Give
us this day our daily bread means to take
no thought for tomorrow.
Perfection
of conduct,
says He, I
require as great, not however freedom from passions; no, for the tyranny of nature permits it not: for it requires necessary food. But mark, I pray you, how even in things that are bodily, that which
is spiritual abounds. For it is neither for riches, nor for delicate
living, nor for costly raiment, nor for any other such thing, but for
bread only, that He has commanded us to make our prayer.
And for daily
bread,
so as not to take
thought for the morrow (Matthew 6:34).
Because of this
He added, daily
bread,
that is, bread for one day (Matthew 6:11).
And
not even with this expression is He satisfied, but adds another too,
saying, give
us this
day;
so that we may not, beyond this, wear ourselves out with the care of
the following day. For that day, the interval before which you know
not whether you shall see, wherefore do you submit to its cares? Take
no thought for the morrow.
He would have us be on every hand unencumbered and winged for flight,
yielding just so much to nature as the compulsion of necessity
requires of us.
Then
inasmuch as it comes to pass that we sin even after the washing of
regeneration, He, showing His love to man to be great even in this
case, commands us for the remission of our sins to come unto God who
loves man, and thus to say:
Forgive
us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
Do
you see surpassing mercy? After taking away so great evils, and after
the unspeakable greatness of His gift [of Baptism], if men sin again,
He counts them such as may be forgiven. For that this prayer belongs
to believers, is taught us both by the laws of the church, and by the
beginning of the prayer. For the uninitiated could not call God
Father. If then the prayer belongs to believers and they pray,
entreating that sins may be forgiven them, it is clear that not even
after the laver is the profit of repentance taken away. Since, had He
not meant to signify this, He would not have made a law that we
should so pray.
Now
He who both brings sins to remembrance, and bids us ask forgiveness,
and teaches how we may obtain remission and so makes the way easy; it
is perfectly clear that He introduced this rule of supplication, as
knowing, and signifying, that it is possible even after the font to
wash ourselves from our offenses; by reminding us of our sins,
persuading us to be modest; by the command to forgive others, setting
us free from all revengeful passion; while by promising in return for
this to pardon us also, He holds out good hopes, and instructs us to
have high views concerning the unspeakable mercy of God toward man.
For
if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will
forgive you (Matthew 6:14). So
that the beginning is of us, and we ourselves have control over the
judgment that is to be passed upon us. For in order that no one, even
of the senseless, might have any complaint to make, either great or
small, when brought to judgment; on you, who art to give account, He
causes the sentence to depend; and in
whatever way you have judged for yourself, in the same,
says He, do
I also judge you.
And if you forgive your fellow servant, you shall obtain the same
favor from me; though indeed the one be not equal to the other. For
you forgive in your need, but God, having need of none: thou, your
fellow slave; God, His slave: thou liable to unnumbered charges; God,
being without sin. But yet even thus does He show forth His loving
kindness towards man.
Since
He might indeed, even without this, forgive you all your offenses;
but He wills you hereby also to receive a benefit; affording you on
all sides innumerable occasions of gentleness and love to man,
casting out what is brutish in you, and quenching wrath, and in all
ways cementing you to him who is your own member.
For
what can you have to say? That you have wrongfully endured some ill
of your neighbor? But you too are drawing near to receive
forgiveness for such things, and for much greater. And even before
the forgiveness, you have received no small gift, in being taught to
have a human soul, and in being trained to all gentleness. And
herewith a great reward shall also be laid up for you elsewhere, even
to be called to account for none of your offenses.
What
sort of punishment then do we not deserve, when after having received
the privilege, we betray our salvation? And how shall we claim to be
heard in the rest of our matters, if we will not, in those which
depend on us, spare our own selves?
For
if you forgive men,
says He, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not,
neither will He forgive you.
And nothing makes us so like God, as being ready to forgive the
wicked and wrong-doers; even as indeed He had taught before, when He
spoke of His making
the sun to shine on the evil and on the good (Matthew 5:45). How
great punishment then must they deserve, who after all this, so far
from themselves forgiving, do even entreat God for vengeance on their
enemies, and diametrically as it were transgress this law; and this
while He is doing and contriving all, to hinder our being at variance
one with another?
