to a Judge, imploring Him to deal with us not according
to His justice, but according to His mercy.
We shall be easily induced to acknowledge our sins if we
listen to God Himself admonishing us through the Sacred Scriptures in this
regard. Thus we read in David: They are all gone aside; they are become
unprofitable together; there is none that doeth good, no not one. Solomon
speaks to the same purpose: There is no just man upon earth, that doth good,
and sinneth not. To this subject apply also these words: Who can say: "my
heart is clean, I am pure from sin?" The very same has been written by St.
John to deter men from arrogance: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Jeremias also says: Thou hast said:
"I am without sin, and am innocent"; and therefore, let thy anger be
turned away from me. Behold, I will contend with thee in judgment, because thou
hast said: "I have not sinned."
Christ the Lord, who spoke by the mouth of all these,
confirms their teaching by this Petition in which He commands us to confess our
sins. The Council of Milevi forbids us to interpret it otherwise. It hath
pleased the Council, that whosoever will have it that these words of the Lord's
prayer, "forgive us our debts," are said by holy men in humility, not
in truth, let him be anathema. For who can endure a person praying, and lying
not to men, but to the Lord Himself, saying with the lips that he desires to be
forgiven, but with the heart, that he has no debts to be forgiven ?
Sorrow For Sin
In making this necessary acknowledgment of our sins, it
is Dot enough to call them to mind lightly; for it is necessary that the
recollection of them be bitter, that it touch the heart, pierce the soul, and
imprint sorrow. Wherefore, the pastor should treat this point diligently, that
his pious hearers may not only recollect their sins, and iniquities, but
recollect them with pain and sorrow; so that with true interior contrition they
may betake themselves to God their Father, humbly imploring Him to pluck from
the soul the piercing stings of sin.
Motives For Sorrow Over Sin: The Baseness Of Sin
The pastor, however, should not be content with placing
before the eyes of the faithful the turpitude of sin. He should also depict the
unworthiness and baseness of men, who, though nothing but rottenness and
corruption, dare to outrage in a manner beyond all belief the incomprehensible
majesty and ineffable excellence of God, particularly after having been
created, redeemed and enriched by Him with countless and invaluable benefits.
The Consequences Of Sin
And for what? Only for this, that separating ourselves
from God our Father, who is the supreme Good, and lured by the most base
rewards of sin, we may devote ourselves to the devil, to become his most
wretched slaves. Language is inadequate to depict the cruel tyranny which the
devil exercises over those who, having shaken off the sweet yoke of God, and
broken the most lovely bond of charity by which our spirit is bound to God our
Father, have gone over to their relentless enemy, who is therefore called in
Scripture, the prince and ruler of the world, the prince of darkness, and king
over all the children of pride. Truly to those who are oppressed by the tyranny
of the devil apply these words of Isaias: O Lord our God, other lords besides
thee have had dominion over us.
If these broken covenants of love do not move us, let at
least the calamities into which we fall by sin move us. The sanctity of the
soul is violated, which we know to have been wedded to Christ. That temple of
the Lord is profaned, against the contaminators of which the Apostle utters
this denunciation: If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
Innumerable are the evils brought upon man by sin, that
almost infinite pest of which David says: There is no health in my flesh,
because of thy wrath; there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins. In
these words he marks the violence of the plague, confessing that it left no
part of him uninfected by pestiferous sin; for the poison had penetrated into
his bones, that is, it infected his understanding and will, which are the two
most intimate faculties of the soul. This widespread pestilence the Sacred
Scriptures point out, when they designate sinners as the lame, the deaf, the
dumb, the blind, the paralysed.
But,- besides the anguish which he felt on account of the
enormity of his sins, David was afflicted yet more by the knowledge that he had
provoked the wrath of God against him by his sin. For the wicked are at war
with God, who is offended beyond belief at their crimes; hence the Apostle
says: Wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man
that worketh evil. Although the sinful act is transient, yet the sin by its
guilt and stain remains; and the imminent wrath of God pursues it, as the shadow
does the body.
When, therefore, David was pierced by these tormenting
thoughts, he was moved to seek the pardon of his sins. That the faithful,
imitating the Prophet, may learn to grieve, that is, to become truly penitent,
and cherish the hope of pardon, the pastor should call to their attention the
example of David's penitential sorrow, and the lessons of instruction drawn
from his fiftieth Psalm.
How great is the utility of this sort of instruction,
which teaches us to grieve for our sins, God Himself declares by the mouth of
Jeremias, who, when exhorting the Israelites to repentance, admonished them to
awake to a sense of the evils that follow upon sin. See, he says, that it is an
evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my
fear is not with thee, saith the Lord, the God of hosts. They who lack this
necessary sense of acknowledgment and grief, are said by the Prophets Isaias,
Ezechiel and Zachary to have a hard heart, a stony heart, a heart of adamant,
for, like stone, they are softened by no sorrow, having no sense of life, that
is, of the salutary recognition (of their sinfulness).
Confidence In God's Mercy
But lest the faithful, terrified by the grievousness of
their sins, despair of being able to obtain pardon, the pastor ought to
encourage them to hope by the following considerations.
As is declared in an Article of the Creed, Christ the
Lord has given power to the Church to remit sins.
Furthermore, in this Petition, our Lord has taught how
great is the goodness and bounty of God towards mankind; for if God were not
ready and prepared to pardon penitents their sins, never would He have
prescribed this formula of prayer: Forgive us our trespass. Wherefore we ought
to be firmly convinced, that since He commands us in this Petition to implore
His paternal mercy, He will not fail to bestow it on us. For this Petition
assuredly implies that God is so disposed towards us, as willingly to pardon
those who are truly penitent.
God it is against whom, having cast off obedience, we
sin; the order of whose wisdom we disturb, as far as in us lies; whom we
offend; whom we outrage by words and deeds. But it is also God, our most
beneficent Father, who, having it in His power to pardon all transgressions,
has not only declared His willingness to do so, but has also obliged men to ask
Him for pardon, and has taught in what words they are to do so. To no one,
therefore, can it be a matter of doubt, that under His guidance it is in our
power to be reconciled to God. And as this declaration of the divine
willingness to pardon increases faith, nurtures hope and inflames charity, it
will be worth while to amplify this subject, by citing some Scriptural
authorities and some examples of penitents to whom God granted pardon of the
most grievous crimes. Since, however, in the introduction to the Lord's Prayer
and in that portion of the Creed which teaches the forgiveness of sins, we were
as diffuse on the subject as circumstances allowed, the pastor will borrow from
those places whatever may seem pertinent for instruction on this point, for the
rest drawing on the fountains of the Sacred Scriptures.
