Catechism of the Catholic Church / Part Four: Christian Prayer
Section Two - The Lord’s Prayer
I. "OUR FATHER!"
2759
Jesus "was praying at a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his
disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his
disciples.'"1 In response to this request the Lord entrusts to his
disciples and to his Church the fundamental Christian prayer. St. Luke presents
a brief text of five petitions,2 while St. Matthew gives a more
developed version of seven petitions.3 The liturgical tradition of the
Church has retained St. Matthew's text:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil.
2760
Very
early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the
Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the glory for ever."4
The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the kingdom," and
this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer.5
The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words
"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." the Roman Missal develops the last
petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our blessed hope"
and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.6 Then comes the
assembly's acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic
Constitutions.
Article 1
"THE SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE
GOSPEL"
2761
The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole
gospel."7 "Since the Lord . . . after handing over the
practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since
everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and
appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of
further desires."8
I. At the Center of the
Scriptures
2762
After showing how the psalms are the principal food of Christian prayer and
flow together in the petitions of the Our Father, St. Augustine concludes:
Run through all the words of the
holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find anything in
them that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer.9
2763
All the Scriptures - the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms - are fulfilled in Christ.10
The Gospel is this "Good News." Its first proclamation is summarized
by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount;11 The prayer to our Father
is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each petition
bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated:
The Lord's Prayer is the most
perfect of prayers.... In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly
desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not
only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire
them.12
2764
The Sermon on the Mount is teaching for life, the Our Father is a prayer; but
in both the one and the other the Spirit of the Lord gives new form to our
desires, those inner movements that animate our lives. Jesus teaches us this
new life by his words; he teaches us to ask for it by our prayer. the rightness
of our life in him will depend on the rightness of our prayer.
II. The Lord's Prayer
2765
The traditional expression "the Lord's Prayer" - oratio Dominica -
means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord
Jesus. the prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique: it is "of
the Lord." On the one hand, in the words of this prayer the only Son gives
us the words the Father gave him:13 he is the master of our prayer. On
the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his
human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the model of our
prayer.
2766
But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically.14 As in
every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches
the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words
of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these
words become in us "spirit and life."15 Even more, the proof
and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father "sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'"16 Since our
prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, "he who
searches the hearts of men," who "knows what is the mind of the
Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of
God."17 The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious
mission of the Son and of the Spirit.
III. The Prayer of the Church
2767
This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life
to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church
from the beginning. the first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times
a day,18 in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in
Jewish piety.
2768
According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted
in liturgical prayer:
[The Lord] teaches us to make
prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say "my Father"
who art in heaven, but "our" Father, offering petitions for the
common body.19
In all the
liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the major hours
of the Divine Office. In the three sacraments of Christian initiation its
ecclesial character is especially in evidence:
2769
In Baptism and Confirmation, the handing on (traditio) of the Lord's Prayer
signifies new birth into the divine life. Since Christian prayer is our
speaking to God with the very word of God, those who are "born anew".
. . through the living and abiding word of God"20 learn to invoke
their Father by the one Word he always hears. They can henceforth do so, for
the seal of the Holy Spirit's anointing is indelibly placed on their hearts,
ears, lips, indeed their whole filial being. This is why most of the patristic
commentaries on the Our Father are addressed to catechumens and neophytes. When
the Church prays the Lord's Prayer, it is always the people made up of the
"new-born" who pray and obtain mercy.21
2770
In the Eucharistic liturgy the Lord's Prayer appears as the prayer of the whole
Church and there reveals its full meaning and efficacy. Placed between the
anaphora (the Eucharistic prayer) and the communion, the Lord's Prayer sums up
on the one hand all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the movement
of the epiclesis and, on the other, knocks at the door of the Banquet of the
kingdom which sacramental communion anticipates.
2771
In the Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer also reveals the eschatological character
of its petitions. It is the proper prayer of "the end-time," the time
of salvation that began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and will be
fulfilled with the Lord's return. the petitions addressed to our Father, as
distinct from the prayers of the old covenant, rely on the mystery of salvation
already accomplished, once for all, in Christ crucified and risen.
2772
From this unshakeable faith springs forth the hope that sustains each of the
seven petitions, which express the groanings of the present age, this time of
patience and expectation during which "it does not yet appear what we
shall be."22 The Eucharist and the Lord's Prayer look eagerly for
the Lord's return, "until he comes."23
IN BRIEF
2773
In response to his disciples' request "Lord, teach us to pray"
(⇒ Lk 11:1), Jesus entrusts them with the
fundamental Christian prayer, the Our Father.
2774
"The Lord's Prayer is truly the summary of the whole
gospel,"24 The "most perfect of prayers."25 It
is at the center of the Scriptures.
2775
It is called "the Lord's Prayer" because it comes to us from the Lord
Jesus, the master and model of our prayer.
2776
The Lord's Prayer is the quintessential prayer of the Church. It is an integral
part of the major hours of the Divine Office and of the sacraments of Christian
initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Integrated into the Eucharist
it reveals the eschatological character of its petitions, hoping for the Lord,
"until he comes" (⇒ 1 Cor 11:26).