For
since love is the root of all that is good, He removing from all
sides whatever mars it, brings us together, and cements us to each
other. For there is not, there is not one, be he father, or mother,
or friend, or what you will, who so loved us as the God who created
us. And this, above all things, both His daily benefits and His
precepts make manifest. But if you tell me of the pains, and of the
sorrows, and of the evils of life; consider in how many things you
offend Him every
day. Which
one has not been insolent, or vainglorious? Who has not spoken evil
of his brother, has not admitted a wicked desire, has not looked with
unchaste eyes, has not remembered things with hostile feeling, even
till he made his heart swell?
But
yet from our so great and so many sins, God has given us a short and
easy way of deliverance, and one that is free from all toil. For what
sort of toil is it to forgive him that has grieved us? Nay, it is a
toil not to forgive, but to keep up our enmity: even as to be
delivered from the anger, both works in us a great refreshment, and
is very easy to him that is willing. For there is no sea to be
crossed, nor long journey to be traveled, nor summits of mountains to
be passed over, nor money to be spent, no need to torment your body;
but it suffices to be willing only, and all our sins are done away.
But
if so far from forgiving him yourself, you make intercession to God
against him, what hope of salvation will you then have, if at the
very time when you ought rather to appease God, even then you provoke
Him; putting on the garb of a suppliant, but uttering the cries of a
wild beast, and darting out against yourself those shafts of the
wicked one? Wherefore Paul also, making mention of prayer, required
nothing so much as the observance of this commandment. And if when
you have need of mercy, not even then will you let go your anger, but
art rather exceedingly mindful of it, and that, although you know you
are thrusting the sword into yourself; when will it be possible for
you to become merciful, and to spew out the evil venom of this
wickedness?
Let
us cease then from this disease and madness, and that kindliness
which He commanded let us show forth towards them that have vexed us:
that we may become like our
Father which is in heaven.
And we shall cease therefrom, if we call to mind our own sins; if we
strictly search out all our misdeeds at home, abroad, and in the
market, and in church.
View
my Catholic books Here.
St. Padre Pio:
Do not let your heart become troubled by the sad spectacle of human injustice, even this has its value in the face of all else. And it is from this that one day you will see the justice of God rising with unfailing triumph.
From "Padre Pio Councils," p. 25, published by his Friary at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
“It
is true that the Church has been reciting the ‘Our Father’ from
the time I came upon earth, in which one asks, ‘Thy
Kingdom come’,
so that my Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven, but who thinks
about the request they make? It can be said that the whole
importance of such a request remained in my Will and that creatures
recite it just to recite it, without understanding and without any
interest in obtaining what they ask for.
“It
is true that everything that the creature does is my grace, but my
grace itself wants to find the prop of the dispositions and good will
of the creature. Therefore, in order to restore the Kingdom of my
Will upon earth it takes sufficient acts of the creature, so that my
Kingdom may not remain in the air, but may descend, to be formed upon
the very acts of the creature formed by her to obtain a good so
great. Therefore, if you want It, continue your acts, so that, by
reaching
the
established number, you
may obtain what you long for with so much insistence.”
Then,
I [Luisa] was thinking to myself: “In the ‘Our Father,’
Our Lord teaches us to say—to pray: ‘Your
Will be done.’
Now, why does He say that He wants us to live in It?” And Jesus,
always benign, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter,
‘Your
Will be done’
that I taught in the ‘Our Father’ meant that all were to pray
that they might at least do the Will of God. And this is for
all Christians and for all times; nor can anyone call himself a
Christian if he does not dispose himself to do the Will of his
Celestial Father. But you have not thought of the other addition that
comes immediately after: ‘On
earth as It is in Heaven.’
‘On
earth as It is in Heaven’
means to live in the Divine Will; it means to pray that the Kingdom
of My Will may come on earth in order to live in It.
“In
Heaven, they not only do My Will, but they live in It—they possess
It as their own thing, and as their own Kingdom. To do the Will
of God does not mean to possess It, but to submit oneself to Its
commands, while to live in It is possession. Therefore, in the
‘Our Father’, in the words ‘Your
Will be done’
is the prayer that all may do the Supreme Will, and in ‘on
earth as It is in Heaven,’
that man may return into that Will from which he came, in order to
reacquire his happiness, the lost goods, and the possession of his
Divine Kingdom.”
Then
I [Luisa] continued my acts in the Divine Fiat, and I offered
everything in order to obtain Its Kingdom upon earth. I wanted
to invest the whole Creation, animate all created things with my
voice, so that all of them might say, together with me: “Fiat
Voluntas Tua
on earth as It is in Heaven. Hurry, hurry—let Your Kingdom
come.”But while doing this, I thought to myself: “How can this
Kingdom so holy come upon earth? In creatures there is no
change; no one occupies himself with It; sin and passions abound.