"Debts"
The pastor should also follow the same plan which we
thought should be used in the other Petitions. Let him explain, then, what the
word debts here signifies, lest perhaps the faithful, deceived by its
ambiguity, pray for something different from what should be prayed for.
First, then, we are to know, that we by no means ask for
exemption from the debt we owe to God on so many accounts, the payment of which
is essential to salvation, namely, that of loving Him with our whole heart, our
whole soul, and our whole mind; neither do we ask to be in future exempt from
the duties of obedience, worship, veneration, or any other similar obligation,
comprised also under the word debts.
What we do ask is that He may deliver us from sins. This
is the interpretation of St. Luke, who, instead of debts, makes use of the word
sins, because by their commission we become guilty before God and incur a debt
of punishment, which we must pay either by satisfaction or by suffering. It was
of this debt that Christ the Lord spoke by the mouth of His Prophet: Then did I
pay that which I took not away. From these words of God we may understand that
we are not only debtors, but also unequal to the payment of our debt, the
sinner being of himself utterly incapable of making satisfaction.
Wherefore we must fly to the mercy of God; and as
justice, of which God is most tenacious, is an equal and corresponding
attribute to mercy, we must make use of prayer, and the intercession of the
Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, without which no one ever obtained the pardon
of his sins, and from which, as from its source, have flown all the efficacy
and virtue of satisfaction. For of such value is that price paid by Christ the
Lord on the cross, and communicated to us through the Sacraments, received
either actually or in purpose and desire, that it obtains and accomplishes for
us the pardon of our sins, which is the object of our prayer in this Petition.
Here we ask pardon not only for our venial offences, for
which pardon may most easily be obtained, but also for grievous and mortal
sins. With regard to grave sins, however, this Petition cannot procure forgiveness
unless it derive that efficacy from the Sacrament of Penance, received, as we
have already said, either actually or at least in desire.'
"Our"
The words our debts are used here in a sense entirely
different from that in which we said our bread. That bread is ours, because it
is given us by the munificence of God; whereas sins are ours, because with us
rests their guilt. They are our voluntary acts, otherwise they would not have
the character of sin.
Admitting, therefore, and confessing the guilt of our
sins, we implore the clemency of God, which is necessary for their expiation.
In this we make use of no palliation whatever, nor do we transfer the blame to
others, as did our first parents Adam and Eve. We judge ourselves, employing,
if we are wise, the prayer of the Prophet: Incline not my heart to evil words,
to make excuses in sins.
"Forgive Us"
Nor do we say, forgive me, but forgive us; because the
fraternal relationship and charity which subsist between all men, demand of
each of us that, being solicitous for the salvation of all our neighbours, we
pray also for them while offering prayers for ourselves.
This manner of praying, taught by Christ the Lord, and
subsequently received and always retained by the Church of God, the Apostles
most strictly observed themselves and taught others to observe.
Of this ardent zeal and earnestness in praying for the
salvation of our neighbours, we have the splendid example of Moses in the Old,
and of St. Paul in the New Testament. The former besought God thus: Either
forgive them this trespass; or, if thou dost not, strike me out of the book
that thou hast written; ' while the latter prayed after this manner: I wished
myself to be anathema from Christ for my brethren.
"As we Forgive our Debtors"
The word as may be understood in two senses. It may be
taken as having the force of a comparison, meaning that we beg of God to pardon
us our sins, just as we pardon the wrongs and contumelies which we receive from
those by whom we have been injured. It may also be understood as denoting a
condition, and in this sense Christ the Lord interprets that formula. If, He
says, you forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you your offences; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father
forgive you your sins.
Either sense,
however, equally contains the necessity of forgiveness, intimating, as it does
that, if we desire that God should grant us the pardon of our offences, we
ourselves must pardon those from whom we have received injury; for so
rigorously does God exact from us forgetfulness of injuries and mutual
affection and love, that He rejects and despises the gifts and sacrifices of
those who are not reconciled to one another.
Necessity Of Forgiveness
Even the law of nature requires that we conduct ourselves
towards others as we would have them conduct themselves towards us; hence he
would be most impudent who would ask of God the pardon of his own offences
while he continued to cherish enmity against his neighbour.
Those, therefore, on whom injuries have been inflicted,
should be ready and willing to pardon, urged to it as they are by this form of
prayer, and by the command of God in St. Luke: If thy brother sin against thee,
reprove him; and if he repent, forgive him; and if he sin against thee seven
times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, "I
repent," forgive him. In the Gospel of St. Matthew we read: Love your
enemies; and the Apostle, and before him Solomon wrote: If thy enemy be hungry,
give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink; and finally we read in the
Gospel of St. Mark: When you shall stand to pray, forgive if you have anything
against any man; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your
sins.
Reasons For Forgiveness
But since, on account of the corruption of nature, there
is nothing to which man brings himself more reluctantly than to the pardon of
injuries, let pastors exert all the powers and resources of their minds to
change and bend the dispositions of the faithful to this mildness and mercy so
necessary to a Christian. Let them dwell on those passages of Scripture in
which we hear God commanding to pardon enemies.
Let them also insist on this certain truth, that one of
the surest signs that men are children of God is their willingness-to forgive
injuries and sincerely love their enemies; for in loving our enemies there
shines forth in us some likeness to God our Father, who, by the death of His
Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition and reconciled to Himself the human
race, which before was most unfriendly and hostile to Him.
Let the close of this exhortation and injunction be the
command of Christ the Lord, which, without utter disgrace and ruin, we cannot
refuse to obey: Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you; that you may
be the children of your Father who is in heaven.
This Petition Should Not be Neglected
But in this matter no ordinary prudence is required on
the part of the pastor, lest, knowing the difficulty and necessity of this
precept, anyone despair of salvation.
Those Unable To Forget Injuries
There are those who, aware that they ought to bury
injuries in voluntary oblivion and ought to love those that injure them, desire
to do so, and do so as far as they are able, but feel that they cannot efface
from their mind all recollection of injuries. For there lurk in the mind some
remains of private grudge, in consequence of which such persons are disturbed
by misgivings of conscience, fearing that they have not in simplicity and
frankness laid aside their enmities and consequently do not obey the command of
God.
