The Lords Prayer

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread."
Sometimes it happens that one of great learning and wisdom becomes fearful and timid; and, therefore, it is necessary that he have fortitude of heart lest he lack necessities: "It is He that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not."[1] The Holy Spirit gives this fortitude: "And the Spirit entered into me, . . . and He set me upon my feet."[2] This fortitude which is given by the Holy Ghost so strengthens the heart of man that he does not fear for the things that are necessary for him, but he trusts that God will provide for all his needs. The Holy Spirit who gives us this strength teaches us to pray to God: "Give us this day our daily bread." And thus He is called the Spirit of fortitude.
It must be noted that in the first three petitions of this prayer only things spiritual are asked for--those which indeed begin to be in this world but are only brought to fruition in the life eternal. Thus, when we pray that the name of God be hallowed, we really ask that the name of God be known; when we pray that the kingdom of God may come, we ask that we may participate in God's kingdom; and when we pray that the will of God be done, we ask that His will be accomplished in us. All these things, however, although they have their beginning here on earth, cannot be had in their fullness except in heaven. Hence, it is necessary to pray for certain necessaries which can be completely had in this life. The Holy Spirit, then, taught us to ask for the requirements of this present life which are here obtainable in their fullness, and at the same time He shows that our temporal wants are provided us by God. It is this that is meant when we say: "Give us this day our daily bread."[3]
In these very words the Holy Spirit teaches us to avoid five sins which are usually committed out of the desire for temporal things. The first sin is that man, because of an inordinate desire, seeks those things which go beyond his state and condition of life. He is not satisfied with what befits him. Thus, if he be a soldier and desires clothes, he will not have them suitable for a soldier, but rather for a knight; or if he be a cleric, clothes fit for a bishop. This vicious habit withdraws man from spiritual things, in that it makes his desires cleave to transitory things. The Lord taught us to avoid this vice by instructing us to ask for the temporal necessities of this present life as they are in accord with the position of each one of us. All this is understood under the name of "bread." And so He does not teach us to pray for that which is luxurious, nor for variety, nor for what is over-refined, but for bread which is common to all and without which man's life could not be sustained: "The chief thing for man's life is water and bread."[4] And: "Having food and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content."[5]
The second sin is that some in acquiring temporal goods burden others and defraud them. This vicious practice is dangerous, because goods thus taken away can be restored only with difficulty. For, as St. Augustine says: "The sin is not forgiven until that which is taken away is restored."[6] "They eat the bread of wickedness."[7] The Lord teaches us to avoid this sin, and to pray for our own bread, not that of another. Robbers do not eat their own bread, but the bread of their neighbour.
The third sin is unnecessary solicitude. There are some who are never content with what they have, but always want more. This is wholly immoderate, because one's desire must always be measured by his need: "Give me neither beggary nor riches, but give me only the necessaries of life."[8] We are taught to avoid this sin in the words, "our daily bread," that is, bread of one day or for one time.[9]
The fourth sin is inordinate voracity. There are those who in one day would consume what would be enough for many days. Such pray not for bread for one day, but for ten days. And because they spend too much, it happens what they spend all their substance. "They that give themselves to drinking and that club together shall be consumed."[10] And: "A workman that is a drunkard shall not be rich."[11]
The fifth sin is ingratitude. A person grows proud in his riches, and does not realize that what he has comes from God. This is a grave fault, for all things that we have, be they spiritual or temporal, are from God: "All things are Thine; and we have given Thee what we received of Thy hand."[12] Therefore, to take away this vice, the prayer has, "Give us" even "our daily bread," that we may know that all things come from God.
From all this we draw one great lesson. Sometimes one who has great riches makes no use of them, but suffers spiritual and temporal harm; for some because of riches have perished. "There is also another evil which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men. A man to whom God hath given riches and substance and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth; yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up."[13] And again: "Riches kept to the hurt of the owner."[14] We ought, therefore, pray that our riches will be of use to us; and it is this we seek for when we say, "Give us our bread," that is, make our riches be of use to us. "His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him. The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up; and God shall draw them out of his belly."[15]
Another great vice is concerned with the things of this world, viz., excessive solicitude for them. For there are some who daily are anxious about temporal goods which are enough for them for an entire year; and they who are thus troubled will never have rest: "Be not solicitous therefore, saying: "What shall we eat, or What shall we drink, or Wherewith shall we be clothed?"[16] The Lord, therefore, teaches us to pray that to-day our bread will be given us, that is, those things which will be needful for us for the present time.
One may also see in this bread another twofold meaning, viz., Sacramental Bread and the Bread of the Word of God. Thus, in the first meaning, we pray for our Sacramental Bread which is consecrated daily in the Church, so that we receive it in the Sacrament, and thus it profits us unto salvation: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven."[17] And: "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself."[18]
In the second meaning this bread is the Word of God: "Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God."[19] We pray, therefore, that He give us bread, that is, His Word.[20] From this man derives that happiness which is a hunger for justice. For after spiritual things are considered, they are all the more desired; and this desire arouses a hunger, and from this hunger follows the fullness of life everlasting.

