SERMO 56
In the Gospel according to Matthew 6
ON THE LORD'S PRAYER
TO THE CANDIDATES
The Creed and Prayer are handed down to Christians.
The blessed Apostle, showing that these times, when it would happen that all nations would believe in God, were foretold by the Prophets, put forth this testimony which is written: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." For previously, the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth was invoked only among the Israelites; the other nations called upon mute and deaf idols, from whom they were not heard, or demons, by whom they were heard to their harm. But when the fullness of time came, what was predicted is fulfilled: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then, because the Jews themselves were envious of the Gospel being offered to the Gentiles, even those who believed in Christ, and said that the Gospel of Christ should not be preached to those who were not circumcised; for against these, the Apostle Paul put forth this testimony: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." He immediately added to convict those who did not want the Gentiles to be evangelized and said: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" Therefore, because he said: "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" this is why you did not receive the prayer first, and afterwards the Creed; but first the Creed, where you might know what you believe, and afterwards the prayer, where you might know whom you invoke. Therefore, the Creed pertains to faith, the prayer to supplication: because he who believes is heard when he calls.
Two things must be avoided by the one who invokes.
Many, however, ask for what they should not ask, ignorant of what is beneficial for them. Therefore, anyone who prays should avoid two things: that they do not ask for what they should not, and that they do not ask it from whom they should not. From the devil, from idols, from demons, nothing should be asked that ought to be asked: from the Lord our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the Prophets, Apostles, and martyrs, from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, from Him it should be asked, if anything should be asked. But it should be taken care that even from Him, what should not be asked is not asked. Since we should ask for human life, if you ask it from deaf and mute idols, what good does it do for you? Likewise, from God the Father, who is in heaven, if you wish for the death of your enemies, what good does it do for you? Have you not heard or read in the psalm, where the damnable traitor Judas is foretold, how prophecy said about him: "Let his prayer become sin for him"? Therefore, if you arise and pray harm upon your enemies, your prayer will become sin.
In the holy Psalms, evils are not wished for the enemies, but are foreseen.
In the holy psalms, you have read many times how the one who speaks in the psalms calls down many evils upon his enemies. "And surely," someone says, "the one who speaks in the psalms is righteous: why does he wish such evil upon his enemies?" He does not wish it, but foresees it: it is a prophecy of the foretelling one, not a wish of the one cursing. For in the spirit they knew to whom evil was going to happen, to whom, good: and, through prophecy, they spoke as if they wished what they foresaw. But how do you know that the one for whom you pray ill today shall not be better than you? "But I know he is wicked." And you know yourself to be wicked. Although you may dare to judge the heart of another which you do not know: yet you know yourself to be wicked. Do you not hear the Apostle saying: "I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and an injurious person; but I obtained mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief"? When the Apostle Paul was persecuting Christians, binding them where he found them, dragging them to be heard by the priests and punished; what do you think, brothers, did the Church pray against him or for him? Surely, the Church of God, which had learned from its Lord, who said while hanging on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"; prayed such things for Paul, or rather still for Saul, so that what happened to him might happen to him. For Paul says: "I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; they only were hearing, that he who once persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God in me." Why did they glorify God, unless because they had prayed to God before it had happened?
Loquacity in prayer must be avoided.
Our Lord therefore first cut off excessive talking, lest you bring many words to God, as if you wished to teach God with many words. When therefore you pray, there is need of devotion, not verbosity. Your Father, however, knows what you need before you ask Him. Do not therefore speak much: for He knows what you need. But perhaps here someone may say: "If He knows what we need, why do we even say a few words? Why do we pray? He knows: let Him give what He knows we need." But He wanted you to pray so that He may give to one who desires, lest what He gives become cheap: for He Himself has instilled that very desire. Therefore the words our Lord Jesus Christ taught in prayer are the pattern of desires. You are not allowed to ask for anything else than what is written there.
The Lord's Prayer is the form of desires.
You, therefore, he says, say: Our Father, who art in heaven. Where you see that you have begun to have God as Father. But you will have Him when you are born. Although even now before you are born, you have been conceived by His seed, as if in the womb of the Church in the font of rebirth. Our Father, who art in heaven. Remember that you have a Father in heaven. Remember that you were born to death from the father Adam, to be reborn to life from God the Father. And what you say, say in your hearts. Let the affection of the one who prays be such that it will be the effect of the one who listens. Hallowed be Thy name. That which you ask to be hallowed, the name of God, is holy. Why do you ask for that which is already holy? Then when you ask that His name be hallowed, do you not ask as if for Him, and not for yourself? Understand, you also ask for yourself. For you ask this, that what is always holy in itself, may be hallowed in you. What does it mean: hallowed be? Let it be held as holy, not be despised. Therefore you see, because when you wish, you wish something good for yourself. For it is bad for you if you despise the name of God, not for God.