Here, therefore, the pastor should explain the contrary
desires of the flesh and of the spirit; that the former is prone to revenge,
the latter ready to pardon; that hence a continual struggle and conflict goes
on between them. Wherefore he should point out that although the appetites of
corrupt nature are ever opposing and rebelling against reason, we are not on
this account to be uneasy regarding salvation, provided the spirit persevere in
the duty and disposition of forgiving injuries and of loving our neighbour.
Those Who Do Not Love Their Enemies
There may be some who, because they have not yet been
able to bring themselves to forget injuries and to love their enemies, are
consequently deterred by the condition contained in this Petition from making
use of the Lord's Prayer. To remove from their minds this pernicious error, the
pastor should adduce the two following considerations.
(In the first place), whoever belongs to the number of
the faithful, offers this prayer in the name of the entire Church, in which
there must necessarily be some pious persons who have forgiven their debtors
the debts here mentioned.
Secondly, when we ask this favour from God, we also ask
for whatever cooperation with the Petition is necessary on our part in order to
obtain the object of our prayer. Thus we ask the pardon of our sins and the
gift of true repentance; we pray for the grace of inward sorrow; we beg that we
may be able to abhor our sins, and confess them truly and piously to the
priest. Since, then, it is necessary for us to forgive those who have inflicted
on us any loss or injury, when we ask pardon of God we beg of Him at the same
time to grant us grace to be reconciled to those against whom we harbour
hatred.
Those, therefore, who are troubled by that groundless and
perverse fear, that by this prayer they provoke still more the wrath of God,
should be undeceived and should be exhorted to make frequent use of a prayer in
which they beseech God our Father to grant them the disposition to forgive
those who have injured them and to love their enemies.
How to Make this Petition Fruitful
Penitential Dispositions
But that this Petition may be really fruitful we should
first seriously reflect that we are suppliants before God, soliciting from Him
pardon, which is not granted but to the penitent; and that we should,
therefore, be animated by that charity and piety which are fitting in penitents,
whom it eminently becomes to keep before their eyes, as it were, their own
crimes and enormities and to expiate them with tears.
Avoidance Of Dangers Of Sin
To this thought should be joined caution in guarding for
the future against every occasion of sin, and against whatever I nay expose us
to the danger of offending God our Father. With this solicitude the mind of
David was occupied when he said: My sin is always before me; and: Every night I
will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears.
Imitation Of Fervent Penitents
Let each one also call to mind the ardent love of prayer
of those who obtained from God through their entreaties the pardon of their
sins. Such was the publican, who, standing afar off through shame and grief,
and with eyes fixed on the ground, only smote his breast, crying: O God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. Such was also the woman, a sinner, who, standing
behind Christ the Lord, washed His feet, wiped them with her hair, and kissed
them. Lastly, there is the example of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, who
going forth wept bitterly.
Frequent Use Of The Sacraments
They should next consider that the weaker men are, and
the more liable to diseases of the soul, which are sins, the more numerous and
frequent are the remedies they need. Now the remedies of a sick soul are
Penance and the Eucharist; these, therefore, the faithful should frequently
make use of.
Almsdeeds
Next almsdeeds, as the Sacred Scriptures declare, are a
medicine suited to heal the wounds of the soul. Wherefore, let those who desire
to make pious use of this prayer act kindly to the poor according to their
means. Of the great efficacy of alms in effacing the stains of sin, the Angel
of the Lord in Tobias, holy Raphael, is a witness, who says: Alms deliver from
death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy
and life everlasting. Daniel is another witness, who thus admonished King
Nabuchodonosor: Redeem thou thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works
of mercy to the poor.
The Spirit Of Forgiveness
The best alms and the most excellent act of mercy is
forgetfulness of injuries, and good will towards those who have injured us or
ours, in person, in property, or in character. Whoever, therefore, desires to
experience in a special manner the mercy of God, should make an offering to God
Himself of all his enmities, remit every offence, and pray for his enemies with
the greatest good will, seizing every opportunity of doing them good. But as
this subject was explained when we treated of murder, we refer the pastor to
that place.
The pastor ought to conclude his explanation of this
Petition with this final reflection, that nothing is, or can be conceived, more
unjust than that he who is so rigorous towards men as to extend indulgence to
no one, should himself demand that God be mild and kind towards him.
THE SIXTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "AND LEAD
US NOT INTO TEMPTATION."
Importance Of Instruction On This Petition
When the children of God, having obtained the pardon of
their sins, are inflamed with the desire of giving to God worship and
veneration; when they long for the kingdom of heaven; when they engage in the
performance of all the duties of piety towards the Deity, relying entirely on
His paternal will and providence, -- then it is that the enemy of mankind
employs the more actively all his artifices, and prepares all his resources to
attack them so violently as to justify the fear that, wavering and altered in
their sentiments, they may relapse into sin, and thus become far worse than
they had been before. To such as these may justly be applied the saying of the
Prince of the Apostles: It had been better for them not to have known the way
of justice, than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy
commandment which was delivered to them.
Hence Christ the Lord has commanded us to offer this
Petition so that we may commend ourselves daily to God, and implore His
paternal care and assistance, being assured that, if we be deserted by the
divine protection, we shall soon fall into the snares of our most crafty enemy.
Nor is it in the Lord's Prayer alone that He has
commanded us to beg of God not to suffer us to be led into temptation. In His
address to the holy Apostles also, on the very eve of His death, after He had
declared them clean, He admonished them of this duty in these words: Pray that
ye enter not into temptation.
This admonition, reiterated by Christ the Lord, imposes
on the pastor the weighty obligation of exciting the faithful to a frequent use
of this prayer, so that, beset as men constantly are by the great dangers which
the devil prepares, they may ever ad dress to God, who alone can repel those
dangers, the prayer, Lead us not into temptation.'
Necessity of the Sixth Petition
Human Frailty
The faithful will understand how very much they stand in
need of this divine assistance, if they remember their own weakness and
ignorance, if they recollect this saying of Christ the Lord: The spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak; if they call to mind how grievous and
destructive are the misfortunes of men brought on through the instigation of
the devil, unless they be upheld and assisted by the right hand of the Most
High.
What more striking example can there be of human
infirmity, than the holy band of the Apostles, who, though they had just before
felt very courageous, at the first sight of danger, abandoned the Saviour and
fled. A still more conspicuous example is the conduct of the Prince of the Apostles.