Divine Providence

Does God see us? -- God sees us, and watches over us with loving care.

1. God preserves and governs the world. If He were to take away for one instant His sustaining power, the whole creation would at once fall back into nothingness. It is as if He held us in His hand. If He withdrew it for a moment, we would be nothing. "When thou shalt take away their breath, they shall die, and return again to the dust" (Ps. 103:29)
   
2. Nothing happens without the will or permission of God. Our Lord tells us that not one sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Heavenly Father, and that the very hairs of our head are numbered. God is to the world and men as the engine is to a train, as the pilot is to a ship. He guides the whole universe and all creatures. He guides the nations. "Cast all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you" (1 Pet. 5:7)

What is God's loving care for us called? -- God's loving care for us is called Divine Providence, His plan for guiding creatures to their proper end.

1. Divine Providence is good, constant, and just. It watches over even the humblest and most despised creature on earth. Of the paternal tenderness of God, Holy Scripture speaks thus: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands; thy walls are always before my eyes" (Is. 49:15,16).
   
2. God has special care for those who are poor, despised, and forgotten by the world. He has often shown forth His glory by means of the humble. So poor shepherds were the first to receive news of the birth of the Saviour. So poor fishermen were His Apostles. So a poor maiden was His Mother.

If Divine Providence is good, why do poverty, sickness, sufferings, and other physical evils exist? -- Physical evils are often the result of the weakness of creatures in body and mind. Although we often do not understand God's arrangements, we must have faith and exclaim with the Apostle: "How incomprehensible are God's judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!" (Rom. 11:33).

1. Physical evil is partly a punishment for actual sin. It serves to sanctify the good, and helps them attain eternal salvation. The greatest sufferers have often been the greatest saints. God sends suffering to the just man in order to prove his love. So holy Job lost everything he had, yet loved God more. So Tobias became blind and poor, and only proved his love for God.
   
2. God never sends anyone suffering beyond his strength. To gain merit, we must be patient and resigned under suffering. Let us imitate Our Lord in the Garden, whose prayer was, "Father, not my will, but thine, be done!" Our Lord taught us to say, in the Our Father, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He who resigns himself joyfully to the will of God, in sickness, death, poverty, persecution, and other misfortunes, obtains true peace of heart; he will be blessed even on this earth.
   
3. God often sends physical evil to sinners in order to bring them back into the right way. It serves as a warning to them. Among those who were converted through bodily sickness, we may mention St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola.
   
4. Sufferings can be a boon, and should be welcomed. By sufferings, patiently accepted, the punishment due for sin is diminished or cancelled. The more we suffer in this world, the less would we have to pay in the next life, in purgatory. As St. Paul said, "I am filled with comfort; I overflow with joy in all our troubles" (2 Cor. 7:4). "For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us." And St. Ignatius spoke from experience when he said, "When God sends us some great trouble, it is a sign that He designs great things for us, to raise us to great holiness."

If Divine Providence is just, why do the good often suffer misfortunes, and the wicked enjoy prosperity and honors? -- The misfortunes and satisfactions of the world are not real and lasting, and cannot gauge God's justice.

1. No sinner has true happiness; his conscience will not give him inner peace. Riches, honor, and pleasures can never give peace to the spirit. On the other hand, no lover of God has true misery, for he possesses inner peace and a good conscience. Real reward and punishment begin only after death. On earth sinners are rewarded for whatever good they do. Their good fortune lasts only for this life. The just are punished on earth for whatever sins they may have committed. Their reward is full in the other life.
   
2. We must therefore resign ourselves lovingly to the will of God. Thus we shall have peace of mind even in the midst of the greatest trials. Suffering should remind us that this is not our true home, and that we are citizens of heaven. "The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing" (Ps. 22:1). "In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, because thou hast saved my soul" (Ps. 30:1, 8).

Is God responsible for sin? -- God is not responsible for sin; sin is the result of man's wrong use of his free will.

1. God does not will or cause sin; He forbids it and will punish the sinner. He permits sin for His own reasons, to sanctify the good, by trying them and giving them opportunities for more faithful obedience. God created man free to choose good or evil. He wishes us to choose good, in order that we may merit heaven. But since we are free, we can, if we so wish, choose evil. God is not responsible for our sins.
   