How, then, can this Kingdom ever come upon earth?”
So,
while I was thinking about the Kingdom of the Divine Will, and Its
reigning upon earth seemed as though difficult to me, my Beloved
Jesus, coming out from within my interior, told me: “My
daughter, as Adam sinned, God made him the promise of the future
Redeemer. Centuries passed, but the promise did not fail, and
the generations had the good of Redemption. Now, as I came from
Heaven and formed the Kingdom of Redemption, before departing for
Heaven, I made another promise, more solemn, of the Kingdom of My
Will; and this was in the ‘Our Father.’
“And
so as to give it more value, and to obtain It more quickly, I made
this formal promise in the solemnity of My prayer, praying the Father
to let His Kingdom come, which is the Divine Will on earth as It is
in Heaven. I placed My very Self at the head of this prayer,
knowing that such was His Will, and that, prayed by Me, He would deny
Me nothing; more so, since I prayed with His very Will, and I asked
for something that was wanted by My Father Himself.
“And
after I had formed this prayer before My Celestial Father, certain
that the Kingdom of My Divine Will upon earth would be granted to Me,
I taught it to My Apostles, that they might teach it to the whole
world, so that one might be the cry of all: ‘Your Will be
done, on earth as It is in Heaven.’ A promise more sure and
solemn I could not make. Centuries are like one single point
for Us, but Our words are accomplished acts and facts.
“My
very praying to the Celestial Father: ‘Let It come—let Your
Kingdom come; Your Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven,’ meant
that with My coming upon earth the Kingdom of My Will was not
established in the midst of creatures; otherwise I would have said:
‘My Father, let Our Kingdom, that I have already established on
earth, be confirmed, and let Our Will dominate and reign.’
Instead, I said: ‘Let It come.’ This meant that It
must come, and creatures must await It with that certainty with which
they awaited the future Redeemer, because there is My Divine Will,
bound and committed, in those words of the ‘Our Father’; and when
It binds Itself, whatever It promises is more than certain.
More so, since everything was prepared by Me; nothing else was needed
but the manifestation of My Kingdom—and this I am doing.
“Do
you think that My giving you so many truths about My Fiat is only to
give you simple news? No, no; it is because I want everyone to
know that Its Kingdom is near, and to know Its beautiful
prerogatives, so that all may love—may yearn to enter, to live in a
Kingdom so holy, full of happiness and of all goods. Therefore, what
seems difficult to you is easy for the power of Our Fiat, because It
knows how to remove all difficulties, and to conquer everything—the
way It wants, and when It wants.”
“My
daughter, God is order, and when He wants to give a good to
creatures, He always places His Divine order in it, and everything
that is done in order to obtain a good so great begins from God, as
He places Himself at the head of it to take on the commitment, and
then orders the creature for the same purpose.
“I
did this in order to give, Myself, the Redemption, and so that
creatures might receive It; and I am doing this, Myself, to give the
Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, and so that creatures may receive It. By
forming, Myself, the ‘Our Father,’ I placed Myself at the head of
it and took on the commitment to give this Kingdom; and by teaching
it to My Apostles, I placed in the creatures the order of how to be
able to obtain a good so great. So, the whole Church is
praying—there is not one soul who belongs to Her that does not
recite the ‘Our Father.’
“And
even though many recite it without interest in wanting and asking for
a Kingdom so holy—that the Divine Will be done on earth as It is in
Heaven—since the interest is in He who taught it, by their reciting
it, My interest is renewed, and I hear My own prayer asking:
‘May Your Kingdom come, so that Your Will be done on earth as It is
in Heaven.’ However, if the creature, in reciting the ‘Our
Father,’ had this interest of wanting and longing for My Kingdom,
she would take part in My own interest, and her will would be fused
in Mine for the same purpose. But, regardless of this, My Will
and interest always run in each ‘Our Father.’
“See
then, the Divine order: all asking for one thing. Among
these who ask there are some who want to do My Will, others who do
It. All this is braided together, and they knock at the doors
of My Divine Will—they repeat the knocking, and some knock
strongly, some slowly. However, there is always someone who
knocks and asks that the doors be opened, so that My Will may descend
to reign upon earth.”
Based
on the revelations of Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta recorded in The
Book of Heaven.
Volume
19, September 13, 1926; Volume 20, October 15, 1926; Volume 21,
November 27, 1927; Volume 24, May 26, 1928.
View
my Catholic books on Luisa and others Here.