He who a short time before loudly protested his courage and special loyalty to
Christ the Lord, he who had been so confident in himself as to say, Though I
should die with thee, I will not deny thee, became so affrighted at the voice
of a poor maid-servant that he declared at once with an oath that he knew not
the Lord. Doubtless his courage was not equal to his good-will. But if, by the
frailty of human nature in which they confided, even the Saints have sinned
grievously, what have not others to fear, who are so far below them in
holiness?
The Assaults Of The Flesh
Wherefore, let the pastor remind the faithful of the
conflicts and dangers in which we are continually engaged, as long as the soul
is in this mortal body, assailed as we are on all sides by the world, the flesh
and the devil.
How few are there who are not compelled to experience at
their great cost what anger, what concupiscence can do in us? Who is not
annoyed by these stings? who does not feel these goads? who does not burn with
these smouldering fires? And, indeed, so various are these assaults, so
diversified these attacks, that it is extremely difficult not to receive some
grievous wound.
The Temptations Of The Devil
And besides these enemies that dwell and live with us, there
are, moreover, those most bitter foes, of whom it is written: Our wrestling is
not against, flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against
the rulers of the world' of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in
the high places. For to our inward conflicts are added the external assaults
and attacks of the demons, who both assail us openly, and also insinuate
themselves by stratagem into our souls, so much so that it is only with great
difficulty that we can escape them.
The Apostle entitles the demons princes, on account of
the excellence of their nature, since by nature they are superior to man, and
to all other visible creatures. He also calls them powers, because they excel
not only by their nature, but also by their power. He designates them rulers of
the world of darkness, because they rule not the world of light and glory, that
is to say, the good and the pious, but the world of gloom and darkness, namely,
those who, blinded by the defilement and darkness of a wicked life, are
satisfied to have for their leader the devil, the prince of darkness. He also
terms the demons the spirits of wickedness, because there is a wickedness of
the spirit, as well as of the flesh. What is called the wickedness of the flesh
inflames the appetite to lusts and pleasures, which are perceived by the
senses; while the wickedness of the spirit are evil purposes and depraved
desires, which belong to the superior part of the soul, and which are so much
worse than the wickedness of the flesh as mind itself and reason are higher and
more excellent (than the senses). The wickedness of Satan the Apostle spoke of
as in the high places, because the chief aim of the evil one is to deprive us
of our heavenly inheritance.
Audacity Of The Demons
From all this we may understand that the power of these
enemies is great, their courage undaunted, their hatred of us enormous and
unmeasured; that they also wage against us a perpetual war, so that with them
there can be no peace, no truce.
How great is their audacity is evidenced by the words of
Satan, recorded by the Prophet: I will ascend into heaven. He attacked our
first parents in Paradise; he assailed the Prophets; he beset the Apostles in
order, as the Lord says in the Gospel, that he might sift them as wheat.' Nor
was he abashed even by the presence of Christ the Lord Himself. His insatiable
desire and unwearied diligence St. Peter therefore expressed when he said: Your
adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may
devour.
Number Of The Demons
But it is not Satan alone that tempts men, for sometimes
a host of demons combine to attack an individual. This that evil spirit
confessed, who, having been asked his name by Christ the Lord, replied, My name
is legion; that is to say, a multitude of demons, tormented their unhappy
victim. And of another demon it is written: He taketh with him seven other
spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there.
Malignity And Power Of The Demons
There are many who, because they do not feel the assaults
of demons against them, imagine that the whole matter is fictitious; nor is it
surprising that such persons are not attacked by demons, to whom they have
voluntarily surrendered themselves. They possess neither piety nor charity, nor
any virtue worthy of a Christian; hence they are entirely in the power of the
devil, and there is no need of any temptation to overcome them, since their
souls have already become his willing abode.
But those who have dedicated themselves to God, leading a
heavenly life upon earth, are the chief objects of the assaults of Satan.
Against them he harbours bitterest hatred, laying snares for them each moment.
Sacred Scripture is full of examples of holy men who, in spite of their
firmness and resolution, were perverted by his violence or fraud. Adam, David,
Solomon and others, whom it would be tedious to enumerate, experienced the
violent and crafty cunning of demons, which neither human prudence nor human
strength can overcome.
Prayer Protects Man's Weakness Against The Enemies Of His
Soul
Who, then, can deem himself sufficiently secure in his
own resources? Hence the necessity of offering to God pure and pious prayer,
that He suffer us not to be tempted above our strength, but make issue with
temptation, that we may be able to bear it.
But should any of the faithful, through weakness or
ignorance, feel terrified at the power of the demons, they are to be
encouraged, when tossed by the waves of temptation, to take refuge in this harbour
of prayer. For however great the power and pertinacity of Satan, he cannot, in
his deadly hatred of our race, tempt or torment us as much, or as long as he
pleases; but all his power is governed by the control and permission of God.
The example of Job is very well known. Satan could have touched nothing
belonging to him, if God had not said to the devil: Behold, all that he hath is
in thy hand; while on the other hand, had not the Lord added: Only put not
forth thy hand upon his person, Job with his children and possessions, would
have been at once destroyed by the devil. So restricted is the power of demons,
that without the permission of God, they could not even enter into the swine
mentioned by the Evangelists.
"Temptation"
To understand the meaning of this Petition, it is
necessary to say what temptation signifies here, and also what it is to be led
into temptation.
To tempt is to sound a person in order that by eliciting
from him what we desire, we may extract the truth. This mode of tempting does
not apply to God; for what is there that God does not know? All things are
naked and open to his eyes.
Another kind of tempting implies more than this? inasmuch
as it may have either a good or a bad purpose. Temptation has a good purpose,
when someone's worth is tried, in order that when it has been tested and proved
he may be rewarded and honoured, his example proposed to others for imitation,
and all may be incited thereby to the praises of God. This is the only kind of
tempting that can be found in God. Of it there is an example in Deuteronomy:
The Lord your God tries you, that it may appear whether you love him or not.
In this manner God is also said to tempt His own, when He
visits them with want, disease and other sorts of calamities. This He does to
try their patience, and to make them an example of Christian virtue. Thus we
read that Abraham was tempted to immolate his son, by which fact he became a
singular example of obedience and patience to all succeeding times. Thus also
is it written of Tobias: Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary
that temptation should prove thee.