2. Even the evil that God permits to happen, He turns to our good. He draws good out of evil. The wicked persecutions of the Church make the Gospel better known and loved among the just. Thus the patriarch Joseph said to his brothers, "You thought evil against me, but God turned it into good" (Gen. 50:30). "For those who love God, all things work together unto good" (Rom. 8:28).

God The Supreme Being

Who is God? -- God is the Supreme Being, infinitely perfect, Who made all things and keeps them in existence.

1. God made everything -- men, beasts, plants, planets, stars, everything. Not only that; God keeps everything in existence. Were He to take away His hand from what He created, everything would disappear into nothingness quicker than thought. Without a cause, there could be no effects. Without God, could there be anything at all? "In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). "In him were created all things" (Col. 1:16). "It is he who gives to all men life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25).
   
2. The traditions of all nations and races support the idea of the existence of God. All nations and peoples have an inner conviction of God's existence; their intellect supports their instinctive trust. Even among the wildest, most remote, and most degraded pagans there is invariably found the worship of some deity recognized as supreme, on whom man depends. There are savage peoples without ruler, laws, or even settlements, but never without some god that they worship with prayer and sacrifice.

What do we mean when we say that God is the Supreme Being? -- When we say that God is the Supreme Being, we mean that He is above all creatures, the self-existing and infinitely perfect Spirit.

"I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no god" (Is. 44:6). "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,' says the Lord God. 'who is and who was and who is coming'" (Apoc. 1:8)

What is a spirit? -- A spirit is a being that has understanding and free will, but no body, and will never die.

1. God is a pure spirit. As God has no body, when we speak of His eyes and His hands we only speak in a figurative manner, in order to make ourselves more understandable according to our human way of speaking. Our Lord said to the Samaritan woman at the well: "God is spirit; and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Yet God has often taken on visible forms, in order to be seen by men. Thus he showed Himself in the form of a dove at the baptism of Jesus, and in the form of tongues of fire on Pentecost. God is neither a dove nor tongues of fire; He merely assumed those forms in order to be seen by mortal eyes.
   
2. Angels and devils are pure spirits. Men are only partly spiritual, because they have a body. Man's soul is a spirit, absolutely independent of matter, and by creatures indestructible. As spirits, God and men have this in common, though in different degrees: all have understanding, intellect, and free will. By his free will man can even defy his Creator, God.

What do we mean when we say that God is self-existing? -- When we say that God is self-existing we mean that He does not owe His existence to any other being.

1. God made us, but who made God? God said to Moses, "I am who am" (Exod. 3:14). He exists of Himself, deriving His Being from no other. God is the First Cause. All other beings and things owe their existence to God. In comparison to Him, we are nothing.
   
2. Man can never have a complete knowledge of God. Man is finite and cannot fully understand the infinite. A cup can contain the immensity of the ocean more easily than man can fully understand the Infinite God. We know God only partly, from the order, harmony, and existence of things, from our conscience, and from God's revelations to man.

What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely perfect? -- When we say that God is infinitely perfect, we mean that He has all perfections without limit. God is immense and eternal, "an ocean without shore or bottom," the unchangeable Being that only Himself can fully understand: "Of his greatness there is no end" (Ps. 144:3)

1. God is so great and wonderful that He needs nothing to make Him greater or more wonderful. He possesses all perfections, countless, innumerable, illimitable, boundless. God cannot be better, holier, or more perfect than He already is. He is at the acme of perfection, the uncreated, the Infinite. "Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee" (3 Kings 8:27).
   
2. So perfect is God that He is infinitely incomprehensible, incapable of being completely understood. Reason can verify the revelation that God made of Himself. But when we make our reason or our emotions the final authority, we make ourselves our own god, and shut the road to the supernatural, the Infinite. God alone can bridge the chasm that yawns between the finite and the infinite. When we take advantage of His grace to seek Him in loving trust, He holds out His hand, a Father calling to children, to cross the chasm safely to Him.
   
3. The Creator is above all the created, though something of Him, some likeness of His Being, may be found in every creature. But even were all creatures, from the most glorious seraphim to the lowliest of moss, to combine their powers and perfections, theirs would be a faint shadow of God's all-encompassing supremacy.

What are some of the perfections of God? -- Some of the perfections of God are: God is eternal, all-good, all-knowing, all-present, and almighty. God's perfections do not exist separately in Him, but are one and identical with Himself. They are only various manifestations of His one nature and perfection. In God, for example, His goodness is one with His wisdom and power. His perfections, besides being one and the same in Him, are also identical with Him: that is, God Himself is infinity, wisdom, goodness, power.

Religion and the End of Man

What is the destiny of man? -- Man's high destiny is to go to God, because man comes from God, and belongs entirely to God.