Maria
Valtorta’s The
Gospel as Revealed to Me
mentions 255 geographical sites in Palestine, of which 79 were
completely unknown to
archaeologists
and biblical scholars
in the mid-1940’s when she wrote her work. Since then, of the 79
unknown sites, at least 29 have now been confirmed as actually
existing in first century Palestine, including six ancient cities
that she described. How could she have known about these places?
[Probably more have been confirmed, since the below article was
written in 2004.]
Proof
of Authenticity. Research done by David J. Webster M.Div. 11/15/04.
Maria
Valtorta was an eye-witness to the first century life and ministry of
Our Lord Jesus! Her numerous strikingly accurate descriptions of
first century Palestine Prove it!
While
it may be difficult for some to grasp, “in
the spirit” where all time is one,
one can, if allowed by providence, literally see any event in history
as it actually takes place. That Maria Valtorta’s revelations are
literally packed with strikingly accurate descriptions of first
century Palestine reveals that what she saw was the very life and
ministry of our Lord.
This
would mean that The
Gospel as Revealed to Me
is not the product of mere pious imagination as seems at least partly
true with other revelations of biblical
persons and times. Over thirty percent or 79 of the 255 geographical
sites in Palestine mentioned in her work were not listed in
the 1939 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) Atlas. 62
of these 79 were not even listed in the 184 page Macmillan Bible
Atlas (MBA) published in 1968.
Where
did Maria Valtorta get all these names? For a first century
eye-witness to include so many obscure and unknown names would, of
course, be expected. And most surprising is that these names, obscure
and unknown in the 1940’s, are being proven authentic. 52 of these
62 have no biblical reference whatever and 17 of these with no
biblical reference have been either indirectly confirmed as authentic
by recent “ancient external sources” found in the Macmillan Bible
Atlas (1968) or actually listed in the HarperCollins Atlas of the
Bible (1989). This makes a total of 29 confirmations since the 1939
ISBE atlas listing.
Also
among those 62 sites are mentioned the ruins of 6 ancient Palestinian
cities, some corresponding to the modern consensus on location.
In
addition, Valtorta’s precise descriptions of the natural topography
of Palestine from numerous locations and the information about the
outside pagan world of that day, including people, places, customs,
Greek and Roman mythology, related in the conversations of that day,
are strikingly correct. Along with this material you will find
refutation to the foolish charges by enemies of this work that apples
were not grown in Palestine and that Maria Valtorta could not have
seen screw drivers on Joseph’s bench! [And also the charge that
there are a lot of useless conversations in the Work.]
While
literarily gifted, Maria Valtorta had only an average education, had
never been to Palestine, was sick, suffering and bed-ridden for most
of her life, and in this condition had access to only her Bible and
small catechism during the years of her writing. Verification of so
many of these locations and descriptions known only by experts in
their fields and that these details were included at Jesus’ own
request for “the difficult doctor’s of the Church,” is not only
proof this is an eye-witness account but that these revelations were
intended by Heaven to be accepted by the Church as authoritative for
providing definitive clarification on so much of the Church’s
teachings that had become clouded and confused by too many human
elements.
View
my Catholic books Here
When
therefore the Lord teaches us in this prayer to call God “Father,”
I believe He is doing nothing less
than
ordaining an exalted and sublime way of life.
Christ
leads us to heaven itself, having made it accessible to all.
He
does so through the practice of goodness and virtue.
In this manner He brings us close to God through prayer. For this is
the power of His words in the Lord's Prayer, a prayer by which we
learn not merely sounds uttered through syllables of speech, but the
knowledge of the ascent to God achieved through a spiritual way of
life. We
can comprehend the divine mystery through the words of the Lord's
Prayer.
Christ
begins with the
words,
"When
you pray"
(Mt 6:7).
The Lord
said to the disciples: "When
you pray, say,‘Our Father who art in heaven’" (Mt
6:9). Somewhere in the Psalms the great David says, "Who
will give me wings like a dove?" (Ps
55:6). I, too, would dare speak with the same voice. Who will give me
such wings
as to fly with my mind to the height of the noble meaning of these
words? I need to leave the whole earth behind. I would have to remove
my mind far from all things that change and are in flux. By attaining
to an unchanging and unwavering disposition of the soul, I would
first earnestly make Him my friend who is eternal and unchangeable.
Only then would I invoke that most intimate Name
and say, "Father!"
What
quality of soul must the speaker possess to speak of God as "Our
Father!"
What confidence of
spirit!
