_This means--_
[Sidenote: The First Petition]
O Almighty God, dear heavenly Father, in this wretched vale of sorrows
Thy Holy Name is so much profaned, blasphemed and put to shame, given
to much which is not for Thine honor, abused in many things and made a
cloak for sin, so that even a shameful life may well be called a
shaming and dishonoring of Thy Holy Name:
Grant us, therefore, Thy divine grace, that we may be on our guard
against everything which doth not serve to the praise and honor of Thy
Holy Name. Help us, that all witchcraft and sorcery may be done away.
Help us, that all conjuring of the devil or of creatures by Thy Name
may cease. Help us, that all false beliefs and superstitions may be
rooted out. Help us, that all heresy and false doctrine which disguise
themselves with Thy Name may come to naught. Help us, that no false
pretence of truth and piety and holiness may deceive any man. Help us
that none may swear or lie or deceive by Thy Name.
Protect us against all false confidence pretending to rest upon Thy
Name. Protect us against all spiritual pride and the vainglory of
worldly honor or reputation. Help us in all our necessities and
weaknesses to call upon Thy Holy Name. Help us in anguish of
conscience and in the hour of death not to forget Thy Name. Help us
with all our goods and in all our words and works to praise and honor
Thee alone, and not thereby to make or seek to make a name for
ourselves, but only for Thee, Whose alone are all things. Preserve us
from the shameful vice of ingratitude.
Grant that by our good works and life all other men may be stirred up
to praise, not us, but Thee in us, and to honor Thy Name [Matt. 5:16].
Help us, that our evil works or weaknesses may give no one occasion to
stumble and dishonor Thy Name or to cease from praising Thee. Keep us,
that we may not desire any temporal or eternal blessing which is not
to the honor and praise of Thy Name, and if we pray for such things,
give Thou no ear to our folly. Help us so to live that we may be found
true children of God, that Thy Fathername may not be named upon us
falsely or in vain.
To this petition belong all the psalms and prayers in which we praise,
honor, thank and sing to God, and here belongs the whole Hallelujah.
The Second Petition: _Thy Kingdom come_.
[Sidenote: The Second Petition]
_This means--_
This wretched life is a kingdom of all sin and wickedness, under one
lord, the evil spirit, the source and head of all wickedness and sin;
but Thy kingdom is a kingdom of every grace and virtue under one Lord,
Jesus Christ Thy dear Son, the Head and Source of every grace and
virtue. Therefore help us, dear Father, and be gracious unto us.
Grant us above all things a true and constant faith in Christ, a
fearless hope in Thy mercy despite all the fearfulness of our sinful
conscience, and a thorough love to Thee and to all mankind. Keep us
from unbelief and despair and revengefulness.
Help us against lewdness and unchastity, and give us a love for
virginity and all purity. Help us out of dissension, war and discord,
and let the virtue of Thy kingdom come--peace, and unity, and quiet
rest. Grant that neither wrath nor any other bitterness may set up its
kingdom within us, but that there may rule within us, by Thy grace,
sweet simplicity and brotherly fidelity, and all kindliness, charity
and gentleness. Help us to have within us no undue sorrow or sadness,
but let joy and gladness in Thy grace and mercy come to us. And help
us, finally, that all sin may be turned away from us, so that we may
be filled with Thy grace, and all virtues and good works, and thus
become Thy kingdom, so that all our heart, mind and spirit, with all
our powers of body and soul, may obediently serve Thee, keep Thy
commandments and do Thy will, be ruled by Thee alone, and may not
follow after self or flesh or world or devil.
Grant that this Thy kingdom, now begun in us, may increase, and daily
grow in power; that indifference to God's service--that subtle
wickedness--may not overcome us and make us all away, but give us
rather the power and earnest purpose not only to make a beginning in
righteousness, but boldly to go on unto perfection; as saith the
prophet, "Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death or grow
idle in the good life I have begun; and lest the enemy again prevail
against us." [Ps. 13:3 f.]
Help us that we may remain constant, and that Thy future kingdom may
finish and complete this Thy kingdom which is here begun. Help us out
of this sinful, perilous life; help us to long for the life to come,
and more and more to hate this life. Help us not to fear death, but
desire it. Take away from us the love of living here, and all
dependence on this present life, that thus Thy kingdom may in us be
made perfect and complete.
To this petition belong all the psalms, versicles and prayers in which
we pray to God or grace and virtue.
The Third Petition: _Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven_.
