17 July 2010: The Lord’s Prayer

Sermon on the Mount: The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus, after having condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees for pretending to make long prayers in public, deigned give us that wonderful ‘Lord’s Prayer’.

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites.” (Mt 6:5) “... Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. Amen.” (Mt 6:9-13)

The ‘Our Father’ is the most excellent of all prayers; most pleasing to God and profitable to ourselves. Yet do we always recite it with reverence and devotion? That we may do so, let us meditate on the words.

‘Our Father in heaven.’ Jesus teaches that we should think to whom we will speak, and raise our thoughts in filial confidence to God in heaven. That we pray for unity, we say ‘our’, not ‘my’, Father.

‘Hallowed be your name.’ By his name we mean all his attributes, that all may know and serve them. This first petition reminds us of our first duty: sanctifying or glorifying God in ourselves, and in others.

In St Paul’s words, “Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, having a good conscience”. Then by our brethren, by our conduct in such a way “that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, who is in heaven”.

‘Your kingdom come.’ We ask that he reign over our hearts, so that we may all submit of our own free will to his holy laws. We beg also that he will hasten the day when reunited, we shall reign eternally with him.

‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ We ask for what is more perfect and glorious to his heavenly Father than simply fulfilling his commandments. That his most holy will may be done in us as perfectly as by angels and saints in heaven. That we should at least ardently desire approaching this perfection; and incessantly beg for the grace we all need.

After seeking the glory of our heavenly Father, Jesus teaches what we should ask for ourselves: ‘Our bread’, all that is necessary to sustain our corporal and spiritual life ‘daily’, to remind us that, rich or poor, we are always in need of help from our heavenly Father ‘this day’, that we should renew our prayer daily, rely on God’s providence, and not worry about the future.

‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’ We now humbly beg our Father in heaven to forgive us our sins and the punishment due them. Our Lord promises his Father will grant our request, but on condition, on our side, we will pardon those who have offended us.

‘If you will forgive men their offences’, he said, ‘your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you yours’. Thus, he added to the fifth petition, ‘as we also have forgiven our debtors’.

Everyday we say, ‘Forgive us our debts’; but they bear little fruit. They are said very insincerely? We do not see the faults we commit daily. Let us weep as the saints did at our Father’s feet. He will remit and forget them if we stifle that feeling of anger which rises even involuntarily in our hearts against whoever have offended us.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp446-51

On our hope of becoming saints

“In everything God works for good.” (Rom 8:28) We confidently say these words although we may be amidst a great physical or moral difficulty. We must overcome our tendency towards selfishness, sadness or merely trivial matters. We are journeying straight towards heaven. Everything should be the means to bring us closer and to arrive sooner.

In particular we must frequently practise the virtue of hope in all that concerns the state of our interior life especially when we seem not to be advancing; our defects are slow in disappearing, constantly making the same mistakes. We may then view sanctity as just an illusion. Our hope should be in God alone, childlike.

St John of the Cross encourages us that the soul “who has the hope of heaven achieves all that is hoped for. ... To win love’s chase I took my way, and full of hope began to fly. I soar’d aloft and soar’d so high, that in the end I reach’d my prey.” (“Poems”, VI)

Hope encourages us to begin again with cheerfulness and patience. With the help of Our Lord and of his Mother, our Hope, we will be victorious, for He puts within our grasp all means by which we may conquer.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:520-21

From the Cross: The Example of Obedience

“... He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, death on a cross!” (Phil 2:8) These words seem out of date today, when there is a whole systematic opposition to obedience, presented as a humiliation of one’s personality, a defeat of the intelligence and of the will, abdication of one’s human dignity. Autonomy, revolt, rebellion, are preached instead.

Indeed Jesus gave us the example of obedience even unto death on the cross. All saints have passed through a test, sometimes even heroic, of obedience. As did Mary Most Holy, as did St Joseph, who obeyed the voice of God calling them to a sublime mission indeed but also to a disconcerting and mysterious one!

Why must you obey? First of all, because obedience is necessary in the general framework of Providence. God did not create us by chance but for a very clear and distinct purpose: his everlasting glory, our happiness. All who are responsible for us must, in God’s name, help us reach the goal willed by the Creator. Moreover, exterior obedience teaches us to obey the inner law of conscience, God’s will expressed in the moral law.

And how should we obey? With love and holy courage, well knowing that obedience is almost always difficult, sometimes even entails heroic effort.

Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p266-7

In the year 1565, Pius V approved the reform of the barefooted Carmelites, instituted by St Teresa at Avila, Spain. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Humility of Our Lady (“Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia”, 1991, p630)

Humility of Mary. Religious order in America. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)

The Humility of the Blessed Virgin. (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)

'Madonna della Campitelli' / Our Lady of Campitelli. Italy. 524.(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)