Article 2
"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN"
I. "We Dare To Say"
2777
In the Roman liturgy, the Eucharistic assembly is invited to pray to our heavenly
Father with filial boldness; the Eastern liturgies develop and use similar
expressions: "dare in all confidence," "make us worthy
of...." From the burning bush Moses heard a voice saying to him, "Do
not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you
are standing is holy ground."26 Only Jesus could cross that
threshold of the divine holiness, for "when he had made purification for
sins," he brought us into the Father's presence: "Here am I, and the
children God has given me."27
Our awareness of our status as slaves would make us sink into the ground
and our earthly condition would dissolve into dust, if the authority of our
Father himself and the Spirit of his Son had not impelled us to this cry . . .
'Abba, Father!' . . . When would a mortal dare call God 'Father,' if man's
innermost being were not animated by power from on high?"28
2778
This power of the Spirit who introduces us to the Lord's Prayer is expressed in
the liturgies of East and of West by the beautiful, characteristically
Christian expression: parrhesia, straightforward simplicity, filial trust,
joyous assurance, humble boldness, the certainty of being loved.29
II. Abba - "Father!"
2779
Before we make our own this first exclamation of the Lord's Prayer, we must
humbly cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn "from this
world." Humility makes us recognize that "no one knows the Son except
the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the
Son chooses to reveal him," that is, "to little
children."30 The purification of our hearts has to do with
paternal or maternal images, stemming from our personal and cultural history,
and influencing our relationship with God. God our Father transcends the
categories of the created world. To impose our own ideas in this area
"upon him" would be to fabricate idols to adore or pull down. To pray
to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed
him to us.
The expression God the Father
had never been revealed to anyone. When Moses himself asked God who he was, he
heard another name. the Father's name has been revealed to us in the Son, for
the name "Son" implies the new name "Father."31
2780
We can invoke God as "Father" because he is revealed to us by his Son
become man and because his Spirit makes him known to us. the personal relation
of the Son to the Father is something that man cannot conceive of nor the
angelic powers even dimly see: and yet, the Spirit of the Son grants a
participation in that very relation to us who believe that Jesus is the Christ
and that we are born of God.32
2781
When we pray to the Father, we are in communion with him and with his Son,
Jesus Christ.33 Then we know and recognize him with an ever new sense
of wonder. the first phrase of the Our Father is a blessing of adoration before
it is a supplication. For it is the glory of God that we should recognize him
as "Father," the true God. We give him thanks for having revealed his
name to us, for the gift of believing in it, and for the indwelling of his
Presence in us.
2782
We can adore the Father because he has caused us to be reborn to his life by
adopting us as his children in his only Son: by Baptism, he incorporates us
into the Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from
the head to the members, he makes us other "Christs."
God, indeed, who has
predestined us to adoption as his sons, has conformed us to the glorious Body
of Christ. So then you who have become sharers in Christ are appropriately
called "Christs."34
The new man, reborn and restored to his God by grace, says first of all,
"Father!" because he has now begun to be a son.35
2783
Thus the Lord's Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals
the Father to us.36
O man, you did not dare to
raise your face to heaven, you lowered your eyes to the earth, and suddenly you
have received the grace of Christ all your sins have been forgiven. From being
a wicked servant you have become a good son.... Then raise your eyes to the
Father who has begotten you through Baptism, to the Father who has redeemed you
through his Son, and say: "Our Father.... " But do not claim any
privilege. He is the Father in a special way only of Christ, but he is the
common Father of us all, because while he has begotten only Christ, he has created
us. Then also say by his grace, "Our Father," so that you may merit
being his son.37
2784
The free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and new
life. Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions:
First, the desire to become like him: though created in his image, we are
restored to his likeness by grace; and we must respond to this grace.
We must remember . . . and
know that when we call God "our Father" we ought to behave as sons of
God.38
You cannot call the God of all kindness your Father if you preserve a cruel and
inhuman heart; for in this case you no longer have in you the marks of the
heavenly Father's kindness.39
We must contemplate the beauty of the Father without ceasing and adorn our own
souls accordingly.40
2785
Second, a humble and trusting heart that enables us "to turn and become
like children":41 for it is to "little children" that
the Father is revealed.42
[The prayer is accomplished]
by the contemplation of God alone, and by the warmth of love, through which the
soul, molded and directed to love him, speaks very familiarly to God as to its
own Father with special devotion.43
Our Father: at this name love is aroused in us . . . and the confidence of
obtaining what we are about to ask.... What would he not give to his children
who ask, since he has already granted them the gift of being his
children?44
III. "Our" Father
2786
"Our" Father refers to God. the adjective, as used by us, does not
express possession, but an entirely new relationship with God.