[Sidenote: The Third Petition]
_This means--_
Our will, compared with Thy will, is never good, but always evil; but
Thy will is always best, lovable above all things and most to be
desired. Therefore, be merciful to us, dear Father, and let nothing be
done according to our will. Grant us and teach us to have real and
perfect patience when our will is broken or hindered. Help us, if
anyone speaks or is silent, does or omits anything that is contrary to
our will, that we become not angry or wrathful, neither curse, nor
complain, nor cry out, nor judge, nor condemn, nor accuse. Help us
with all humility to give place to those who oppose or hinder our
will, and letting our own will go, to praise and bless them and do
good to them as those who, against our own will, fulfil Thy divine
will, which is altogether good.
Give us grace willingly to bear illness, poverty, shame, suffering and
adversity, and to know that these are Thy divine will, or the
crucifying of our will. Help us to bear even injustice gladly, and
keep us from avenging ourselves. Suffer us not to render evil or evil
or to resist force with force, but grant us grace to take pleasure in
this will of Thine, which lays these things upon us, and to give Thee
praise and thanks. Suffer us not to lay it to the charge of the devil
or of wicked men when anything befalls us contrary to our will, but
help us to ascribe it only to Thy divine will, which orders all such
things for the hindering of our will and the increasing of our
blessedness in Thy kingdom.
Help us to die willingly and joyfully, and to welcome death as a
manifestation of Thy will, so that impatience and despair may not make
us disobedient toward Thee. Help us that all our members--eyes,
tongue, heart, hands, feet--be not submissive to their own desires or
will, but be taken captive, imprisoned and broken in Thy will.
Preserve us from all evil, rebellious, obstinate, stubborn and
capricious self-will.
Grant us a true obedience, a submissiveness simple and complete in all
things, spiritual and worldly, temporal and eternal. Preserve us from
the cruel vice of aspersion, slander, back-biting, malicious judging,
condemning and accusing of other men. O keep far from us the great
unhappiness and grievous plague of tongues like these; but teach us,
when we see or hear in others things blameworthy and to us
displeasing, to hold our peace, to cover them over, to make complaint
of them to none but Thee, to give them over to Thy will, and thus
heartily to forgive our debtors and have sympathy with them.
Teach us to know that no one can do us any harm, except he first do
himself a thousandfold greater harm in Thine eyes, so that we may be
moved thereby to mercy rather than to anger, to pity rather than
revenge. Help us not to rejoice when it goes ill with those who have
not done our will or have hurt us or otherwise displeased us by their
way of life; help us also not to be disturbed when it goes well with
them.
To this petition belong all the psalms, versicles and prayers in
which we pray to be delivered from sin and from our enemies.
The Fourth Petition: _Give us this day our daily Bread_.
[Sidenote: The Fourth Petition]
_This means--_
The bread is our Lord Jesus Christ[19], Who feedeth and comforteth the
soul. Therefore, O heavenly Father, grant us grace, that Christ's life
and words, His works and sufferings be preached, made known and
preserved to us and to all the world. Help us that in all our life we
may have His words and works before us as a powerful example and
mirror of all virtue. Help us in sufferings and adversities to find
strength and comfort in and through His cross and passion. Help us in
firm faith to overcome our own death by His death, and thus boldly to
follow our beloved Leader into the other life.
Give Thy grace to all preachers, that they may preach Thy Word and
Christ, to profit and salvation, in all the world. Help all who hear
the preaching of Thy Word to learn Christ, and honestly to better
their lives thereby. Graciously drive out of the Holy Church all
strange preaching and teaching from which men do not learn Christ.
Have mercy upon all bishops, priests, clergy and all that are in
authority, that they may be enlightened by Thy grace to teach and
govern us aright by precept and example. Preserve all that are weak in
faith, that they may not stumble at the wicked example of their
rulers.
Preserve us from heretical and apostate teachers, that we may remain
one, partaking of one daily bread--the daily doctrine and word of
Christ. Graciously teach us to regard aright the sufferings of Christ,
receive them into our hearts, and form them in our lives, to our
salvation. Suffer us not at our last hour to be deprived of the true
and holy body of Christ[20]. Help all priests to use and administer
the holy sacrament worthily and savingly, to the edification of the
whole Church. Help us and all Christians to receive the Holy Sacrament
at its proper season, with Thy grace and to our salvation. And _summa
summarum_, "Give us our daily bread," that is, may Christ abide in us
and we in Him forever, and may we worthily bear His name, the name of
Christian.