What purity of conscience! To perceive God's ineffable glory, he must
comprehend the mystery of God as far as it is possible from the names
that have been conceived of and attributed to God in the Scriptures.
He must learn that the divine nature of God is goodness, holiness,
joy, power, glory, purity and eternity. Whatever God may be in His
deep mystery, He possesses all these eternal and many other
conceivable attributes that properly belong to the Divine Nature. Let
us say that a person could understand all these endowments of God
through the study of Holy Scriptures as well as one's own creative
reflection. Could such a person even then dare to utter the sacred
Name and call such a God his own Father?
One
thing is very clear. If he had any sense, he would not dare address
God with such a Name and say
"Father,"
unless he perceived a reflection of the same attributes in himself.
For it is impossible that God who
is good in His very essence should be the Father of anyone engaged in
evil activities. God who is holy could not be the Father of one
defiled in life, nor He who is Eternal be the Father of one prone to
every change, nor He who is the Father of life be the Father of one
dead in sin. Similarly, God who is pure and spotless cannot be the
Father of those who behave unseemly, neither can God who is generous
be the Father of those who are greedy, nor the All Good One be the
Father of those who in any way participate in evil things.
Someone
may indeed dare seek intimacy with God while yet knowing himself to
be in need of purification,
discerning
that his wicked conscience is filled with stains and evil wounds. If
such a person, prior
to being
cleansed from these many evils,
approaches God to call Him "Father,"
it would be like a person who
is unjust and impure, and yet dares to address the One who is Most
just and pure. It would be, at it were, to name God as the Father of
one's own wickedness, a flagrant insolence. Such a person's words
would
amount to no less than mockery. Why? Because the word "Father"
signifies fatherhood–the source
and cause of a person who is made to exist by God. Therefore, whoever
invokes God as Father and still possesses a wicked conscience,
he in fact accuses God of nothing less than being the source and
cause of his own evils.
According
to the apostle Paul, however, "there
is no communion between light and darkness"
(2 Cor 6:14).
Rather, the contrary is true. The light seeks intimacy, with what is
just, the good with what is good, the incorruptible with what is
incorruptible. The opposite things seek intimacy with their own kind.
The Lord
said: "A
good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
bear good fruit"
(Mt 7:18).
If
someone is possessed, as Scripture puts it, by hardness of heart and
dares to utter the words of the
Lord's
Prayer, he pursues falsehood. Let him know that such a person calls
Father not the Heavenly One, but the Infernal One. The latter is
himself a liar and the father of lies (Jn 8:44) that may arise in any
given person. He is sin and the father of sin. For this reason, those
whose soul is given to evil passions are
called “children
of wrath"
(Eph 2:3) by the Apostle Paul. He who separates himself from true
life is named "son
of perdition”
(Jn 17:12). And someone who is loose and immoral is called "the
son of traitorous maidens”
(1 Sam 20:30). on the contrary, those who have a conscience full of
light are called "sons
of light and of the day"
(1 Thess 5:5). And those who have sought to fortify themselves with
divine power are called “sons
of power”
(1 Sam 10:26).
When
therefore the Lord teaches us in this prayer to call God “Father,”
I believe He is doing nothing less
than
ordaining an exalted and sublime way of life. For
He who is the Truth does not of course teach us to lie, that is, to
state that which we are not. He does not want us to name God as
Father when it is not our right.
But when we dare call the Incorruptible God, the One perfectly just
and good, "our
Father,"
we must
attest to our kinship with Him by our way of life. Do you see how
much preparation
we need? What quality of life? How much and what kind of diligence in
order that our conscience rise to that level of confidence to dare
address God as "Father?"
When
we approach God, let us first examine our way of life. Let us see if
we inwardly possess some
quality
worthy of divine kinship. And then we can take courage to speak those
words. For the Lord who has directed us to say "Father"
did not thereby permit us to speak a lie. Therefore, whoever conducts
himself worthily of God, it is he who rightly gazes toward the
heavenly city. It is he who rightly names the King of heaven "Father"
and calls the heavenly blessedness his own homeland. Where does the
aim of our advice lead? To think of the things above, where God is.
It is there that each should lay the foundation stones of his home.
It is there that each should lay up treasures and each lift up his
heart. "For
where the treasure is, there is also the heart"
(Mt 6:21). Then one can continuously behold the beauty of the Father
and adorn his own soul with that same beauty.
Extracted from:
https://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Lords_Prayer.html
St.