2787
When we say "our" Father, we recognize first that all his promises of
love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the new and eternal covenant in
his Christ: we have become "his" people and he is henceforth
"our" God. This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of
belonging to each other: we are to respond to "grace and truth" given
us in Jesus Christ with love and faithfulness.45
2788
Since the Lord's Prayer is that of his people in the "endtime," this
"our" also expresses the certitude of our hope in God's ultimate
promise: in the new Jerusalem he will say to the victor, "I will be his
God and he shall be my son."46
2789
When we pray to "our" Father, we personally address the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so we do not divide the Godhead, since the Father
is its "source and origin," but rather confess that the Son is
eternally begotten by him and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. We are not
confusing the persons, for we confess that our communion is with the Father and
his Son, Jesus Christ, in their one Holy Spirit. the Holy Trinity is
consubstantial and indivisible. When we pray to the Father, we adore and
glorify him together with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2790
Grammatically, "our" qualifies a reality common to more than one
person. There is only one God, and he is recognized as Father by those who,
through faith in his only Son, are reborn of him by water and the
Spirit.47 The Church is this new communion of God and men. United with
the only Son, who has become "the firstborn among many brethren," she
is in communion with one and the same Father in one and the same Holy
Spirit.48 In praying "our" Father, each of the baptized is
praying in this communion: "The company of those who believed were of one
heart and soul."49
2791
For this reason, in spite of the divisions among Christians, this prayer to
"our" Father remains our common patrimony and an urgent summons for
all the baptized. In communion by faith in Christ and by Baptism, they ought to
join in Jesus' prayer for the unity of his disciples.50
2792
Finally, if we pray the Our Father sincerely, we leave individualism behind,
because the love that we receive frees us from it. the "our" at the
beginning of the Lord's Prayer, like the "us" of the last four
petitions, excludes no one. If we are to say it truthfully, our divisions and
oppositions have to be overcome.51
2793
The baptized cannot pray to "our" Father without bringing before him all
those for whom he gave his beloved Son. God's love has no bounds, neither
should our prayer.52 Praying "our" Father opens to us the
dimensions of his love revealed in Christ: praying with and for all who do not
yet know him, so that Christ may "gather into one the children of
God."53 God's care for all men and for the whole of creation has
inspired all the great practitioners of prayer; it should extend our prayer to
the full breadth of love whenever we dare to say "our" Father.
IV. "Who Art in Heaven"
2794
This biblical expression does not mean a place (“space"), but a way of
being; it does not mean that God is distant, but majestic. Our Father is not
"elsewhere": he transcends everything we can conceive of his
holiness. It is precisely because he is thrice holy that he is so close to the
humble and contrite heart.
"Our Father who art in
heaven" is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the
just, as in his holy temple. At the same time, it means that those who pray
should desire the one they invoke to dwell in them.54
"Heaven" could also be those who bear the image of the heavenly
world, and in whom God dwells and tarries.55
2795
The symbol of the heavens refers us back to the mystery of the covenant we are
living when we pray to our Father. He is in heaven, his dwelling place; the
Father's house is our homeland. Sin has exiled us from the land of the
covenant,56 but conversion of heart enables us to return to the Father,
to heaven.57 Jn Christ, then, heaven and earth are
reconciled,58 for the Son alone "descended from heaven" and
causes us to ascend there with him, by his Cross, Resurrection, and
Ascension.59
2796
When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is
professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in
God;"60 yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long
to put on our heavenly dwelling."61
[Christians] are in the flesh,
but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their lives on earth, but
are citizens of heaven.62
IN BRIEF
2797
Simple and faithful trust, humble and joyous assurance are the proper
dispositions for one who prays the Our Father.
2798
We can invoke God as "Father" because the Son of God made man has
revealed him to us. Jn this Son, through Baptism, we are incorporated and
adopted as sons of God.
2799
The Lord's Prayer brings us into communion with the Father and with his Son,
Jesus Christ. At the same time it reveals us to ourselves (cf GS 22 # 1).
2800
Praying to our Father should develop in us the will to become like him and
foster in us a humble and trusting heart.
2801
When we say "Our" Father, we are invoking the new covenant in Jesus
Christ, communion with the Holy Trinity, and the divine love which spreads
through the Church to encompass the world.
2802
"Who art in heaven" does not refer to a place but to God's majesty
and his presence in the hearts of the just. Heaven, the Father's house, is the
true homeland toward which we are heading and to which, already, we belong.
Article 3
THE SEVEN PETITIONS
2803
After we have placed ourselves in the presence of God our Father to adore and
to love and to bless him, the Spirit of adoption stirs up in our hearts seven
petitions, seven blessings. the first three, more theological, draw us toward
the glory of the Father; the last four, as ways toward him, commend our
wretchedness to his grace. "Deep calls to deep."63
2804
The first series of petitions carries us toward him, for his own sake: thy
name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic of love to think first of the
one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the
burning desire, even anguish, of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes
us:64 "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done...." These three supplications were already answered in the saving
sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their
final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all.65
2805
The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement as certain
Eucharistic epicleses: as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down
upon itself the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern
us from this very moment, in our present world: "give us . . . forgive us
. . . lead us not ... deliver us...." the fourth and fifth petitions
concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the last two
concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of prayer.
2806
By the three first petitions, we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope,
and set aflame by charity. Being creatures and still sinners, we have to
petition for us, for that "us" bound by the world and history, which
we offer to the boundless love of God. For through the name of his Christ and
the reign of his Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes his plan of salvation,
for us and for the whole world.
I. "Hallowed be Thy Name"
2807
The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative
sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to
recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. and so, in adoration, this
invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving.66 But
this petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a
desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with
this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of
his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father
that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the
fullness of time, "according to his purpose which he set forth in
Christ," that we might "be holy and blameless before him in love."67
2808
In the decisive moments of his economy God reveals his name, but he does so by
accomplishing his work. This work, then, is realized for us and in us only if
his name is hallowed by us and in us.
2809
The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal mystery. What is
revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture calls "glory," the
radiance of his majesty.68 In making man in his image and likeness, God
"crowned him with glory and honor," but by sinning, man fell
"short of the glory of God."69 From that time on, God was to
manifest his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore man
to the image of his Creator.70
2810
In the promise to Abraham and the oath that accompanied it,71 God
commits himself but without disclosing his name. He begins to reveal it to
Moses and makes it known clearly before the eyes of the whole people when he
saves them from the Egyptians: "he has triumphed gloriously."72
From the covenant of Sinai onwards, this people is "his own" and it
is to be a "holy (or "consecrated": the same word is used for
both in Hebrew) nation,"73 because the name of God dwells in it.
