MARCH 7, 2017
8:45 AM ORDINARY FORM MASS (4TH GRADE)
The "Our Father" is the most excellent of all prayers because Our Lord Himself made it and because its petitions ask for all we can need for soul or body.
The Lord's Prayer is divided into seven requests or petitions. Three of these petitions refer to God's honor and glory, and the remaining four to our corporeal or spiritual wants.
We call God Father because He does for us what a good father should do for his children. He gives us our existence; He protects us; He provides for us and teaches us; and because the name of "Father" fills us with love and reverence for him, and with confidence in Him.
We say "who art in heaven" to put us in mind (1) that heaven is our true home for which we were created; (2) that in heaven we shall see God face to face as He is; (3) that heaven is the place where God will be for all eternity, with the blessed.
Hallowed means set apart for a holy or sacred use, and thus comes to mean treated or praised as holy or sacred. "Thy name" means God Himself and all relating to Him, and by this petition we ask that God may be known, loved and served by all.
In the petition "Thy kingdom come" we ask (1) that God may reign in the souls of all men by His grace, so that they may attain eternal salvation; (2) that the true Church—Christ's kingdom—may spread upon earth till all men embrace the true religion.
In the petition for "our daily bread" we ask not merely for bread, but for all that we need for the good of our body or soul.
"Trespasses" mean here injuries done or offenses given to another, and when God is the person offended, "trespasses" mean sins.
In this petition we declare to God that we have forgiven all who have injured or offended us, and ask Him to reward us by pardoning our sins.
We may be said to forgive our enemies when we act, and, as far as possible, feel toward them as if they had never injured us.
A temptation is anything that incites, provokes, or urges us to offend God.
The best means of overcoming temptation is to resist its very beginning, by turning our attention from it; by praying for help to resist it; and by doing the opposite of what we are tempted to do.
It is not a sin to be tempted, because we cannot prevent it. It is sinful only to consent or yield to the temptation or needlessly expose ourselves to it.
We ask to be delivered from every evil of body and mind, but particularly to be delivered from sin, which is the greatest of all evils.
Text taken from "The Baltimore Catechism III, Section A - The Lord's Prayer."
