In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
The idea behind pagan religion condemned here is that there was some technique which could be discovered and put into practice; that there were perhaps some specific words that, if repeated sufficiently, would achieve desired results. It is as though they imagined prayer as one more science or skill, just one more facet of life to attempt to rigorously control. But Christianity turns this preconception on its head.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
With such a premise as Jesus offers here it is obvious that we can gain nothing by cajoling our Father, as though we have needs about which he knows nothing, and about which we can persuade him, by sufficient arguments, that they are worthy causes. Rather, it seems, God won't be moved at all by our prayers. But if this is the case, why pray? And how can prayer, as Christianity has always maintained, have genuine power? It must be the case that we pray in order that we ourselves be changed. And if power is unleashed when we do so it isn't because we managed to talk God into it but because he always desired to unleash it and we finally allowed grace to bring us to a place wherein we could receive it.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name
God is himself perfectly holy, but we pray that his holiness be known and understood whenever his name is invoked in thought or in speech. This has obvious ramifications for those who do not know his name at all and for those who, by misunderstanding his nature, are antagonists opposed to his name. But it has deep meaning for ourselves as well, for none of us know God to his inexhaustible depths. The result of our limited comprehension is that even we sometimes think we know better than him what he ought to do. But the result of this petition is that we might learn more and more that there is no fault within him and no shadow, but only goodness, only light, only awe-inspiring holiness.
thy Kingdom come
Jesus came among us proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was at hand. But it was not a Kingdom that could be imposed by military conquest. It could only be proposed and, by that invitation, conquer hearts with love. It was an invitation asking that individuals would open themselves to God's will for their world and for their own lives. With this was meant to be the recognition that if God's will were truly done on earth than the chief thing that made heaven to be heaven would also be realized here among us.
Give us this day our daily bread;
In the Kingdom of Jesus the citizens were not to live merely on physical bread, but above all on the word of God. It was precisely that word that would make the Eucharist a reality, transforming mere bread into the body and blood of the Word by his word. It is this sacred species above all else on which the Church is meant to rely for the strength she needs day to day.
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
If we cling to unforgiveness we place a roadblock between ourselves and all that God desires to do in us and through us. Mercy cannot be for ourselves alone but must flow through us to others, even to those among us who are doing the best they can from their side of the relationship to be our enemies. It is insufficient to get right with God ourselves and remain indifferent or even set against others. We must become active agents of his mercy in order to know that his mercy has been effective in us.
and lead us not into temptation,
Although God does allow us to be tested so that we might be proven and grow, even as gold is tried by fire, we are meant to remain humble and to realize that any temptation, without the grace to escape, would overwhelm us. If not for this grace, we would give in to temptation just as quickly as anyone. And since we have such desperate need for grace we pray that the trials God does permit corresponds to our weakness and his grace, that we might remain humble and dependent, and therefore at less risk of a prideful fall.
but deliver us from evil.
We need protection not only from a neutral and indifferent world, but also from active and hostile forces of evil. It would be one thing, perhaps, if we found ourselves on neutral ground from which we could be objective and independent. But apart from the Kingdom the power of evil and the lies of the Evil One are realities that, if hidden, are nevertheless present. And even within the Kingdom we don't rely on divine protection as much as we ought, giving evil a foothold within the Church itself that it ought not and need not have. There is genuine evil, but God himself desires to deliver us if we will but ask him.
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
When we pray in the words given to us by Jesus himself we can be sure that those words will be efficacious, not because they are a formula, but rather because they unite us to Jesus himself in prayer. When the Son stands before the Father in this way there is no limit to the grace and blessings that can result, watering the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats. We need the fruit of the Spirit, the seed of the Gospel, and the bread of the Eucharist. Therefore let us not neglect, perhaps because of excessive familiarity, the prayer Jesus taught us. Let us ask him to give us the grace to pray it with newness and fresh attentive love.
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