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As the world began watching Royal Canadian Mounted Police descend upon truckers protesting the Canadian government’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement on its southern border, protesters were stationed inside a nearby building voting on whether or not to give in to police pressure trying to break up their convoy demanding vaccine freedom. After a voice vote in favor of staying put — continuing to block the entryway between the U.S and Canada — the group can be seen bowing their heads praying the “Our Father.” Over the past week, a “Freedom Convoy” of more than 50,000 truckers formed in Canada, protesting the...

“Your Will Be done on earth as it is in Heaven…”The Lord’s prayer is truly heavenly. It directs us to our Father in Heaven, and it is to heaven that we look for and seek the blessings we need. The prayer seems designed to shape our affections and desires towards heaven. We are being taught to align our wills to heaven’s agenda as we ask for God’s kingdom and will to be done, and God’s name to be glorified above all of our own personal needs and desires. Yet, here in the third request our minds and desires are directed...

[Catholic Caucus] St. Thomas Would Oppose Changing the Lord’s Prayer Pope Francis’ pre-Christmas call for a better translation of the Lord’s Prayer was met by a number of defenses of the English translation which we all know by heart. Anthony Esolen, Lionel Yaceckzo  and Charlotte Allen, for example, have made it abundantly clear that, “and lead us not into temptation,” is a correct English translation of both the Greek and Latin texts of Matthew 6:13. This is not the end of the matter, though. For, as Esolen eloquently puts it: “The words of Jesus, as words, are clear. Their implications...

The Lord’s Prayer Is Just Fine the Way It Is St. Benedict begins his Rule, “Hearken O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart.” This fundamental principle shapes not only the life of the monk, but of every Christian. Will we listen to the words of Christ, the Lord and teacher, and conform our life to them? What is the alternative? As shocking as it is, the words of Christ are constantly explained away.“And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he...

The German bishops’ conference has decided not to change their translation of the Our Father prayer.In a statement, the bishops said they will keep the line “And lead us not into temptation” as it is, despite recent comments from Pope Francis suggesting it was misleading.The Pope said the line wrongly implies that God tempts people into evil. He told a French TV station in December that this was “not a good translation”, adding: “I am the one who falls. It’s not Him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.“A father doesn’t do that, a father helps...

Lines from the Lord's Prayer, in various languages. From the Eucharist Door at the Glory Facade of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. It's Lent in Rome. That means it's time for one of the great Roman traditions: station churches. Each morning, English-speaking pilgrims walk to a different church for Mass. This morning, on the way to St. Anastasia's, I was once again struck by a line in the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That's a hard thing to pray, It doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room. Even the Catechism...

The Orans Position and holding hands during the Our Father[caption id="attachment_1144" align="alignnone" width="300"] Dominican Orans position at the Unde et Memores[/caption] Most people who attend a Novus Ordo parish or who simply attend Mass in what is known as the Ordinary Form (which most people attend) encounter two specific types of hand gestures that many of the laity engage in. The first type of hand gesture is that which is known as the "Orans Position" (praying with elevated hands). This type of gesture can be seen in several parts of the Mass such as when one of the laity elevates...

The Incarnational Drama of the Our Father Stephen BealeThere once was an Eastern Church spiritual adviser who suggested beginning the Our Father backwards.We should begin with the last petition so that we end with Our Father, he said. Such is the pathway to Easter: from temptation in the desert to forgiveness and manna in the desert to our arrival in the promised land—so goes the thinking in an anecdote Pope Benedict XVI recounts in Jesus of Nazareth.There is some sense to this: we often approach God in prayer in times of temptation, to seek deliverance, to ask for a...

Most of you know that I write the Question and Answer Column for Our Sunday Visitor. And every now and then it is good to bring these works of mine together. An interesting question came in today (actually it is asked quite frequently) and I’d like to give my answer and add just a few things more that wouldn’t fit into the column. First the question, then the answer and a brief elaboration.Q: Why does the Lord’s Prayer ask God not to lead us in temptation? Why would God do that? I have also read texts in the Bible about...

Monday, July 07, 2008 "Orans" Posture and Hand-Holding During the Our Father Are Against the Rubrics (Instructions) For the Mass   Two liturgical abuses at once: "orans" posture and hand-holding during the Our Father [ source ] Colin B. Donovan, STL, over at the EWTN website, states that the "orans' posture in the congregation (arms outstretched in a "praying" or adoration position) is contrary to the rubrics:The liturgical use of this position by the priest is spelled out in the rubrics (the laws governing how the Mass is said). It indicates his praying on BEHALF of us, acting as alter...

