The
Church militant regards herself as entirely composed of sinners; she
thinks herself unworthy to call God her Father, and to address to him
the seven petitions, which in the name of the faithful she is going
to address to him by reciting the
Pater
noster, (“The
Our
Father”). Hence she protests that
she only dares to address to God this prayer because God himself has
commanded her to do so. She then teaches us that we may venture to
present to God the seven petitions which contain the whole economy of
our salvation, because it is pleasing to him and he himself gives us
the command.
We
are so miserable, and our
mind is
so limited,
that we do not even know what graces
we
should ask of
God
in behalf of our own salvation. Regarding
our poverty and our insufficiency, Jesus
Christ
himself deigned
to compose our prayer
or to indicate
the
subjects
on
which we should address Almighty
God.
He instructs
us
to say:
Pater
noster,
qui
es
in coelis (“Our
Father, who art in
heaven). The Apostle St.
John says: Behold
what manner
of charity the Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should
be called, and should be the sons
of God.
It
is assuredly
only by the effect of extreme love that
we worms of
the earth have been enabled to become the
children of God,
not by nature, but by
adoption;
and
such is the immense
grace that the Son of God
has
obtained for
us by becoming
man; for St. Paul says: You
have
received the
spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba (Father). Can
a subject wish for greater happiness than to be adopted by his king?
Or a creature to be adopted by its Creator? This is what God has done
for us; and he wishes that we should address to him with filial
confidence the following prayer:
1.
Sanctificetur
nomem
tuum (“Hallowed
be Thy name”). God
cannot possess a greater sanctity than that which he possesses from
all eternity, because he is infinite; hence what we ask in this
prayer is merely that God may make known in every place his holy
name, and that he may make himself loved by all men: by unbelievers,
who know him not; by heretics, who do not know him in the right
manner; and by sinners, who know him but do not love him.
2.
Adveniat
regnum tuum (“Thy
kingdom come’’)· Two kinds
of dominion God exercises over our souls—the dominion of grace and
the dominion of glory. By these words we ask for both, namely, that
the grace of God may reign among us in this life, that it may direct
and govern us, so that one day we may be judged worthy of glory, and
may have the happiness to possess God and be possessed by him for all
eternity.
3.
Fiat
voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, et in terra (“Thy
will be
done on earth, as it is in heaven”). The whole perfection of a soul
consists in the perfect accomplishment of the will of God,
as is done by the blessed in heaven. Hence Jesus Christ wishes us to
ask the grace to accomplish the will of God upon earth, as the angels
and saints accomplish it in heaven.
4.
Panem
nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie (“Give
us this day
our daily bread”). Such is the text as we find it in St. Luke
[Luke 11:3]. By
this prayer we ask God for the temporal goods of which we stand in
need to sustain our present life. The words “Our daily bread’’
teach us that we should ask for this kind of goods with moderation,
after
the example of Solomon, who asked only what was necessary: (Give
me only the necessaries of life).
It
is to be remarked that
in the Gospel of St. Matthew [Matt. 6:11], instead of the daily
bread, we
read, Give
us this day
our
supersubstantial bread. By
this supersubstantial bread we must understand, according
to the explanation given by the Roman catechism, Jesus Christ himself
in the Sacrament of the Altar, that is, in Holy Communion. We ask
this
heavenly bread every day, Give
us this day, because
every
good Christian should communicate every day, if not really at least
spiritually, as we are exhorted by the Council of Trent.
5.
Et
dimitte nobis debita
nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (“And
forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
them that trespass against us”). To eat worthily of this heavenly
bread, we must be free from mortal sin, or at least be washed of it
by the blood of the Lamb in the
sacrament of penance. We
say,
free
from mortal sin; but
it must be observed that if anyone should communicate with
an actual affection
for
some venial sin, he could not be said to
communicate
without offering some indignity to
our
Lord—at
least if
he communicates
often.
