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Theo Tigno•
10/9/2007 10:31 pm
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Wednesday, October 10th 2007 |
Luke 11:1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for those who are traveling.
"Whatever else we say when we pray, if we pray as we should, we are only saying what is already contained in the Lord's Prayer." - St. Augustine
Today's reflection comes from Fr. John Harden, and the full article can be found at: http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Prayer/Prayer_004.htm
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St. Thomas on the Perfection of the Prayer
The perfection of the Our Father is unique because it comprehends everything which it behooves us to ask of God as either necessary or useful for salvation. Its seven petitions have been variously compared to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, to the seven Sacraments, and to the three theological and four cardinal virtues of the New Law. The arrangement alone, says Bellarmine, is enough to suggest from whence it came. Against the objection that the petitions are not fittingly assigned, St. Thomas answers that: "The authority of Christ who composed the Lord's Prayer is sufficient to forestall any criticism of its makeup." But more than merely fitting, "the structure of the Our Father is perfect. For since prayer is an interpretation of our desires, we should only pray for those things which are proper for us to desire. Now, in the Lord's Prayer what we are asking for from God is everything that we may lawfully ambition. It is, therefore, not only a catalog of petitions but also, and especially, a corrective for the affections. Thus, the first object of our desires is our last end; then, the means to arrive at this end. But our end is God, to whom our affections incline in two ways: the one in desiring the glory of God, the other in wishing to enjoy this divine glory. The first belongs to charity by which we love God in Himself; the second to charity by which we love ourselves in God. So, the first petition, Hallowed be Thy name, asks for the glory of God; and the second, Thy kingdom come, asks that we may come to the enjoyment of this glory.
"Moreover, we are directed to the end of our existence either by something which is essential or by something which is accidental as a means of salvation. However, it can be essential again either directly, according to the merit by which we deserve beatitude because we are obedient to God, and in this sense we ask: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: or it may be only instrumental although essential because it helps us to merit heaven. And in this respect we say: Give us this day our daily bread, whether we understand this of the Sacramental Bread of the Eucharist, the daily use of which is profitable to salvation, or of the bread of the body, which is symbolic for a sufficiency of food.
"We are also directed to heaven accidentally, by the removal of obstacles that stand in the way. There are three such obstacles to beatitude; (1) sin, which directly excludes a man from the kingdom of God. Therefore we pray: Forgive us our trespasses; (2) temptation, which leads us into sin. Hence our sixth petition: Lead us not into temptation; (3) temporal evils, the consequence of sin, which make the burden of life too heavy. Consequently, our final petition: Deliver us from evil."
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Take care and God Bless.
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