1. Our reason tells us that Someone made us. That Someone is God. Nothing can proceed from nothing. If there had ever been a moment when nothing existed, nothing would ever have existed. Therefore, because we exist, we know Someone who made us also exists; that Someone is God. "He made us, and not we ourselves'' (Ps. 99:3). "All things have been created through and unto Him" (Col. 1:16).
   
2. Our reason also tells us that God must have made us for some purpose. God made man to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy forever with Him in the next. God made us for Himself. The end of man, as of all creation, is the glory of God; to manifest the divine perfections, to proclaim the goodness, majesty, and power of God. "The Lord hath made all things for Himself" (Prov. 16:4). Whether he wishes to or not, man must manifest God's perfections, dominion, and glory. Man's very existence does this; even his sins will in the end show forth God's infinite holiness and justice.
   
3. Through glorifying God, man is destined to share His everlasting happiness in heaven. Man was created chiefly for the life beyond the grave; this present one is merely a preparation for the eternal life. In this life we are exiles, wanderers, pilgrims. Heaven, the Home of God, is our true country, our true Home. There God wants to share with us His own unmeasured bliss. "For here we have no permanent city, but we seek for the city that is to come" (Heb. 13:14)
   
4. We belong to God. Since we are His creatures, we have certain duties towards God which we must fulfill. Religion teaches us what these duties are.

What is Religion? -- Religion is the virtue by which we give to God the honor and service due to Him alone as our Creator, Master, and Supreme Lord. It is by religion that we know, love, and serve God as He commands us to know, love and serve Him. It is by religion, then, that we fulfill the end for which we were made, and so save our soul. In order to practice this virtue, we must:

1. Believe all the truths revealed by God. In religion we learn about God and His perfections. We learn something about His great love for us. We learn what is right and what is wrong. We learn what God commands us to do. We learn about the future that He has prepared for us.
   
2. Carry Out in our lives what we learn about the duties we owe to God, about His commands and wishes. Mere knowledge is not religion, and will avail us nothing. The devil has knowledge, but he has no religion. Religion includes the service of God in fulfilling what we have learned of our duties towards Him. Religion is not a matter of feeling; it is a matter of will and of action. Our Lord says: "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28).The Apostle St. James said: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (Jas. 1).

How can we prove that all men are obliged to practice religion? -- We can prove that all men are obliged to practice religion, because all men are entirely dependent on God, and must recognize that dependence by honoring Him and praying to Him.

1. It is absolutely necessary for us to practice religion. God gives us no choice in the matter. Our chief business in life, the business which God commands us to attend to, is to go to God. And this depends on our practice of religion. It is by religion that we fulfill the purpose for which we were created. By believing what God has revealed, we know God. By knowing God, we cannot help but love Him. By practicing what we learn and obeying God's commands, we serve Him. "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me" (John 14:21).
   
2. Many people spend their lives in a vain pursuit of riches, honors, and pleasures. But these never satisfy the heart of man even on earth. Besides, they have to be left behind when the hour of death comes.

From whom do we learn to know, love, and serve God? -- Men learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who teaches us through the Catholic Church.

1. The study in which Jesus Christ teaches us about God and how to know, love, and serve Him, is the study of Religion. It is the most important study anyone can undertake. The neglect of this study is the root cause of crime in the world at present. Without a knowledge of God men give way to their basest passions. Our salvation is much more important than a knowledge of physics, poetry, or history. All our science and knowledge, with our wealth and honors, will be profitless if we do not save our soul. "What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. 16:26).
   
2. This study needs thought and attention. We need to listen to a good teacher. We cannot study it well by ourselves alone. The deacon Philip asked the Ethiopian reading Holy Scripture, "Dost thou then understand what thou art reading?" But he said, "Why, how can I, unless someone shows me?" (Acts 8:31).

Who are those that advocate no study of religion? -- Those that advocate no study of religion are generally termed free-thinkers, agnostics, skeptics, and rationalists.

1. These thinkers claim that all problems can be solved by the use of the intellect alone, without necessity of any principle, law, dogma or authority. "Freedom of thought" has a pleasant sound, but it is against reason; by it the mind is fettered by error. We submit our minds freely to natural and scientific truths; that is true freedom. If there is no freedom of thought in mathematics, why in religion?
   
2. "Freedom of thought" is evidently a contradiction; we are not free to think what is not the truth. There are fundamental laws that bind the intellect. For instance, are we free to believe that the sun revolves around the earth, even if it appears to do so?
   
3. The intelligent man, in order to attain the kind of freedom humanly possible, should find out to which authority he must submit; he must discover which is the Law. And this is why the rational man studies Religion, to find out this fundamental Law.