Gregory of Nyssa,
(c. 335 – c. 394),
was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Nyssa
(in Turkey) from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He
is venerated as a saint in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Oriental
Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and Lutheranism. Gregory, his elder brother
St. Basil of Caesarea, and their friend St. Gregory of Nazianzus are
collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers. He was an erudite
Christian theologian who made significant contributions to the
doctrine of the Trinity and the Nicene Creed.
See my Catholic books at this Link.
[In
Maria Valtorta’s writings there are a number of separate teachings
on the Lord’s Prayer given by Jesus Himself.]
If
the world were able to live out the “Our Father,” the Kingdom of
God would be in the world.
In
the “Our Father” the perfection of prayer is found. Observe: no
act is absent in the brevity of the formula. Faith, hope, charity,
obedience, resignation, abandonment, entreaty, contrition, and mercy
are present. In saying it, you pray with all Paradise, during the
first four petitions; then, leaving Heaven, which is the dwelling
that awaits you, you return to the earth, remaining with your arms
upraised towards Heaven to make entreaties for your earthly needs and
to ask for aid in the battle to be won in order to go back up above.
“Our
Father, who art in heaven.”
[…]
Only my love could tell you, “Say 'Our Father'.” By this
expression I publicly invested you with the sublime title of sons and
daughters of the Most High and brothers and sisters of mine. If
someone, burdened by the consideration of his human nothingness, may
doubt that he is a child of God, created in his image and likeness,
on considering these words of mine, he can no longer doubt. The Word
of God does not err and does not lie. And the Word tells you, “Say
'Our Father'.”
To
have a father is something sweet and a powerful aid. In the material
order, I wanted to have a father on earth to protect my existence as
a baby, as a boy, and as a young man. By this I wanted to teach you −
both children and fathers − how great the moral figure of the
father is. But to have a Father of absolute perfection, as the Father
in Heaven is, is the sweetness of sweetnesses, the aid of aids. Look
at this Father-God with holy fear, but let grateful love for the
Giver of life in heaven and on earth always be stronger than fear.
“Hallowed
be thy Name.”
With
the same movement as the seraphim and all the angelic choirs, to whom
and with whom you join in glorifying the name of God, repeat this
exalting, grateful, just praise to the Holy of Holies. Repeat it
while thinking of Me − I, God, the Son of God, who, before you,
pronounced it with supreme veneration and supreme love. Repeat it in
joy and in sorrow, in light and in darkness, in peace and in war.
Blessed are those children who have never doubted the Father and at
every hour and in every event have been able to say to Him, “Blessed
be thy Name!”
“Thy
kingdom come.”
This
invocation ought to be the pulsation of the pendulum of your entire
life, and everything should gravitate around this invocation of
Goodness. For the Kingdom of God in hearts, and passing from hearts
into the world, would like to say, “Goodness, Peace, and every
other virtue”. Accentuate your lives, then, with numberless appeals
for the advent of this Kingdom. But let them be living appeals −
that is, to act in life by applying your sacrifice of every hour, for
to act well means to sacrifice nature to this end.
“Thy
Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
The
Kingdom of Heaven will belong to whoever has done the Will of the
Father, not to those who have heaped words upon words and then
rebelled against the Father's will […]. Here, too, you unite to all
of Paradise, which does the Will of the Father. And if the
inhabitants of the Kingdom do it, won't you do so to become, in turn,
the inhabitants of Heaven? Oh, the joy that has been prepared for you
by the Triune Love of God! How can you fail to work with a
persevering will so as to conquer it?
Those
doing the Will of the Father live in God. In living in God, they
cannot err, cannot sin, and cannot lose their dwelling in Heaven, for
the Father has you do nothing except what is Good and what, in being
Good, saves from sinning and leads to Heaven. Those making the
Father's Will their own, while annulling their will, know and savor −
while on earth − the Peace which is the endowment of the blessed.
Those doing the Will of the Father, while killing their perverse and
perverted will, are no longer men: they are already spirits moved by
love and living in love. You must, with good will, tear your will out
of your heart and replace it with the Will of the Father.
After
having provided for the petitions regarding the spirit, since you are
poor, living amidst the needs of the flesh, ask Him who supplies food
to the birds of the air and clothing for the lilies of the field for
bread.
“Give
us this day our daily bread.”
I
said this day and I said bread. I never say anything useless. “This
day. Ask the Father for help day by day. It is a measure of prudence,
justice, and humility.
Prudence:
if you had everything at once, you would waste a great deal. You are
eternal children and capricious, in addition. The gifts of God should
not be wasted. Furthermore, if you had everything, you would forget
God.