To this petition belong all prayers or psalms which are prayed for
rulers, and especially those or protection against false teachers,
those for the Jews, heretics and all that are in error, and also
those or all distressed and comfortless sufferers.
The Fifth Petition: _And forgive us our Debts, as we forgive our
Debtors._
[Sidenote: The Fifth Petition]
_This means--_
To this petition a condition is attached, viz., that we first forgive
our debtors. When that has been done we may say afterward, "Forgive us
our debts." That we may do this, we have prayed in the Third Petition,
"Thy will be done." It is God's will that we patiently suffer all
things, and not render evil for evil, nor seek revenge; but render
good for evil, as doth our Father in heaven. Who maketh His sun to
rise upon the good and evil, and sendeth rain upon the thankful and
unthankful [Matt. 5:45]. Therefore, we pray: O Father, comfort our
conscience now and in our last hour, for it is now and will be
hereafter in grievous terror because of our sin and Thy judgment. Send
Thy peace into our hearts, that we may with joy await Thy judgment.
Enter not with us into the sharpness of Thy judgment, for then will no
man be found righteous [Ps. 143:2]. Teach us, dear Father, not to rely
on our own good works or merits, or to comfort ourselves therewith;
but boldly to cast ourselves upon Thy boundless mercy alone. In like
manner, suffer us not to despair because of our blameworthy, sinful
life, but to deem Thy mercy higher and broader and stronger than all
our life.
Help all men who in the hour of death or of temptation feel the
anguish of despair, and especially N. or N. Have mercy also upon all
poor souls in purgatory, especially N. and N. Forgive them and all of
us our sins, comfort them and receive them into grace. Render us Thy
good for our evil, as Thou hast commanded us to do to others. Silence
the evil spirit, that cruel slanderer, accuser and magnifier of our
sins now and at our last hour, and in all anguish of conscience, even
as we too refrain from slander, and from magnifying the sins of other
men. Judge us not according to the accusation of the devil and of our
miserable conscience, and hearken not to the voice of our enemies who
accuse us day and night before Thee, even as we too will not give ear
to those who accuse and slander other men. Remove from us the heavy
burden of sin and conscience, that with light and joyous hearts we may
live and die, do and suffer, trusting wholly in Thy mercy.
To this petition belong all the psalms and prayers which invoke
God's mercy upon sin.
The Sixth Petition: _And lead us not into Temptation_.
[Sidenote: The Sixth Petition]
_This means--_
We have three temptations or adversaries, the flesh, the world and the
devil. Therefore, we pray:
[Sidenote: The Flesh]
Dear Father, grant us grace that we may have control over the lust of
the flesh. Help us to resist its desire to eat, to drink, to sleep
overmuch, to be idle, to be slothful. Help us by fasting, by
moderation in food and dress and sleep and work, by watching and
labor, to bring the flesh into subjection and it it for good works.
Help us to fasten its evil, unchaste inclinations and all its desires
and incitements with Christ upon the cross, and to slay them, so that
we may not consent to any of its allurements, nor follow after them.
Help us when we see a beautiful person, or image or any other
creature, that it may not be a temptation, but an occasion or love of
chastity and for praising Thee in Thy creatures. When we hear sweet
sounds and feel things that please the senses, help us to seek therein
not lust, but Thy praise and honor.
[Sidenote: The World]
Preserve us from the great vice of avarice and the desire or the
riches of this world. Keep us, that we may not seek this world's honor
and power, nor consent to the desire for them. Preserve us, that the
world's deceit, pretences and false promises may not move us to walk
in its ways. Preserve us, that the wickedness and the adversities of
the world may not lead us to impatience, revenge, wrath or other
vices. Help us to renounce the world's lies and deceits, its promises
and unfaithfulness and all its good and evil (as we have already
promised in baptism to do), to abide firmly in this renunciation and
to grow therein from day to day.
[Sidenote: The Devil]
Preserve us from the suggestions of the devil, that we may not consent
to pride, become self-satisfied, and despise others for the sake of
riches, rank, power, knowledge, beauty or other good gifts of Thine.
Preserve us, that we all not into hatred or envy or any cause.
Preserve us, that we yield not to despair, that great temptation of
our faith, neither now nor at our last hour.
Have in Thy keeping, heavenly Father, all who strive and labor against
these great and manifold temptations. Strengthen those who are yet
standing; raise up all those who have fallen and are overcome; and to
all of us grant Thy grace, that in this miserable and uncertain life,
incessantly surrounded by so many enemies, we may fight with
constancy, and with a firm and knightly faith, and win the everlasting
crown.