Men are tempted for a bad purpose, when they are impelled
to sin or destruction. To do this is the work of the devil, for he tempts men
with a view to deceive and precipitate them into ruin, and he is therefore
called in Scripture, the tempter At one time, stimulating us from within, he
employs the agency of the affections and passions of the soul. At another time,
assailing us from without, he makes use of external things, as of prosperity,
to puff us up with pride, or of adversity, to break our spirits. Sometimes he
has for his emissaries and assistants abandoned men, particularly heretics,
who, sitting in the chair of pestilence, scatter the deadly seeds of bad
doctrines, thus unsettling and precipitating headlong those persons who draw no
line of distinction between vice and virtue and are of themselves prone to
evil.
"Lead us not into Temptation"
We are said to be led into temptation when we yield to
temptations. Now this happens in two ways. First, we are led into temptation
when, yielding to suggestion, we rush into that evil to which some one tempts
us. No one is thus led into temptation by God; for to no one is God the author
of sin, nay, He hates all who work iniquity; and accordingly we also read in
St. James: Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted of God; for
God is not a tempter of evils.
Secondly, we are said to be led into temptation by him
who, although he himself does not tempt us nor cooperate in tempting us, yet is
said to tempt because he does not prevent us from being tempted or from being
overcome by temptations when he is able to prevent these things. In this manner
God, indeed, suffers the good and the pious to be tempted, but does not leave
them unsupported by His grace. Sometimes, however, we fall, being left to
ourselves by the just and secret judgment of God, in punishment of our sins.
God is also said to lead us into temptation when we
abuse, to our destruction, His blessings, which He has given us as a means of
salvation; when, like the prodigal son, we squander our Father's substance,
living riotously and yielding to our evil desires. In such a case we can say
what the Apostle has said of the law: The commandment that was ordained to
life, the same was found to be unto death to me.
Of this an opportune example is Jerusalem, as we learn
from Ezechiel. God had so enriched that city with every sort of embellishment,
that He said of it by the mouth of the Prophet: Thou wast perfect through my
beauty, which I had put upon thee. Yet Jerusalem, favoured with such an
abundance of divine gifts, was so far from showing gratitude to God, from whom
she had received and was still receiving so many favours, was so far from
making use of those heavenly gifts for the attainment of her own happiness, the
end for which she had received them, that having cast away the hope and idea of
deriving spiritual profit from them, she, most ungrateful to God her Father,
was content to enjoy her present abundance with a luxury and riotousness which
Ezechiel describes at considerable length in the same chapter. Wherefore those
whom God permits to convert into instruments of vice the abundant opportunities
of virtuous deeds which He has afforded them, are equally ungrateful to Him.
But we ought carefully to notice a certain usage of
Sacred Scripture, which sometimes denotes the permission of God in words which,
if taken literally, would imply a positive act on the part of God. Thus in
Exodus we read: I will harden the heart of Pharoah; and in Isaias: Blind the
heart of this people; and the Apostle to the Romans writes: God delivered them
up to shameful affections, and to a reprobate sense. In these and other similar
passages we are to understand, not at all any positive act on the part of God,
but His permission only.
Objects of the Sixth Petition
What We Do Not Pray For
These observations having been premised, it will not be
difficult to understand the object for which we pray in this Petition.
We do not ask to be totally exempt from temptation, for
human life is one continued temptation. This, however, is useful and
advantageous to man. Temptation teaches us to know ourselves, that is, our own
weakness, and to humble ourselves under the powerful hand of God; and by
fighting manfully, we expect to receive a never-fading crown of glory. For he
that striveth for the mastery is not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Blessed is the man, says St. James, that endureth temptation; for when he hath
been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to
them that love him. If we are sometimes hard pressed by the temptation of the
enemy, it will also cheer us to reflect, that we have a high priest to help us,
who can have compassion on our infirmities, having been tempted himself in all
things.
What We Pray For In This Petition
What, then, do we pray for in this Petition ? We pray
that the divine assistance may not forsake us, lest having been deceived, or worsted,
we should yield to temptation; and that the grace of God may be at hand to
succour us when our strength fails, to refresh and invigorate us in our trials.
We should, therefore, implore the divine assistance, in
general, against all temptations, and especially when assailed by any
particular temptation. This we find to have been the conduct of David, under
almost every species of temptation. Against lying, he prays in these words:
Take not thou the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; against covetousness:
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness; and against the
vanities of this life and the allurements of concupiscence, he prays thus: Turn
away my eyes, that they may not behold vanity.
We pray, therefore, that we yield not to evil desires,
and be not wearied in enduring temptation; that we deviate not from the way of
the Lord; that in adversity, as in prosperity, we preserve equanimity and
fortitude; and that God may never deprive us of His protection. Finally, we
pray that God may crush Satan beneath our feet.
Dispositions which should Accompany this Petition
The pastor ought next to admonish the faithful concerning
the chief thoughts and reflections that should accompany this prayer
Distrust Of Self And Confidence In God
It will, then, be found most efficacious, when offering
this Petition that, remembering our weakness, we distrust our own strength; and
that, placing all our hopes of safety in the divine goodness and relying on the
divine protection, we encounter the greatest dangers with undaunted courage,
calling to mind particularly the many persons, animated with such hope and
resolution, who were delivered by God from the very jaws of Satan.
When Joseph was assailed by the criminal solicitations of
a wicked woman, did not God rescue him from the imminent danger, and exalt him
to the highest degree of glory? Did He not preserve Susanna, when beset by the
ministers of Satan, and on the point of being made the victim of an iniquitous
sentence? Nor is this surprising; for her heart, says the Scripture, trusted in
the Lord. How exalted the praise, how great the glory of Job, who triumphed
over the world, the flesh and the devil ! There are on record many similar
examples to which the pastor should refer, in order to exhort with earnestness
his pious hearers to this hope and confidence.
Remembrance Of The Victory Of Christ And His Saints
The faithful should also reflect who is their leader
against the temptations of the enemy; namely, Christ the Lord, who was
victorious in the same combat. He overcame the devil; He is that stronger man
who, coming upon the strong armed man, overcame him, deprived him of his arms,
and stripped him of his spoils. Of Christ's victory over the world, we read in
St. John: Have confidence: I have overcome the world; and in the Apocalypse, He
is called the conquering lion; and it is. said of Him that He went forth
conquering that He might conquer, because by His victory He has given power to
others to conquer.'
The Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews abounds with the
victories of holy men, who by faith conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of
lions, etc. While we read of such achievements, we should also take into
account the victories which are every day won by men eminent for faith, hope
and charity, in their interior and exterior conflicts with the demons, --
victories so numerous and so signal, that, were we spectators of them, we
should deem no event of more frequent occurrence, none of more glorious issue.