2811
In spite of the holy Law that again and again their Holy God gives them -
"You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" - and although
the Lord shows patience for the sake of his name, the people turn away from the
Holy One of Israel and profane his name among the nations.74 For this
reason the just ones of the old covenant, the poor survivors returned from
exile, and the prophets burned with passion for the name.
2812
Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the
flesh, as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his
sacrifice.75 This is the heart of his priestly prayer: "Holy
Father . . . for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be
consecrated in truth."76 Because he "sanctifies" his own
name, Jesus reveals to us the name of the Father.77 At the end of
Christ's Passover, the Father gives him the name that is above all names:
"Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."78
2813
In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed . . . sanctified . . .
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our
God."79 Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life,
and since "he is the source of (our) life in Christ Jesus, who became for
us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification,"80 both his glory and
our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the
urgency of our first petition.
By whom is God hallowed, since
he is the one who hallows? But since he said, "You shall be holy to me;
for I the LORD am holy," we seek and ask that we who were sanctified in
Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be. and we ask this daily, for
we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our
sins by being sanctified continually.... We pray that this sanctification may
remain in us.81
2814
The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our
life and our prayer:
We ask God to hallow his name,
which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation .... It is this
name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God
should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God's name is blessed when we
live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says:
"The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We
ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness
in our souls.82
When we say "hallowed be thy name," we ask that it should be hallowed
in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that
we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies.
That is why we do not say expressly "hallowed be thy name 'in us,"'
for we ask that it be so in all men.83
2815
This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it
is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it
is prayed in the name of Jesus.84 In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks:
"Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given
me."85
II. "Thy Kingdom Come"
2816
In the New Testament, the word basileia can be translated by
"kingship" (abstract noun), "kingdom" (concrete noun) or
"reign" (action noun). the Kingdom of God lies ahead of us. It is
brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the whole Gospel,
and it has come in Christ's death and Resurrection. the Kingdom of God has been
coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst. the
kingdom will come in glory when Christ hands it over to his Father:
It may even be . . . that the
Kingdom of God means Christ himself, whom we daily desire to come, and whose
coming we wish to be manifested quickly to us. For as he is our resurrection,
since in him we rise, so he can also be understood as the Kingdom of God, for
in him we shall reign.86
2817
This petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride:
"Come, Lord Jesus."
Even if it had not been
prescribed to pray for the coming of the kingdom, we would willingly have
brought forth this speech, eager to embrace our hope. In indignation the souls
of the martyrs under the altar cry out to the Lord: "O Sovereign Lord,
holy and true, how long before you judge and avenge our blood on those who
dwell upon the earth?" For their retribution is ordained for the end of
the world. Indeed as soon as possible, Lord, may your kingdom come!87
2818
In the Lord's Prayer, "thy kingdom come" refers primarily to the
final coming of the reign of God through Christ's return.88 But, far
from distracting the Church from her mission in this present world, this desire
commits her to it all the more strongly. Since Pentecost, the coming of that
Reign is the work of the Spirit of the Lord who "complete(s) his work on
earth and brings us the fullness of grace."89
2819
"The kingdom of God (is) righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit."90 The end-time in which we live is the age of the
outpouring of the Spirit. Ever since Pentecost, a decisive battle has been
joined between "the flesh" and the Spirit.91
Only a pure soul can boldly
say: "Thy kingdom come." One who has heard Paul say, "Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies," and has purified himself in
action, thought and word will say to God: "Thy kingdom
come!"92
2820
By a discernment according to the Spirit, Christians have to distinguish
between the growth of the Reign of God and the progress of the culture and
society in which they are involved. This distinction is not a separation. Man's
vocation to eternal life does not suppress, but actually reinforces, his duty
to put into action in this world the energies and means received from the
Creator to serve justice and peace.93
2821
This petition is taken up and granted in the prayer of Jesus which is present
and effective in the Eucharist; it bears its fruit in new life in keeping with
the Beatitudes.94
III. "Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It is in Heaven"
2822
Our Father "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth."95 He "is forbearing toward you, not wishing that
any should perish."96 His commandment is "that you love one
another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one
another."97 This commandment summarizes all the others and
expresses his entire will.
2823
"He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure that he set forth in Christ . . . to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an
inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who
accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will."98 We
ask insistently for this loving plan to be fully realized on earth as it is
already in heaven.
2824
In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been
perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world:
"Lo, I have come to do your will, O God."99 Only Jesus can
say: "I always do what is pleasing to him."100 In the prayer
of his agony, he consents totally to this will: "not my will, but yours be
done."101 For this reason Jesus "gave himself for our sins to
deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and
Father."102 "and by that will we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."103
2825
"Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what he
suffered."104 How much more reason have we sinful creatures to
learn obedience - we who in him have become children of adoption. We ask our
Father to unite our will to his Son's, in order to fulfill his will, his plan
of salvation for the life of the world. We are radically incapable of this, but
united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our
will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen: to do what is
pleasing to the Father.105
In committing ourselves to
[Christ], we can become one spirit with him, and thereby accomplish his will,
in such wise that it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven.106
Consider how Jesus Christ]
teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue does not depend on
our work alone but on grace from on high. He commands each of the faithful who
prays to do so universally, for the whole world. For he did not say "thy
will be done in me or in us," but "on earth," the whole earth,
so that error may be banished from it, truth take root in it, all vice be
destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from
heaven.107
2826
By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the
endurance to do it.108 Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of
heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in
heaven."109
2827
"If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to
him."110 Such is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of
her Lord, above all in the Eucharist. Her prayer is also a communion of
intercession with the all-holy Mother of God111 and all the saints who
have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone:
It would not be inconsistent
with the truth to understand the words, "Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven," to mean: "in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ
himself"; or "in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the
Bridegroom who has accomplished the will of the Father."112
IV. "Give Us This Day
Our Daily Bread"
2828
"Give us": the trust of children who look to their Father for
everything is beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."113 He gives
to all the living "their food in due season."114 Jesus teaches
us this petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he
is, beyond all goodness.