May your kingdom come. To whom do we say this? And if we do not ask for it, is the kingdom of God not going to come? For it is said of that kingdom that it will be after the end of the world. For God always has a kingdom; and He is never without a kingdom, to which all creation serves. But what kingdom do you desire? It is written in the Gospel: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." Behold of what we say: "May your kingdom come." We desire that it may come in us; we desire that we may be found in it. For behold, it will come: but what good will it do you, if it finds you on the left? Therefore, you are wishing well for yourself, you are praying for yourself. This you desire, this you yearn for in prayer, that you may live in such a way as to belong to the kingdom of God, which is to be given to all the saints. Therefore, in order to live well, you pray for yourself when you say: "May your kingdom come." May we belong to your kingdom, may it also come to us, which will come to your saints and just ones.
Let your will be done. If you do not say it, will God not do His will? Remember what you declared in the creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty. If He is almighty, do you pray for His will to be done? What then is it: Let your will be done? Let it be done in me, so that I may not resist your will. Therefore, here too you are praying for yourself, and not for God. For the will of God will be done in you, even if it is not done by you. For to those He will say: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, the will of God will be done in them, so that the righteous and holy may receive the kingdom; and to those He will say: Depart into eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels, the will of God will be done in them, so that the wicked may be condemned to eternal fire. It is another matter for it to be done by you. Therefore, for it to be done in you, you are not praying without reason, except for it to be well with you. So whether it is well with you, or not well with you, it will be done in you; but let it also be done by you. Why then do I say: Let your will be done in heaven and on earth, and not say: "Let your will be done by heaven and by earth"? Because what is done in you, He himself does by you. It is never done by you, which He does not himself do in you. But sometimes He does in you, what is not done by you: yet never is anything done by you, if He does not do it in you.
What does it mean: in heaven and on earth, or: as in heaven, so also on earth? The angels do your will, let us also do it. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. The mind is heaven, the flesh is earth. When you say, if indeed you say, what the Apostle said: With the mind, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin; the will of God is done in heaven, but not yet on earth. But when the flesh agrees with the mind, and death is swallowed up in victory, so that no carnal desires remain, with which the mind struggles, when the strife on earth is over, when the war of the heart is over, when what was said is over: The flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want: when this war is over, and all lust is changed into love, nothing will remain in the body that resists the spirit, nothing to subdue, nothing to curb, nothing to tread upon; but all will proceed to justice through harmony; your will is done in heaven and on earth. We wish for perfection when we pray this. Again, Thy will be done in heaven and on earth. In the Church, the spiritual are heaven, the carnal are earth. Let therefore your will be done in heaven and on earth: so that just as the spiritual serve you, so also the carnal, changed for the better, may serve you. Thy will be done in heaven and on earth. There is also another very pious meaning. For we are admonished to pray for our enemies. The Church is heaven; the enemies of the Church are earth. What then is: Thy will be done in heaven and on earth? Let our enemies believe, as we believe in you: let them become friends, end their enmities. They are earth, therefore they are against us; let them become heaven and they will be with us.
We are all beggars of God.
Give us this day our daily bread. And here it is already clear that we pray for ourselves. When you say: Hallowed be thy name, it means you are praying for yourself, not for God. When you say: Thy will be done, this too must be explained, lest you think you are wishing well for God, that His will be done, and not rather praying for yourself. When you say: Thy kingdom come, this too must be explained, lest you think you are wishing well for God, that He may reign. But from this point onward until the end of the prayer, it appears that we are asking God for ourselves. When you say: Give us this day our daily bread, you acknowledge yourself to be a beggar of God. But do not be ashamed: however wealthy one may be on earth, one is a beggar of God. A beggar stands before the house of a rich man: but even the rich man stands before the house of the great rich man. He is asked from, and he asks. If he were not in need, he would not knock on God's ears with prayer. And what does the rich man need? I dare say, the rich man too needs daily bread. Why are all things abundant for him? Whence, unless because God gave them? What will he have if God withdraws His hand? Have not many slept rich, and risen poor? And what is not lacking to them is due to God's mercy, not their own power.
