debts[1], as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.”[2]
COMMENTARY.
The necessity of Prayer. God does not require our prayers to know what we want, for He is Omniscient, and knows our needs better than we do ourselves. But they are necessary for us, to turn our hearts from the things of this world, and draw us heavenward by a humble sense of our nothingness and by a longing for the gifts of God.
Long prayers. Is it not right then that we should make long prayers? Did not our Lord spend whole nights in prayer? And did not St. Paul, after his conversion, pass three days praying? (chapter LXXXVIII.) Our Lord does not object to the long duration of our prayers, but to empty forms, useless repetition of words, and mere lip-service in prayer, wherein the heart takes no part. In another place He expressly says that men ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke 18, i), and St. Paul exhorts us to “pray without ceasing” (i Thess. 5, 17).
The Lord's Prayer. Our Lord has given us the ‘Our Father’ as a model prayer, and has expressly commanded us to use it. It is the most excellent and comprehensive of prayers: and in it we pray for all that is best, and for deliverance from evil. But, let it be remarked, the good things we ask for are spiritual, and the deliverance we pray for is from spiritual evils. We pray for both a temporal and a spiritual benefit only in the fourth petition, when we ask for the daily necessaries of life. This ought to teach us to pray chiefly for spiritual blessings, such as grace, pardon, virtue &c.; and not only for such temporal benefits as health, a good harvest &c.
6. Confidence in God.
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth[3], where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven[4], where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do
- ↑ Our debts. As God is offended by sin, we owe Him a debt of satisfaction for it. And Debtors are those who have injured us.
- ↑ Amen. Means: So be it.
- ↑ On earth. Treasures which have an earthly value, and such things as are perishable. Rust and verdigris eat away metals; moths destroy stuffs and clothes; thieves know where to seek out our treasures, even if they are buried in the ground; and, finally, death, the arch-thief, robs us of all our possessions.
- ↑ In heaven. Such good works as will be rewarded in heaven.