Justice:
Why should you have everything at once when I received help from the
Father day by day? And would it not be unjust to think that it is
well for God to give you everything together, […] in the fear that
God will not provide tomorrow? Distrust − you do not reflect on
this − is a sin. God must not be distrusted. He loves you
perfectly. He is the most perfect Father. To ask for everything at
once affronts trust and offends the Father.
Humility:
having to ask day by day refreshes in your mind the concept of your
nothingness, of your condition as poor ones, and of the All and
Wealth of God. Bread. I said “bread” because bread is the king of
foods, the one indispensable for life. With one word and in the word
I have enclosed − so that all of you would request them − all the
needs of your stay on earth. But as the temperature of your
spirituality varies, so does the extent of the word.
Bread
as food
for
those who have an embryonic spirituality, to such a degree that it is
already a great deal if they are able to ask God for the food to fill
their stomachs. There are some who do not ask for it and take it with
violence, cursing God and their brothers and sisters. These are
looked upon with wrath by the Father because they trample upon the
precept from which the others come: “Love your God with all your
heart; love your neighbor as yourself.'
Bread
as help
in moral and material needs for those living not only for their
stomachs, but who are able to live for thought as well, possessing a
more highly-formed spirituality.
Bread
as religion
for those who, even more highly formed, place God before the
satisfactions of sense and of human sentiment and are already capable
of spreading their wings in the supernatural.
Bread
as spirit, bread as sacrifice
for those who, once the full age of the spirit is reached, are able
to live in spirit and in truth, concerning themselves with the flesh
only to the extent that is strictly necessary to continue to exist in
mortal life, until it is time to go to God. They have now chiseled
themselves according to my model and are living copies of Me over
whom the Father bends in a loving embrace.
“Forgive
us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
There
is no one, among the number of those created, except for my Mother,
who has not had to seek the Father's forgiveness for more or less
serious sins, according to each one's capacity to be a child of God.
Ask the Father to erase you from the list of his debtors. If you do
so in a humble, sincere, and contrite spirit, you will incline the
Eternal in your favor.
But
an essential condition to receive, to be forgiven, is to forgive. If
you only seek mercy and do not grant it to your neighbor, you will
not experience God's forgiveness. God does not like the hypocritical
and the cruel, and whoever refuses to forgive his brother refuses the
Father's forgiveness for himself. Consider, moreover, that no matter
how much you may have been wounded by your neighbor, the wounds you
have inflicted upon God are infinitely more serious. Let this thought
spur you to forgive everything, as I forgave through my Perfection
and to teach you forgiveness.
“Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
God
does not lead you into temptation. God tempts you with gifts of
Goodness alone, and to attract you to Himself. You, interpreting my
words incorrectly, think they mean that God leads you into temptation
to test you. No. The good Father who is in Heaven permits evil, but
does not create it. He is the Good from which every good flows. But
Evil exists. It existed from the moment Lucifer set himself up
against God. It is up to you to make Evil a Good by overcoming it and
by beseeching the Father for the strength to overcome it.
This
is what you request in the last petition. That God may grant you
enough strength to be able to withstand temptation. Without his aid
temptation would bend you, for it is cunning and strong, and you are
dull and weak. But the Father's Light illuminates you, and the
Father's Power strengthens you, and the Father's Love protects you,
so that Evil dies and you are left freed from it.
This
is what you ask for in the “Our Father” which I have taught to
you. Therein everything is comprehended; everything understood;
everything which it is just to request and grant, requested. If the
world were able to live out the “Our Father,” the Kingdom of God
would be in the world. But the world is unable to pray. It is unable
to love. It is unable to save itself. It is capable only of hating,
sinning, and condemning itself.
But
I did not give and make this prayer for the world, which has
preferred to be the kingdom of Satan. I have given and made this
prayer for those whom the Father has given to Me because they are
his, and I have made it so that they may be one with the Father and
with Me, beginning in this life, so as to reach the fullness of union
in the other.
Based on Jesus’ Commentary from
The Notebooks, July 7, 1943.
View my web page and Catholic books Here.
From his Letters:
1.
Do not turn in on yourself as so often happens, unfortunately. In the
midst of trials which may afflict you, just place your confidence in
our Supreme Good in the knowledge that He takes more care of us than
a mother takes of her child. (Pg. 260, Letter 36, Pietrelcina,
26-11-14)
2.