It was with reference to such defeats of the enemies that St. John wrote: I
write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth
in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.'
Watchfulness
Satan, however, is overcome not by indolence, sleep,
wine, revelling, or lust; but by prayer, labor, watching, fasting, continence
and chastity. Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, as we have
already said, is the admonition of our Lord. They who make use of these weapons
in the conflict put the enemy to flight; for the devil flees from those who
resist him.
The Author of victory over Temptation
But from the consideration of these victories achieved by
holy men which we have mentioned, let no one indulge feelings of
self-complacency, nor flatter himself that, by his own single unassisted
exertions, he is able to withstand the temptations and hostile assaults of the
demons. This is not within the power of human nature, nor within the capacity
of human frailty.
The strength by which we lay prostrate the satellites of
Satan comes from God, who maketh our arms as a bow of brass; by whose aid the
bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength; who giveth
us the protection of salvation, whose right hand upholdeth us: who teacheth our
hands to war, and our fingers to battle. Hence to God alone must thanks be
given for victory, since it is only through His guidance and help that we are
able to conquer. This the Apostle did; for he said: Thanks to God, who hath
given us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The voice from heaven,
mentioned in the Apocalypse, also proclaims God to be the author of our
victories: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of his Christ; because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth; and
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." The same book declares that
the victory obtained over the world and the flesh belongs to Christ the Lord,
when it says: They shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them.
But enough has now been said on the cause and the manner of conquering
(temptation).
The Rewards of Victories over temptation
When these things have been explained, the pastor should
instruct the faithful concerning the crowns prepared by God, and the eternal
and superabundant rewards reserved for those who conquer. He should quote from
the Apocalypse the following divine promises: He that shall overcome shall not
be hurt by the second death; and in another place: He that shall overcome,
shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out
of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before
his angels. A little after, our divine Lord Himself thus addresses John: He
that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God: and he
shall go out no more: and again: To him that shall overcome, I win give to sit
with me in my throne; as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father
in his throne. Finally, having unveiled the glory of the Saints, and the never
ending bliss which they shall enjoy in heaven, He adds, He that shall overcome
shall possess these things.
THE SEVENTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER : "BUT
DELIVER US FROM EVIL"
The Importance Of Instruction On This Petition
This Petition with which the Son of God concludes this
divine prayer embodies the substance of all the other Petitions. To show its
force and importance our Lord made use of this Petition when, on the eve of His
Passion, He prayed to God His Father for the salvation of mankind. I pray, He
said, that thou keep them from evil. In this Petition, then, which He not only
commanded us to use, but made use of Himself, He has epitomised, as it were,
the meaning and spirit of all the other Petitions. For if we obtain what this
Petition asks, that is, the protection of God against evil, which enables us to
stand secure and safe against the machinations of the world and the devil,
then, as St. Cyprian remarks, nothing more remains to be asked.
Such, then, being the importance of this Petition, the
diligence of the pastor in its exposition should be great. The difference
between this and the preceding Petition consists in this, that in the one we
beg to avoid sin, in the other, to escape punishment.
Necessity Of This Petition
It cannot be necessary to remind the faithful of the
numerous evils and calamities to which we are exposed, and how much we stand in
need of the divine assistance. The many and serious miseries of human life have
been fully described by sacred and profane writers, and there is hardly any one
who has not observed them either in his own life or in that of others.
We are all convinced of the truth of these words of Job,
that model of patience: Man, born of woman, and living for a short time, is
filled with many miseries. He cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and
fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. That no day passes
without its own trouble or annoyance is proved by these words of Christ the Lord:
Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. Indeed, the condition of human life
is pointed out by the Lord Himself, when He admonishes us that we are to take
up our cross daily and follow Him.
Since, therefore, everyone must realise the trials and
dangers inseparable from this life, it will not be difficult to convince the
faithful that they ought to implore of God deliverance from evil, since no
inducement to prayer exercises a more powerful influence over men than a desire
and hope of deliverance from those evils which oppress or threaten them. There
is in the heart of everyone a natural inclination to have instant recourse to
God in the face of danger, as it is written: Fill their faces with shame, and
they shall seek thy name, Lord.
How this Petition should be Made
If, then, in calamities and dangers the unbidden impulse
of nature prompts men to call on God, it surely becomes the duty of those to
whose fidelity and prudence their salvation is entrusted to instruct them
carefully in the proper performance of this duty.
WE SHOULD SEEK FIRST THE GLORY OF GOD
For there are some who, contrary to the command of
Christ, reverse the order of this prayer. He who commands us to have recourse
to Him in the day of tribulation, has also prescribed to us the order in which
we should pray. It is His will that, before we pray to be delivered from evil,
we ask that the name of God be sanctified, that His kingdom come, and so on
through the other Petitions, which are, as it were, so many steps by which we reach
this last Petition.
Yet there are those who, if their head, their side, or
their foot, ache; if they suffer loss of property; if menaces or dangers from
an enemy alarm them; if famine, war or pestilence afflict them, omit all the
other Petitions of the Lord's Prayer and ask only to be delivered from these
evils. This practice is at variance with the command of Christ the Lord: Seek
first the kingdom of God.
To pray, therefore, as we ought, we should have in view
the greater glory of God, even when we ask deliverance from calamities, trials
and dangers. Thus, when David offered this prayer: Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger, he subjoined a reason by which he showed that he was most desirous of
God's glory, saying: For there is no one in death that is mindful of thee, and
who shall confess to thee in hell. And again, having implored God to have mercy
on him, he added: I will teach the unjust thy ways; and the wicked shall be
converted to thee.
Our Chief Hope Of Deliverance Should Be In God
The faithful should be encouraged to use this salutary
manner of praying and to imitate the example of the Prophet. And at the same
time their attention should be called to the marked difference that exists
between the prayers of the infidel and those of the Christian.
The infidel, too, begs of God to cure his diseases and to
heal his wounds, to deliver him from approaching or impending evils; but he
places his principal hope of deliverance in the remedies provided by nature, or
prepared by man. He makes no scruple of using medicine no matter by whom
prepared, no matter if accompanied by charms, spells or other diabolical arts,
provided he can promise himself some hope of recovery.
Not so the Christian. When visited by sickness, or other
adversity, he flies to God as his supreme refuge and defence. Acknowledging and
revering God alone as the author of all his good and his deliverer he ascribes
to Him whatever healing virtue resides in medicines, convinced that they help
the sick only in so far as God wills it. For it is God who has given medicines
to man to heal his corporal infirmities; and hence these words of
Ecclesiasticus: The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a
wise man will not abhor them. He, therefore, who has pledged his fidelity to
Jesus Christ, does not place his principal hope of recovery in such remedies;
he places it in God, the author of these medicines.
