3.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Interesting to note that this statement is not found
in St’Luke’s version, and we do not know for certain if it was in St.Matthew’s
original, or if it was added by Matthew himself. In that case it was taken from
Christ’s prayer in Gethsemani: “Father, not my will, but Thine, be done.”
This should be our heartfelt wish that God’s
commandments be observed in the whole world amongst all nations. The same
thought is found in the Letter to the Ephesians,1:3, 9 – 10… ”…so that all will be gathered under one head, that is
Christ, all living things on earth and all that is in Heaven.”
In other words this is the Plan of Salvation in Jesus
Christ. For when we say: “Thy will be done” we would be praying that God the Father would renew the whole of
creation through Jesus Christ.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Now, for what type of bread are we referring to here ?
A
quick look at world statistics will surely shake us up and, HOPEFULLY, bring us
to our senses. *** Every
year 14 million children die of starvation, *** 70 percent of the wealth is
shared by only 20 percent of the world population, *** 30 per cent of the world’s wealth has to
be shared amongst 80 percent of the world population.
SO, that means that not everyone has “his daily bread”. When we pray, “Give us thus day our daily bread”, we should be praying for social justice
all round the world, for charity and love amongst all nations, so that the
God-given fruits, wealth, products will be justly shared amongst all.
God had provided enough for all humanity. We all know
about the millions of tons of wheat burnt every year to put up the price of
what is left.
The Fathers of the Church apply this sentence to the
Blessed Eucharist, for our frequent reception of the Sacred Bread, the Bread of
Angels. It is also a reference to the frequent reading and study of the Holy
Book, the daily sustenance from meditating the Word of God.
“Forgive us our debts (trespasses), as we forgive
others.”
What a great, super psychologist Jesus Christ was, the
greatest of the great ! Do we realise what the above statement means; that
before we say it again, the next time we will be praying the ‘Our Father’ we have to sit down, take
some time, make a thorough examination of our conscience to see who has injured
us, offended us, hurt us (lately or in the years gone by)…AND … AND … before
going on with the prayer we have to forgive that or those persons…otherwise we
would be wasting our time, making fun of God and fooling ourselves.
Those who have the courage to do just that, would be
helping much in creating a new world atmosphere of forgiveness, love and peace.
All hatred, worries and fighting will end, our blood pressure will find its
normal level, cardiologists will be run out of business; for there will be no
more mental stresses, breakdowns and less heart failures.
But, if we are not ready to decide and start a new
life of forgiving, SIN keeps reigning, and the devil keeps reigning supreme in
the whole world. If you are a Christian worthy of the name , why on earth do
you help Satan to reign ? Have you never realized that if you do not forgive
means that you are part of the rank and file of Lucifer? It’s terrible and
frightening, simply think about it … much more helping the prince of darkness
to try and beat Jesus.
THEN, and only THEN, will God forgive us our trespasses,
our debts … BUT not before. The greatest difficulty a Priest, a Confessor can
encounter is, not when faced with sins of the flesh, of sex … but, when he has
in front of him one who declares that he does not want to forgive those who
have caused him harm, and declares his hate against them.
What, if I might ask, would happen to us all, to all
humanity, if God had to seriously consider and evaluate our sins of hatred, all
sins of omission and those committed … I believe we would expect another
deluge. Where it not for the innumerable merits of His Passion, Death and
Resurrection, our debts are so great that it would take a whole eternity for
every single person to settle accounts.
“Yet love is patient, love is kind.” THANK YOU, FATHER.
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