Don’t allow any sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents
the Holy Spirit from acting freely. If ever you insist on being sad,
then let it be a holy sadness at the sight of the evil that is
spreading more and more in society nowadays. How many poor are every
day deserting God, our Supreme Good! (Pg. 260, Letter 36,
Pietrelcina, 26-11-14)
3.
To refuse to submit one’s own judgement to that of others,
especially to those who are quite expert in the field in question, is
a sign that we possess very little docility and an all too obvious
sign of secret pride. (Pg. 260, Letter 36, Pietrelcina, 26-11-14)
4.
The soul that is destined to reign with Jesus Christ in eternal
glory, then, must be remodeled by the blows of hammer and chisel. But
what are these blows of the hammer and chisel by which the divine
Artist prepares the stone, the chosen soul? These strokes of the
chisel are the shadows, fears, temptations, spiritual torments and
agitation, with a dash of desolation and even physical pain. (Pg.
97, Letter 8, Pietrelcina, 19-5-14)
5.
Never lie down to sleep without having first examined your conscience
on the way you have spent the day and without first turning your
thoughts to God. Then offer and consecrate your whole person and that
of every Christian.
Offer,
moreover, to the glory of His divine Majesty, the rest you are about
to take and never forget your Guardian Angel who is always close to
you, who never leaves you no matter how badly you treat him. O
unspeakable excellence of this good angel of ours! How many times,
alas, have I made him weep when I refused to comply with his wishes
which were also God’s wishes! May this most faithful friend of our
save from further unfaithfulness. (Pg. 292, Letter 41,
Pietrelcina, 17-12-14)
6.
Drive away what the enemy is whispering loudly in your when he wants
you to believe you are almost on the point of being lost. Despite
these evil insinuations, the Lord is with you as never before in your
tribulations. God tells us. Take heart, then, and don’t be afraid,
for it is quite certain that the one who fears to be lost will not be
lost and the one who fights with his eyes fixed on God will cry
victory and the triumphal hymn. There is nothing to be afraid, for
the heavenly Father has promised us the necessary help to prevent us
from being overcome by temptations. (Pg. 411, Letter 62, Piertelcina,
10-4-15)
7.
May Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, enable you to
understand all that is contained in the great secret of suffering
borne with a Christian spirit. May she obtain for you all the
strength you require to climb to the summit of Calvary loaded with
your own cross. Great strength is needed, unfortunately, to follow
this path, but take heart, for the Savior will never leave you alone
or without his help. (Pg. 487, Letter 79, Pietrelcina, 4-8-1915)
8.
No matter how great the trial to which the Lord is to subject you, no
matter how unbearable your spiritual desolation at certain moments of
your life, never lose heart. Have recourse with more childlike trust
to Jesus who will never be able to resist bestowing on you some
little solace and comfort. Turn to Him at all times even when the
devil tries to cast a pall over your life by showing you your sins
lift up your voice loudly to Him and let it express your spiritual
humility, your heartfelt contrition and your vocal prayer. It is true
that God’s power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering
prayer prevails over God Himself. (Pg. 504, Letter 82,
Pietrelcina, 7-9-1915.)
His Famous Quotes:
Prayer
is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must
speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact
on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart.
Some
people are so foolish that they think they can go through life
without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray
the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the
world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed
Mother.
Every
Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous
effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves,
do not know…It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun
than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
Pray,
Hope, and Don’t Worry.
Our
Lord loves you and loves you tenderly; and if He does not let you
feel the sweetness of His love, it is to make you more humble and
abject in your own eyes.
Go
to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it
as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it
is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains
necessary graces!
On
this earth everyone has his cross. But we must act in such a way
that we be not the bad, but good thief.
God
commands us to love Him, not as much as He deserves, because He
knows our capabilities and therefore He does not ask us to do what
we cannot do. But He asks us to love Him according to our strength,
with all our soul, all our mind, and all our heart.
You
must concentrate on pleasing God alone, and if He is pleased, you
must be pleased.
May
the Child Jesus be the star that guides you through the desert of
your present life.
Prayer
is the oxygen of the soul. Padre Pio
The
Lord is a Father, the most tender and best of fathers. He cannot
fail to be moved when His children appeal to Him.
Only
in Heaven will everything be as beautiful as spring, as pleasant as
autumn, and as full of love as summer.
Who
can assure us that we will be alive tomorrow? Let us listen to the
voice of our conscience, to the voice of the royal prophet: “Today,
if you hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.” Let us not put
off from one moment to another (what we should do) because the (next
moment) is not yet ours.
Through
the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him.
See my books on Saint Padre Pio and others Here.