2829
"Give us" also expresses the covenant. We are his and he is ours, for
our sake. But this "us" also recognizes him as the Father of all men
and we pray to him for them all, in solidarity with their needs and sufferings.
2830
"Our bread": the Father who gives us life cannot not but give us the
nourishment life requires - all appropriate goods and blessings, both material
and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust
that cooperates with our Father's providence.115 He is not inviting us
to idleness,116 but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and
preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God:
To those who seek the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, he has promised to give all else besides. Since
everything indeed belongs to God, he who possesses God wants for nothing, if he
himself is not found wanting before God.117
2831
But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another
profound meaning of this petition. the drama of hunger in the world calls
Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren,
both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family.
This petition of the Lord's Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the
poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment.118
2832
As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth
"rise" by the Spirit of Christ.119 This must be shown by the
establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international
relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without
people who want to be just.
2833
"Our" bread is the "one" loaf for the "many." In
the Beatitudes "poverty" is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to
communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but
out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of
others.120
2834
"Pray and work."121 "Pray as if everything depended on
God and work as if everything depended on you."122 Even when we
have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is
good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying
grace at meals.
2835
This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another
hunger from which men are perishing: "Man does not live by bread alone,
but . . . by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,"123
that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians
must make every effort "to proclaim the good news to the poor." There
is a famine on earth, "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but
of hearing the words of the LORD."124 For this reason the
specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of
Life: the Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the
Eucharist.125
2836
"This day" is also an expression of trust taught us by the
Lord,126 which we would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers
above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this "today" is not
only that of our mortal time, but also the "today" of God.
If you receive the bread each
day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you
every day. How can this be? "You are my Son, today I have begotten
you." Therefore, "today" is when Christ rises.127
2837
"Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken
in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of "this
day,"128 to confirm us in trust "without reservation."
Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and
more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence.129 Taken
literally (epi-ousios: "super-essential"), it refers directly to the
Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the "medicine of immortality,"
without which we have no life within us.130 Finally in this connection,
its heavenly meaning is evident: "this day" is the Day of the Lord,
the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is
already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for
the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.
The Eucharist is our daily
bread. the power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its
effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made
members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread:
the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All
these are necessities for our pilgrimage.131
The Father in heaven urges us,
as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the
bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion,
baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars,
furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.132
V. "And Forgive Us
Our Trespasses, as We Forgive Those Who Trespass AGAINST US"
2838
This petition is astonishing. If it consisted only of the first phrase,
"and forgive us our trespasses," it might have been included,
implicitly, in the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer, since Christ's
sacrifice is "that sins may be forgiven." But, according to the
second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict
requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come
first, for the two parts are joined by the single word "as."
and forgive
us our trespasses . . .
2839
With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his
name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always
made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not
cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to
him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are
sinners before him.133 Our petition begins with a
"confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm
because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins."134 We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness
in the sacraments of his Church.135
2840
Now - and this is daunting - this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our
hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.
Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot
see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see.136 In refusing
to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness
makes them impervious to the Father's merciful love; but in confessing our
sins, our hearts are opened to his grace.
2841
This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns
and which he develops explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount.137 This
crucial requirement of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But
"with God all things are possible."138
. . . as we forgive those who trespass against us
2842
This "as" is not unique in Jesus' teaching: "You, therefore,
must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"; "Be merciful,
even as your Father is merciful"; "A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one
another."139 It is impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by
imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation,
coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love
of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make "ours" the same
mind that was in Christ Jesus.140 Then the unity of forgiveness becomes
possible and we find ourselves "forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave" us.141
2843
Thus the Lord's words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the
end,142 become a living reality. the parable of the merciless servant,
which crowns the Lord's teaching on ecclesial communion, ends with these words:
"So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not
forgive your brother from your heart."143 It is there, in fact,
"in the depths of the heart," that everything is bound and loosed. It
is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that
offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the
memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.
2844
Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies,144
transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point
of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the
gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is
stronger than sin. the martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to
Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the
children of God with their Father and of men with one another.145
2845
There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness,146
whether one speaks of "sins" as in Luke
(⇒ 11:4), "debts" as in Matthew
(⇒ 6:12). We are always debtors: "Owe no
one anything, except to love one another."147 The communion of the
Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relation ship. It is
lived out in prayer, above all in the Eucharist.148
God does not accept the
sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so
that he may first be reconciled with his brother. For God can be appeased only
by prayers that make peace. To God, the better offering is peace, brotherly
concord, and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.149
VI. "And Lead Us not
into Temptation"
2846
This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from
our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to
"lead" us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb
used by a single English word: the Greek means both "do not allow us to
enter into temptation" and "do not let us yield to
temptation."150 "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself
tempts no one";151 on the contrary, he wants to set us free from
evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are
engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this petition
implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.
