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Our Father  (the Lord's Prayer)
	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. Amen.

 

Pater noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur nomen tuum: adveniat regnum tuum: fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie: et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in temptationem. Sed libera nos a malo. Amen [Pater Noster, 1945 Lasance Missal]

Pater noster, qui in caelis es: sanctificetur nomen tuum: veniat regnum tuum: fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie: et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimisimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne inducas nos in temptationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen [Mt 6:9-13, Vulgate NT]

Padre Nostro, che sei nei cieli, sai sanctificato il tuo nuome venga il tuo regno, sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti, come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori, e non c'indurre in tentazione. Ma liberaci dal male. Così sia. [Stedman Missal, in Italian (Il Mio Messale Della Domenica), 1943]

Notre Père, qui êtes aux cieux; Que votre nom soit sanctifié; Qui votre règne arrive; Que votre volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel; Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de chaque jour; Pardonnez-nous nos offenses comme nous pardonnons à ceux qui nous ont offensés; Et ne nous laissez pas succomber à la tentation. Mais délivrez-nous du mal. Ainsi soit-il. [Lefebvre Daily Missal and Vespers, in French, 1934]

 

The Lord's Prayer   The Lord's Prayer, called the Apostle's Prayer, called the Our Father, or Pater Noster (in Latin, see just above). It is found in its entirety in Matthew, chapter 6.

 

Our Father, Who art in Heaven,   God, The Father, Almighty. The First Person in the Undivided Trinity - One God. The Father Who sent His only Begotten Son. It seems a troubling thing for some, in these times, that God would be a Father, a male figure. But that must remain their problem, not ours. We confess Him as Our Father, and perhaps they, ultimately, do not. This prayer is, in fact, one which uses the plural - our Father instead of, my Father. Confessing The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost, Three Persons, Undivided Trinity, is something to bind Catholics together.

 

Hallowed be Thy Name.   Hallowed meaning revered, loved, held in the highest esteem. But hallowed as much by how we act and carry on. God's Name is to be hallowed, but only as we show our faith by example. And that comes from the heart and mind.

 

Thy kingdom come.   But in these times, what is this kingdom? A kingdom on earth, by pure 'process', by purely human schemes - the barren idea of unity de Tocqueville once noted in the Appendix Y of his famous treatise? The kingdom is not of this earth. Our Lord was not the conquering Messiah. The kingdom of heaven was opened to all who were predestined, to all who chose The Church, to all who love God as He wills. Good works must follow and be self-evident. But this is not to confuse good works with the mission or goal, itself. Our good works are not enough to trade or substitute for the word of God as taught by The Church in its Magisterium through the centuries. De Tocqueville was right.

 

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.   Which for the world begs the question. What is God's Will? Again, if one believes anything can be thought to be the 'will' of God, then what He wishes will likely be shunned and held in low regard. To do the Will of God is to lose oneself. To serve is to become a servant, a slave. God's Will is done in heaven, but not so easily on earth, as we, at last, fail to trust God even with our lives and livelihoods. We hold back, like the young rich man who had done God's Will in his life, but yet could not go the extra mile to sell all he had, and follow.

 

Give us this day our daily bread.   Security, grace, help? every day? Partly, as the manna from Heaven. But this goes more directly to The Eucharist. This is clearly the case in the Vulgate translation, which was changed in The Mass. Supersubstantial became by later refinement, transubstantial. But it seems clear this is the daily bread which is meant – the Eucharist at daily Mass. It is by The Holy Eucharist that, while we may sensibly notice no change, our temptations might be more easily put away and overcome. It is spiritual food, not necessarily physically felt, but manifest nonetheless; or else perhaps it really wasn't The Eucharist you received.

 

And forgive us our trespasses . . .   But just as we forgive those who trespass against us. We will have measured to us as we measured out to others. This is not the same, though, as daring to remit the sins of another. Only God can do so, and infuriated the priests and scholars of His day on earth when he dared to do so. The old saying, from Alexander Pope I believe, that to err is human but to forgive is divine, suggests a truth in our willingness to forgive, perhaps even when not asked. But all we can do is forgive, only God can remit. But for God to remit, it is also important to know how we've sinned, what more we've added to our debt before God. We must know what we are sorry for. St. Ignatius invented his spiritual exercises in order to help the early Jesuits discover just this. Even prayer, the Rosary for example, might help uncloud the mind for a moment to help us grasp just what we've done wrong, and how wrong it was. And just as we ought to receive The Eucharist, where possible (which is admittedly quite difficult in these times), we ought to reflect on our sins, daily, as well. But this must be so as not to repeat our mistakes; not to fall into the habits of the world, and traps set often inadvertently and by the bad habits by others.

 

And lead us not into temptation,   Not a plea, here, to spare us the trials of Job, or the tests God sends our way if He knows we would be up to it. We can't turn more to God, resist more temptation if, of course, we are not tempted to begin with. This is the plea that by God's grace we rely upon His wisdom to avoid falling into temptation. Temptation may be an occasional thing, in some instances. It may not be sufficiently frequent to call it, vice. That is, being tempted is one thing. We will be tempted. But succumbing to temptation, falling into that temptation, is sin, nonetheless, even if only in our hearts and minds.

 

but deliver us from evil.   From every evil, it often reads. Surely, this is also the same Hebrew plea to hold the enemy at bay so that we may do those things Our Lord would have, so that we may praise God in so many various ways without having to be always defending our very lives and livelihoods. And it is just as Israel was repeatedly delivered, even if they shortly betrayed God, again. Along with those temptations God allows us to face and conquer through Him, we are delivered from evil, if not suffering, in this life, and even from suffering in the next, if we are true, selfless, without the pride that prevents us from trusting God for that last little bit; that keeps us 'safe', so we think, because we won't go that last extra mile.

 

Amen.   It's true. So let it be written, as it were. A certainty. So be it! when we agree with someone saying it. It's the affirmation of the priest, for example, to say - it's just as you say.

 
 
 

 

The Glory Be  (or Minor Doxology)
	Glory be to God, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit; as it was at the beginning, is now, and forever shall be; world without end. Amen.

 

The Glory Be   The Glory Be, or minor doxology.

 

Glory be to God,   All glory be to One God, Three Persons, Undivided Trinity.

 

The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit;   Three Persons, One God.

 

as it was at the beginning,

 

is now,

 

and forever shall be;

 

world without end.   As the earth will be renewed. The prophecies describe a time when all will die. The earth will somehow be cleansed, remade; violently, catastrophically. And many will inherit the earth in their resurrected bodies, as Our Lord said in the Beatitudes recorded from the Sermon on the Mount. And, sadly, those who were unrepentant, who offended God to their dying breath, inherit only the eternal fire in hell.

 

Amen.   So let it be written, as it were. A certainty. So be it! And by affirmation of the priest, for example, to say - it's just as you say.