“Our Father Who Art in Heaven” (Matthew 6:1-21; The Lord’s Prayer)You know, during Lent there is a strong tradition to do a series on some part of the Catechism. And that’s what we’re going to do for this Lenten season. Today we begin a nine-part sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. I’m calling it “Lord, Teach Us to Pray,” which is what the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. And Jesus responded by giving them the Lord’s Prayer, as well as other teaching about prayer. Apparently, Jesus wants his Christians to pray. He thinks it’s important. He gives us instruction...

5 Things You Don’t Know about the Our Father by Stephen Beale on July 9, 2013 ·  50  It’s a prayer faithful Catholics say at least once a week at Mass, if not several times daily. The words are well-known and well-worn in our mind, but there is a lot more to the Our Father than at first meets the eye.Here are five things you did (or may) not know about this, the most central of all Christian prayers:1. Echoes Jewish prayer: There’s an ancient prayer that beings with these words: May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified...

5 Things You Don’t Know about the Our Father by Stephen Beale on July 9, 2013 ·    It’s a prayer faithful Catholics say at least once a week at Mass, if not several times daily. The words are well-known and well-worn in our mind, but there is a lot more to the Our Father than at first meets the eye.Here are five things you did (or may) not know about this, the most central of all Christian prayers:1. Echoes Jewish prayer: There’s an ancient prayer that beings with these words: May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified...

In the breviary we are currently reading St Cyprian’s commentary on the Lord’s prayer. It is a prayer shared by and prized by all Christians. Few if any have not committed to memory.Yet within the Lord’s prayer is a mysterious word that both Greek and Biblical scholars have little agreement over or even a clear understanding of in terms of its precise meaning. Most Christians who do not read Greek are unaware of the difficulties and debate surrounding the word. They simply accept that the most common English translation of the Our Father is undisputed. To them the problem is...

Pope Francis leads the Bishops of Italy in a solemn Profession of Faith in St. Peter's Basilica for their 65th General Assembly May 23, 2013. Credit: Stephen Drsicoll/CNA. Vatican City, Jun 20, 2013 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis stressed that it's false to think our enemies “must go to hell” during his daily Mass at the Vatican's Saint Martha House June 20. “You cannot pray with enemies in your heart,” he said June 20. “With (both) brothers and enemies in your heart, you cannot pray.” “They must go to hell, right? I will have nothing to do...

Featured Term (selected at random):PATER NOSTER The prayer composed and taught by Christ to the Disciples (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). Named from the first two words of the prayer in the Latin, Pater Noster (Our Father). The Pater Noster has been part of the Church's liturgy since apostolic times. It was part of the profession of faith for the reception of catechumens into the Church, has more commentary by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church than any other passage in the Bible, and, after baptism, is the best known bond of unity among Christians in every tradition. Its seven...

Why the Our Father is a Pro-life Prayer, Part 2 January 19th, 2010 by Fr. Frank Pavone “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Union with the will of God is the heart of salvation and the essence of holiness. It is also the cornerstone of the culture of life. To say, “thy will be done” is the opposite of saying, “my will be done; it’s all up to my choice.”When we see a child living in the womb, we see the will of God. The Lord never makes human beings by accident. Each child...

Why the Our Father is a Pro-life Prayer, Part 1January 5th, 2010 by Fr. Frank Pavone The Lord gave us the Our Father as the model of all prayer, and in each line we receive insight as to why we are pro-life. Prayer itself is inherently pro-life because it puts God at the center of our lives and choices. The “pro-choice” mentality, instead, puts us at the center.“Our Father”. There is one Father of us all, the one who gives both divine life and the natural human life which is its pre-requisite. The Father is the Creator, and if he...

Part Four:   Lord, Teach Us To Pray Seventh Petition:  “ Deliver Us from Evil. Amen” Table of Contents     The closing petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a compendium of everything from which we want God to deliver us, in this life and in the life to come. St. Cyprian, who wrote the first extensive commentary on the Pater Noster, teaches that we are here praying to be freed from the consequences of sin. The Church follows this teaching, which places our dread of evil into proper perspective.So far, in the Our Father, we have prayed for God’s mercy on our sins,...

Part Four:   Lord, Teach Us To Pray Sixth Petition:  “ Lead Us Not into Temptation” Table of Contents     Temptation is an invitation to sin. The source of the temptation may be the attractive, sinful conduct of other people, called the world; or the disorderly desires of our own fallen nature called concupiscence; or the malicious urging of the evil spirit, whom we call the devil. When we pray not to be led into temptation, we are not asking to be freed from the testing of all human beings to prove their loyalty to God. Temptation as a test of our fidelity...