2847
The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the
growth of the inner man,152 and temptation, which leads to sin and
death.153 We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to
temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object
appears to be good, a "delight to the eyes" and desirable,154
when in reality its fruit is death.
God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings.... There is a
certain usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has
received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to
teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations
and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us.155
2848
"Lead us not into temptation" implies a decision of the heart:
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... No one can
serve two masters."156 "If we live by the Spirit, let us also
walk by the Spirit."157 In this assent to the Holy Spirit the
Father gives us strength. "No testing has overtaken you that is not common
to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your
strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that
you may be able to endure it."158
2849
Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by
his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public
mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony.159 In this petition
to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges
us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is
"custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father:
"Keep them in your name."160 The Holy Spirit constantly seeks
to awaken us to keep watch.161 Finally, this petition takes on all its
dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks
for final perseverance. "Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who
is awake."162
VII. "But Deliver Us from Evil"
2850
The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus' prayer: "I am
not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them
from the evil one."163 It touches each of us personally, but it is
always "we" who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the
deliverance of the whole human family. the Lord's Prayer continually opens us
to the range of God's economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of
sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the
"communion of saints."164
2851
In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan,
the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. the devil (dia-bolos) is the one who
"throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation
accomplished in Christ.
2852
"A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies,"
Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world."165 Through him
sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will
be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."166 Now
"we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God
keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil
one."167
The Lord who has taken away
your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the
wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to
leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does
not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against
us?"168
2853
Victory over the "prince of this world"169 was won once for
all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life.
This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast
out."170 "He pursued the woman"171 but had no
hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is
preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and
the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then
the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of
her offspring."172 Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray:
"Come, Lord Jesus,"173 since his coming will deliver us from
the Evil One.
2854
When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from
all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator.
In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of
the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she
implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in
expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in
humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who
has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who
is to come, the Almighty."174
Deliver us, Lord, we beseech
you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy
we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the
blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.175
Article 4
THE FINAL DOXOLOGY
2855
The final doxology, "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions
to our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the
power of his saving will. But these prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and
thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven.176 The ruler of this world
has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power, and
glory.177 Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father,
until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of salvation will be
brought to its completion and God will be all in all.178
2856
"Then, after the prayer is over you say 'Amen,' which means 'So be it,'
thus ratifying with our 'Amen' what is contained in the prayer that God has
taught us."179
IN BRIEF
2857
In the Our Father, the object of the first three petitions is the glory of the
Father: the sanctification of his name, the coming of the kingdom, and the
fulfillment of his will. the four others present our wants to him: they ask
that our lives be nourished, healed of sin, and made victorious in the struggle
of good over evil.
2858
By asking "hallowed be thy name" we enter into God's plan, the
sanctification of his name - revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus - by us
and in us, in every nation and in each man.
2859
By the second petition, the Church looks first to Christ's return and the final
coming of the Reign of God. It also prays for the growth of the Kingdom of God
in the "today" of our own lives.
2860
In the third petition, we ask our Father to unite our will to that of his Son,
so as to fulfill his plan of salvation in the life of the world.
2861
In the fourth petition, by saying "give us," we express in communion
with our brethren our filial trust in our heavenly Father. "Our daily
bread" refers to the earthly nourishment necessary to everyone for
subsistence, and also to the Bread of Life: the Word of God and the Body of
Christ. It is received in God's "today," as the indispensable, (super
- ) essential nourishment of the feast of the coming Kingdom anticipated in the
Eucharist.
2862
The fifth petition begs God's mercy for our offences, mercy which can penetrate
our hearts only if we have learned to forgive our enemies, with the example and
help of Christ.
2863
When we say "lead us not into temptation" we are asking God not to
allow us to take the path that leads to sin. This petition implores the Spirit
of discernment and strength; it requests the grace of vigilance and final
perseverance.
2864
In the last petition, "but deliver us from evil," Christians pray to
God with the Church to show forth the victory, already won by Christ, over the
"ruler of this world," Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and
to his plan of salvation.
2865
By the final "Amen," we express our "fiat" concerning the
seven petitions: "So be it".
1 ⇒ Lk 11:1.
2 Cf. ⇒ Lk 11:2-4.
3 Cf.
⇒ Mt 6:9-13.
4 Didache 8, 2: SCh 248, 174.
5 Apostolic
Constitutions, 7, 24, 1: PG 1,1016.
6 ⇒ Titus 2:13; cf. Roman Missal 22,
Embolism after the Lord's Prayer.
7 Tertullian, De orat. 1: PL 1, 1155.
8 Tertullian, De orat. 10: PL 1, 1165; cf.
⇒ Lk 11:9.
9 St. Augustine, Ep. 130, 12, 22: PL 33, 503.
10 Cf. ⇒ Lk
24:44.
11 Cf. ⇒ Mt 5-
7.
12 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 83, 9.
13 Cf. ⇒ Jn 17:7.
14 Cf. ⇒ Mt
6:7; ⇒ 1 Kings 18:26-29.
15 ⇒ Jn 6:63.
16 ⇒ Gal 4:6.
17 ⇒ Rom 8:27.