Hence the Sacred Scriptures condemn the conduct of those
who, confiding in the power of medicine, seek no assistance from God. Nay more,
those who regulate their lives by the laws of God, abstain from the use of all
medicines which are not evidently intended by God to be medicinal; and, were
there even a certain hope of recovery by using any other, they abstain from them
as so many charms and diabolical artifices.
We Must Confidently Expect His Help
The faithful, then, are to be exhorted to place their
confidence in God. Our most bountiful Father has commanded us to beg of Him our
deliverance from evil, in order that His command should inspire us with the
hope of obtaining the object of our prayers. Of this truth the Sacred
Scriptures afford many illustrations, so that they whom reason does not inspire
with confidence may be persuaded to hope by a multitude of examples. Abraham,
Jacob, Lot, Joseph and David are to all unexceptional witnesses of the divine
goodness; and the instances recorded in the New Testament of persons rescued
from the greatest dangers, by the efficacy of devout prayer, are so numerous as
to make it unnecessary to mention special cases. Therefore we shall content
ourselves with one text from the Prophet, which is sufficient to confirm even
the weakest: The just cried, and the Lord heard them; and delivered them out of
all their troubles.
"From Evil"
We now come to explain the meaning and nature of the
Petition. Let the faithful understand that in it we by no means ask deliverance
from every evil.
What We Do Not Pray For
There are some things which are commonly considered
evils, and which, notwithstanding, are of advantage to those who endure them.
Such was the sting of the flesh to which the Apostle was subjected in order
that, by the aid of divine grace, power might be perfected in infirmity. When
the pious man learns the salutary influence of such things, far from praying
for their removal, he rejoices in them exceedingly. We pray, therefore, against
those evils only, which do not conduce to our spiritual interests; not against
such as are profitable to our salvation.
What We Do Pray For
The full meaning of this Petition, therefore, is, that
having been freed from sin and from the danger of temptation, we may be
delivered from internal and external evils; that we may be protected from
floods, fire and lightning; that the fruits of the earth be not destroyed by
hail; that we be not visited by famine, sedition or war. We ask that God may
banish disease, pestilence and disaster from us; that He may keep us from
slavery, imprisonment, exile, betrayals, treachery, and from all other evils which
fill mankind with terror and misery. Finally, we pray that God would remove all
occasions of sin and iniquity.
We do not, however, pray to be delivered only from those
things which all look upon as evils, but also from those things which almost all
consider to be good, such as riches, honours, health, strength and even life
itself; that is, we ask that these things be not detrimental or ruinous to our
soul's welfare.
We also beg of God that we be not cut off by a sudden
death; that we provoke not His anger against us; that we be not condemned to
suffer the punishments reserved for the wicked; that we be not sentenced to
endure the fire of purgatory, from which we piously and devoutly implore that
others may be liberated.
This is the explanation of this Petition given by the
Church in the Mass and Litanies, where we pray to be delivered from evil past,
present and to come.
"Deliver Us"
The goodness of God delivers us from evil in a variety of
ways. He prevents impending evils, as we read with regard to the Patriarch
Jacob, whom He delivered from the enemies that were stirred up against him on
account of the slaughter of the Sichimites. For we read: The terror of God fell
upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they
went away.
The blessed who reign with Christ the Lord in heaven have
been delivered by the divine assistance from all evil; but, as for us, although
the Almighty delivers us from some evils, it is not His will that, while
journeying in this, our mortal pilgrimage, we should be entirely exempt from
all. The consolations with which God sometimes refreshes those who labor under
adversity are, however, equivalent to an exemption from all evil; and with
these the Prophet consoled himself when he said: According to the multitude of
my sorrows in my heart, thy consolations have rejoiced my soul.
God, moreover, delivers men from evil when he preserves
them unhurt in the midst of extreme danger, as He did in the case of the
children thrown into the fiery furnace, whom the fire did not burn; and of
Daniel, whom the lions did not injure.
Deliverance From Satan Especially Asked For
According to the interpretation of St. Basil the Great,
St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, the devil is specially called the evil one,
because he was the author of man's transgression, that is, of his sin and
iniquity, and also because God makes use of him as an instrument to chastise
sinful and impious men. For the evils which mankind endures in punishment of
sin are appointed by God; and this is the meaning of these words of Holy Writ:
Shall there be evil in a city which the Lard hath not done? and: I am the Lord
and there is none else: I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and
create evil.
The devil is also called evil, because, although we have
never injured him, he wages perpetual war against us, and pursues us with
mortal hatred. If we put on the armour of faith and the shield of innocence, he
can have no power to hurt us; nevertheless he unceasingly tempts us by external
evils and every other means of annoyance within his reach. Wherefore we beseech
God to deliver us from the evil one.
We say from evil, not from evils, because the evils which
we experience from others we ascribe to the arch enemy as their author and
instigator. Hence instead of cherishing resentment against our neighbour, we
should turn our hatred and anger against Satan himself, by whom men are
instigated to harm us.
Therefore if your neighbour has injured you in any
respect, when you pray to God your Father, beg of Him not only to deliver you
from evil, that is, from the injuries which your neighbour inflicts; but also
to rescue your neighbour from the power of the devil, whose wicked suggestions
impel men to wrong.
Patience and Joy under Continued Affliction
Next we must remember that if by prayers and
supplications we are not delivered from evil, we should endure our afflictions
with patience, convinced that it is the will of God that we should so endure
them. If, therefore, God hear not our prayers, we are not to yield to feelings
of peevishness or discontent; we must submit in all things to the divine will
and pleasure, regarding as useful and salutary to us that which happens in
accordance with the will of God, not that which is agreeable to our own wishes.
Finally, the pious hearers should be admonished that
during our mortal career we should be prepared to meet every kind of affliction
and calamity, not only with patience, but even with joy. For it is written: All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution; and again:
Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God; and further:
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so enter into his glory? A
servant should not be greater than his master; and as St. Bernard says:
Delicate members do not become a head crowned with thorns. The glorious example
of Urias challenges our imitation. When urged by David to remain at home, he
replied: The ark of God, and Israel, and Juda, dwell in tents; and shall I go
into my house?