Daily bread: bodily and spiritual.
But this bread, beloved, with which the stomach is filled, with which the flesh is daily refreshed; you see therefore that God gives this bread, not only to His praisers but also to blasphemers, who makes His sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. You praise, He feeds you; you blaspheme, He feeds you. He waits for you to repent; but if you do not change, He condemns you. Therefore since both the good and the evil receive this bread from God, do you think there is no other bread which the children ask for, of which the Lord said in the Gospel: It is not good to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs? There certainly is. What is this bread? And why is it called daily along with this? For it is necessary: without it, we cannot live, just as we cannot live without bread. It is impudence to ask God for riches: it is not impudence to ask for daily bread. One thing is for pride, another is for living. However, because this visible and tangible bread is given to both the good and the bad; there is daily bread which the children ask for; it is the very word of God, which is daily dispensed to us. It is our daily bread: with it live not our stomachs, but our minds. It is necessary for us, even now laborers, in the vineyard; it is food, not a reward. For the worker due to him, who hires him into the vineyard, are two things: both food so that he does not fail, and a reward from which he might rejoice. Our daily bread in this world is the Word of God, which is always dispensed to the Churches: our reward after the labor is called eternal life. Again in this our daily bread if you understand what the faithful receive, what you who are baptized are about to receive; we rightly pray and say: Give us this day our daily bread: so that we may live in such a way that we are not separated from that altar.
Here we are all debtors to God.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And this petition is not to be explained, because we ask for ourselves. For we ask that our debts be forgiven. For we are debtors, not of money, but of sins. You might now say: And you? We answer: And us. And you, holy bishops, are you debtors? And we are debtors. And you? God forbid, do not do yourself an injury. I do not injure myself, but I speak the truth: we are debtors. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And we are baptized, and we are debtors. Not because something remained that was not forgiven to us in baptism: but because by living we contract something that is to be forgiven daily. Those who are baptized and go out, ascend without debt, proceed without debt; but those who are baptized and remain in this life, due to mortal weakness they contract something from which, even if shipwreck is not suffered, nevertheless it must be bailed out: because if it is not bailed out, gradually it enters through which the whole ship is sunk. And praying this is bailing out. But we must not only pray, but also give alms: because when the ship is bailed out so that it does not sink, both with voices and with hands it is done. We act with voices, when we say: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; we act with hands, when we do: Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. Place alms in the heart of the poor, and it will pray for you to the Lord.
Daily sins must be cleansed.
Therefore, having been forgiven all sins through the washing of regeneration, we would be crushed into great anguish if we were not given the daily cleansing of holy prayer. Almsgiving and prayers cleanse sins; only let such things not be committed, from which it is necessary for us to be separated from the daily bread; avoiding debts, to which a certain and severe condemnation is owed. Do not call yourselves just, as if you do not have anything from which you can say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Abstaining from idolatry, from the consultations of astrologers, from the remedies of enchanters; abstaining from the deceptions of heretics, from the schisms of schismatics; abstaining from murders, from adulteries and fornications, from thefts and robberies, from false testimonies: and if perhaps other things, I do not say those which have deadly outcomes, from which it is necessary to be cut off from the altar, and bound on earth so that it is bound in heaven: very dangerously and mortally, unless it is loosed on earth that it may be loosed in heaven: therefore, with these excepted, man does not lack a reason to sin. By what he ought not to willingly see, he sins. And who can restrain the swiftness of the eye? Seeing that it is said the eye received its name from swiftness. Who can restrain the ear or the eye? The eyes, when you wish, can be closed, and quickly closed: the ears, you close with effort; you raise your hand, you reach them: and if someone holds your hands, they remain open; nor can you close them against cursed, impure, flattering, and deceiving words. When you hear something that you ought not, and even if you do not do it, do you not sin with the ear? You listen to evil willingly. How many sins does the deadly tongue commit! Sometimes such as those by which man is separated from the altar. To it pertains the matter of blasphemies. Many and meaningless things are spoken, which do not pertain to the matter. Let the hand do nothing evil; let the foot not hurry to anything evil; let the eye not be directed toward wantonness; let the ear not willingly be open to baseness; let the tongue not be moved to what is indecent. You say: Who holds thoughts?