18 Cf. Didache 8, 3: SCh 248, 174.
19 St. John
Chrysostom, Hom. in Mt. 19, 4: PG 57, 278.
20
⇒ 1 Pet 1:23.
21 Cf. ⇒ 1 Pet 2:1-10.
22 1 ⇒ Jn 3:2; Cf.
⇒ Col 3:4.
23 ⇒ 1 Cor 11:26.
24 Tertullian, De orat. 1 PL 1, 1251-1255.
25 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 83, 9.
26
⇒ Ex 3:5.
27 ⇒ Heb 1:3;
⇒ 2:13.
28 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71, 3: PL 52, 401 CD; cf.
⇒ Gal 4:6.
29 Cf. ⇒ Heb
3:6; ⇒ 4:16;
⇒ 1 Jn 2:28;
⇒ 3:21;
⇒ 5:14.
30
⇒ Mt 11:25-27.
31 Tertullian De
orat. 3: PL 1, 1155.
32 Cf. ⇒ Jn 1:1;
⇒ 1 Jn 5:1[ETML:C/].
33 Cf.
⇒ 1 Jn 1:3.
34 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 3, 1: PG 33, 1088A.
35 St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 9: PL 4, 525A.
36 Cf. GS 22 # 1.
37 St. Ambrose De Sacr. 5, 4, 19: PL 16:450-451.
38 St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 11 PL 4:526B.
39 St. John Chrysostom, De orat Dom. 3: PG 51, 44.
40 St. Gregory of Nyssa, De orat. Dom. 2: PG 44, 1148B.
41
⇒ Mt 18:3.
42 Cf. ⇒ Mt 11:25.
43 St. John Cassian, Coll. 9, 18 PL 49, 788c.
44 St. Augustine,
De serm. Dom. in monte 2, 4, 16: PL 34, 1276.
45 ⇒ Jn 1:17; Cf.
⇒ Hos 2:21-22;
⇒ 6:1-6.
46 ⇒ Rev 21:7.
47 Cf. ⇒ Jn
3:5[ETML:C/].
48 ⇒ Eph 4:4-6.
49 ⇒ Acts 4:32.
50 Cf. UR 8; 22.
51 Cf. ⇒ Mt 5:23-24;
⇒ 6:14-15.
52 Cf. NA 5.
53 ⇒ Jn 11:52.
54 St. Augustine,
De serm. Dom. in monte
2, 5, 18: PL 34, 1277.
55 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5:11: PG 33, 1117.
56 Cf. ⇒ Gen
3.
57 ⇒ Jer 3:19-
⇒ Lk
15:18, ⇒ 21.
58 Cf. ⇒ Isa 45:8;
⇒ Ps 85:12.
59 ⇒ Jn 3:13;
⇒ 14
2-3; ⇒ 16:28;
⇒ Eph
4:9-10; ⇒ Heb 1:3;
⇒ 2:13.
60 ⇒ Col
3:3.
61 ⇒ 2 Cor 5:2; cf.
⇒ Heb
13:14.
62 Ad Diognetum 5: PG 2, 1173.
63
⇒ Ps 42:7.
64 Cf. ⇒ Lk 22:14;
⇒ 12:50.
65 Cf. ⇒ 1 Cor 15:28.
66 Cf. ⇒ Ps 111:9;
⇒ Lk 1:49.
67 ⇒ Eph 1:9,
4.
68 Cf. ⇒ Ps 8;
⇒ Isa 6:3.
69 ⇒ Rom
3:23; cf. ⇒ Gen
1:26.
70
⇒ Col 3:10.
71 Cf.
⇒ Heb 6:13.
72 ⇒ Ex
15:1 cf. ⇒ 3:14.
73 Cf. ⇒ Ex 19:5-6.
74 ⇒ Ezek 20:9,
⇒ 22,
⇒ Lev 19:2.
75 Cf. ⇒ Mt 1:21;
⇒ Jn
8:28; ⇒ 17:8;
⇒ 17:17-19.
76 ⇒ Jn 17:11,
⇒ 19.
77 Cf. ⇒ 36:20-21;
⇒ Jn 17:6.
78
⇒ Phil 2:9-11.
79 ⇒ 2 Cor 6:11.
80 ⇒ 1 Thess
4:7.
81 St. Cyprian De
Dom. orat. 12: PL 4,
527A; ⇒ Lev 20:26.
82 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71, 4: PL 52:402A; cf.
⇒ Ezek
36:20-22.
83 Tertullian, De
orat. 3: PL 1:1157A.
84 Cf. ⇒ Jn 14:13;
⇒ 15:16;
⇒ 26.
85 ⇒ Jn 17:11.
86 St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 13 PL 4, 528A.
87 Tertullian, De orat. 5: PL 1,1159A; cf. ⇒ Heb
4:11; ⇒ Rev 6:9;
⇒ 22:20.
88 Cf. ⇒ Titus 2:13.
89 Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV, 118.
90 ⇒ Rom 14:17.
91 Cf. ⇒ Gal
5:16-25.
92 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5, 13: PG 33, 1120A; cf.
⇒ Rom 6:12.
93 Cf. GS 22; 32;
39; 45; EN 31.
94 Cf. ⇒ Jn 17:17-20;
⇒ Mt 5:13-16;
⇒ 6:24;
⇒ 7:12-13.
95 ⇒ 1 Tim 2:3-4.
96 ⇒ Mt
18:14.
97 ⇒ Jn 13:34; cf.