If to prayer we bring with us these reflections and these
dispositions, although surrounded by menaces and encompassed by evils on every
side, we shall, like the three children who passed unhurt amidst the flames, be
preserved uninjured; or at least, like the Machabees, we shall bear up against
adverse fortune with firmness and fortitude.
In the midst of contumelies and tortures we should
imitate the blessed Apostles, who, after they had been scourged, rejoiced exceedingly
that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for Christ Jesus. Filled
with such sentiments, we shall sing in transports of joy: Princes have
persecuted me without cause; and my heart hath been in awe of thy words; I will
rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great spoil.
THE SEAL OF THE LORD'S PRAYER
"Amen"
Necessity Of Explaining The Conclusion Of The Lord's
Prayer
St. Jerome in his commentary on St. Matthew rightly calls
this word what it really is, the seal of the Lord's Prayer. As then we have
already admonished the faithful with regard to the preparation to be made
before this holy prayer, so we deem it necessary that they should also know why
we close our prayers with this word, and what it signifies; for devotion in concluding
our prayers is not less important than attention in beginning them.
fruits that Come at the Conclusion of Prayer
Assurance That We Have Been Heard
The faithful, then, should be taught that the fruits,
which we gather from the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer are numerous and
abundant, the greatest and most joyful of them being the attainment of what we
ask. On this point enough has already been said.
Fervour And Illumination
By this concluding word, not only do we obtain a
propitious hearing from God, but also receive other blessings of a higher order
still, the excellence of which surpasses all powers of description.
For since, as St. Cyprian remarks, by prayer man
converses with God, it happens in a wonderful manner that the divine Majesty is
brought nearer to those who are engaged in prayer than to others, and enriches
them with singular gifts. Those, therefore, who pray devoutly, may not be
inaptly compared to persons who approach a glowing fire; if cold, they derive
warmth; if warm, they derive heat. Thus, also, those who approach God (in
prayer) depart with a warmth proportioned to their faith and fervour; the heart
is inflamed with zeal for the glory of God, the mind is illumined after an
admirable manner, and they are enriched exceedingly with divine gifts, as it is
written: Thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness.
An example for all is that great man Moses. By
intercourse and converse with God he so shone with the reflected splendours of
the Divinity, that the Israelites could not look upon his eyes or countenance.
Sweetness
Those who pray with such vehement fervour enjoy in a
wonderful manner the goodness and majesty of God. In the morning, says the
Prophet, I will stand before thee, and will see; because thou art not a God
that willest iniquity.
The more familiar these truths are to the mind, the more
piously do we venerate, and the more fervently do we worship God, and the more
delightfully do we taste how sweet is the Lord, and how truly blessed are all
who hope in Him.
Confidence And Gratitude
Encircled by the most clear light from above we also
discover our own lowliness and how exalted is the majesty of God, according to
the saying of St. Augustine: Give me to know Thee: give me to know myself.
Distrusting our own strength, we thus throw ourselves unreservedly upon the
goodness of God, not doubting that He, who cherishes us in the bosom of His
paternal wondrous love, will afford us in abundance whatever is necessary for
life and salvation. Thus we shall turn to God with the warmest gratitude our
hearts can conceive and our lips express. This we read that holy David did, who
commenced by praying: Save me from all them that persecute me, and concluded
with these words, I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice, and
will sing to the name of the Lord the most High.'
Illustrations From The Psalms
There are innumerable prayers of the Saints of the same
kind, whose beginnings are full of fear, but which end with hope and joy. This
spirit, however, is eminently conspicuous in the prayers of David.
When agitated by fear he began his prayer thus: Many are
they who rise up against me: many say to my soul, There is no salvation for him
in his God; but at length, armed with fortitude and holy joy, he adds: I will
not fear thousands of the people surrounding me.
In another Psalm, after he had lamented his misery, we
see him towards the end, reposing confidence in God and rejoicing exceedingly
in the hope of salvation: In peace in the self-same, I will sleep, and I will
rest.
Again, with what fear and trembling must the Prophet not
have been agitated when he exclaimed: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation,
nor chastise me in thy wrath! Yet, on the other hand, what confidence and joy
must not have been his when he added: Depart from me, all ye workers of
iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping!
When filled with dread of the wrath and fury of Saul,
with what lowliness and humility does he not implore the divine assistance:
Save me, O Lord, by thy name, and Judge me in thy strength! and yet, in the
same Psalm he adds these words of joy and confidence: Behold, God is my help;
and the Lord is the helper of my soul.
Let him, therefore, who has recourse to holy prayer
approach God his Father, fortified by faith and animated by hope, not doubting
that he will obtain those blessings of which he stands in need.
Meaning of the Word "Amen"
First Explanation
The word amen, with which the Lord's Prayer concludes, contains,
as it were, the germs of many of these thoughts and reflections which we nave
just considered. Indeed, so frequent was this Hebrew word in the mouth of the
Saviour, that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have it retained in the Church of
God. Its meaning may be said to be: Know that thy prayers are heard. It has the
force of a response, as if God answers the suppliant, and graciously dismisses
him, after having favourably heard his prayers.
This-interpretation has been approved by the constant
usage of the Church of God. In the Sacrifice of the Mass, when the Lord's
Prayer is said she does not assign the word amen to the server who answers: But
deliver us front evil. She reserves it as appropriate to the priest himself,
who, as mediator between God and man, answers Amen, thus intimating that God
has heard the prayers of His people.
This practice, however, is not common to all the prayers,
but is peculiar to the Lord's Prayer. To the other prayers the server answers
Amen, because in every other this word only expresses assent and desire. In the
Lord's Prayer it is an answer, intimating that God has heard the petition of
His suppliant.
Other Explanations Of The Word "Amen"
By many, the word amen is differently interpreted. The
Septuagint interprets it, So be it; others translate it, Verily:
Advantages of Terminating our Prayer with this Word
To us also this word is very appropriate, containing, as
it does, some confirmation of the Petitions which we have already offered up.
It also fixes our attention when we are engaged in holy prayer; for it
frequently happens that in prayer a variety of distracting thoughts divert the
mind to other objects.
Nay, more, by this word we most earnestly beg of God that
all our preceding Petitions may be granted; or rather, understanding that they
have been all granted, and feeling the divine assistance powerfully present
with us, we cry out together with the Prophet: Behold God is my helper; and the
Lord is the protector of my soul.
Nor can anyone doubt that God is moved by the name of His
Son, and by a word so often uttered by Him who, as the Apostle says, was always
heard for his reverence.
END OF CATECHISM