6.
Et
ne
nos inducas in
tentationem (“And
lead us not into temptation”). How are
these
words to be understood? Does God sometimes
tempt us—does he lead us
into temptation? No; for St. James says:
God
is
not
a tempter of evils, and He tempteth no man. This
text we must
understand as we
do
that
of Isaias: Blind
the heart
of this people . .
.
lest they see.
God
never blinds
any
sinner, but he often refuses to grant to
some, in punishment
for their ingratitude, the light that
he
would
have
given
them had they remained faithful and grateful.
Hence
when it is said that God makes any one blind,
it
is meant that he withholds the light of
his
grace.
This,
therefore is the sense of the prayer, and
lead us
not into temptation; we
ask God not to permit us to
have the
misfortune of being in those occasions of
sin
in which we might
fall. Hence we should always watch and pray as
the Lord exhorts us to do, in order not
to fall
into temptation: Watch
ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. To
enter into temptation means the same as to find one’s self in the
danger of falling into sin; we should therefore
often say to God, Lord,
lead us not into
temptation.
7.
Sed
libera nos a malo (“But
deliver us from evil”). There are three kinds of evils from which
we should
ask
the Lord to deliver us—the temporal evils of the
body,
the
spiritual evils of the soul, and the eternal evils of the next
life. As for the temporal evils of this
life, we
ought always
to be disposed to receive with resignation those that
God sends us for the good of our souls, such
as
poverty,
sickness, and desolation; and when we ask God to
deliver us from temporal evils we should always
do
so on condition that they are not necessary
nor useful
for
our salvation.
But
the true evils from which we should absolutely pray to be delivered
are spiritual evils, sins, which are the cause of eternal evils.
Moreover, let us be convinced of this infallible truth, that in the
present state of corrupt nature we cannot be saved unless we pass
through the many tribulations with which this life is
filled: Through
many tribulations we
must enter into the
kingdom
of God.
The
priest finishes the Lord’s prayer with the word Amen,
which
he pronounces in a low voice, because he represents
the person of Jesus Christ, who is the foundation of all the divine
promises. This word is a summary of all the petitions that have been
made—petitions the repetition of which pleases the Lord, for the
more we pray to God the more he will hear our prayers. The great
people of this world are not pleased when they are importuned by
petitions; but this importunity is pleasing to God, says St. Jerome.
Cornelius a Lapide even assures us that God wishes that we should
persevere in this importunity in our prayers.
St.
Alphonsus de Liguori, The
Holy Mass – the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
Alpha Editions, 2020, pp. 58-62.
View
my Catholic books Here.
A certain sede-vacante website
has been featuring a major article to make the case for sedevacantism.
They present the below paragraph, quoting from the future Pope St. Pius
X, in order to support their thesis. However, if one reads this
carefully, it actually is a condemnation of sedevacantism.
When Leo XIII was Pope and was celebrating 50 years of being a priest in
1887, Bishop Giuseppe Sarto of Mantua in Italy said to his flock:
"The moment has come to prove to the great Vicar of Christ our
unchanging affection and fidelity. For us Leo XIII is the guardian of
the Holy Scriptures, the interpreter of the doctrine of Jesus Christ,
the supreme dispenser of the treasures of the Church, the head of the
Catholic religion, the chief shepherd of souls, the
infallible teacher, the secure guide, who directs us on our way through a
world wrapped in darkness and the shadow of death. All the strength of
the Church is in the Pope; all the foundations of our Faith are based on
the successor of Peter. Those who wish her ill assault the papacy in
every possible way; they cut themselves adrift from the Church, and try their best to make the Pope an object of hatred and contempt.
The more they endeavor to weaken our faith and our attachment to the
head of the Church, the more closely let us draw to him through the
public testimony of our Faith, our obedience and our veneration."
[F.A. Forbes, Pope St. Pius X (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1987), pp. 34-35.]
View my website Here.