⇒ 1 Jn 3;
4; ⇒ Lk
10:25-37.
98 ⇒ Eph 1:9-11.
99 ⇒ Ps
40:7.
100 ⇒ Jn 8:29.
101 ⇒ Lk 22:42; cf.
⇒ Jn 4:34;
⇒ 5:30;
⇒ 6:38.
102 ⇒ Gal 1:4.
103 ⇒ Heb 10:10.
104 ⇒ Heb 5:8.
105 Cf.
⇒ Jn 8:29.
106 Origen, De orat. 26 PG 11, 501B.
107 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Mt. 19, 5 PG 57, 280.
108
⇒ Eph 5:17; Cf.
⇒ Heb 10:36.
109 ⇒ Mt 7:21.
110 ⇒ Jn 9:31; Cf.
⇒ 1 Jn 5:14.
111 Cf. ⇒ Lk 1:38,
⇒ 49.
112 St. Augustine,
De serm. Dom. 2, 6, 24: PL
34, 1279.
113 ⇒ Mt 5:45.
114
⇒ PS 104:27.
115 Cf. ⇒ Mt 6:25-34.
116 Cf. ⇒ 2 Thess 3:6-13.
117 St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 21 PL 4, 534A.
118 Cf. ⇒ Lk 16:19-31;
⇒ Mt 25:31-46.
119 Cf. AA 5.
120 Cf.
⇒ 2 Cor 8:1-15.
121 Cf. St. Benedict Regula, 20, 48.
122
Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The
Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola
University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.
123 ⇒ Deut 8:3;
⇒ Mt 4:4[ETML:C/].
124 ⇒ Am 8:11.
125 Cf. ⇒ Jn 6:26-58.
126 Cf. ⇒ Mt 6:34;
⇒ Ex 16:19.
127 St. Ambrose, De
Sacr. 5, 4, 26: PL 16, 453A; cf. ⇒ Ps 2:7[ETML:C/].
128 Cf. ⇒ Ex 16:19-21.
129 Cf. ⇒ 1 Tim 6:8.
130 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2 PG 5, 661;
⇒ Jn 6:53-56.
131 St. Augustine, Sermo 57, 7: PL 38, 389.
132 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67 PL 52, 392; Cf.
⇒ Jn 6:51.
133 Cf. ⇒ Lk 15:11-32,
⇒ 18:13.
134 ⇒ Eph
1:7.
135 Cf. ⇒ Mt 26:28;
⇒ Jn 20:23.
136 Cf. ⇒ l Jn 4:20.
137 Cf. ⇒ Mt 6:14-15;
⇒ Mk
11:25.
138 ⇒ Mt
19:26.
139 ⇒ Mt 5:48;
⇒ Jn
13:34.
140 Cf. ⇒ Phil
2:1,5.
141 ⇒ Eph 4:32.
142 Cf. ⇒ Jn 13:1.
143 Cf. ⇒ Mt 18:23-35.
144 Cf. ⇒ Mt 5:43-44.
145 Cf. ⇒ 2 Cor 5:18-21; John Paul
II, DM 14.
146 Cf. ⇒ Mt 18:21-22;
⇒ Lk 17:3-4.
147
⇒ Rom 13:8.
148 Cf. ⇒ Mt 5:23-24;
⇒ 1 Jn 3:19-24.
149 St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 23: PL 4, 535-536; cf.
⇒ Mt 5:24.
150 Cf. ⇒ Mt 26 41.
151 Jas 113.
152 Cf. ⇒ Lk. 8:13-15;
⇒ Rom
5:3-5; ⇒ 2 Tim 3:12.
153 Cf. ⇒ Jas 1:14-15.
154 Cf. ⇒ Gen
3:6.
155 Origen, De
orat. 29 PG 11, 544CD.
156 ⇒ Mt 6:21,
⇒ 24.
157 ⇒ Gal 5:25.
158 ⇒ 1 Cor 10:13.
159 Cf. ⇒ Mt 4:1-11;
⇒ 26:36-44.
160 ⇒ Jn 17:11; Cf.
⇒ Mk 13:9,
⇒ 23,
⇒ 33-37;
⇒ Lk
12:35-40.
161 Cf. ⇒ 1 Cor 16:13;
⇒ 1 Thess
5:6; ⇒ 1 Pet 5:8.
162 ⇒ Rev 16:15.
163 ⇒ Jn 17:15.
164 Cf. RP 16.
165 ⇒ Rev
12:9.
166 Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV, 125.
167 ⇒ 1 Jn 5:18-19.
168 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 30: PL 16, 454; cf. ⇒ Rom 8:31.
169 ⇒ Jn 14:30.
170 ⇒ Rev
12:10.
171 ⇒ Rev 12:13-16.
172 ⇒ Rev 12:17.
173 ⇒ Rev 22:17,20.
174 ⇒ Rev 1:8,
⇒ Rev 1:4;
⇒ Eph 1:10.
175
Roman Missal, Embolism after the Lord's Prayer, 126: Libera nos,
quaesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris,
ut, ope misericordiae tuae adiuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et
ab omni perturbatione securi: expectantes beatam spem et adventum
Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi.
176 Cf. ⇒ Rev 1:6;
⇒ 4:11;
⇒ 5:13.
177 Cf. ⇒ Lk 4:5-6.
178 ⇒ 1 Cor 15:24-28.
179 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5,18: PG 33, 1124; cf. Cf.
⇒ Lk 1:38.
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