Catechism Paragraphs
2822 – 2865 (end)
These are the final petitions of the Our Father, and the
Church’s ascribed meaning.
Thy Will Be Done on
Earth as It Is In Heaven “Our Father ‘desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth.’
His commandment is ‘that you love one another; even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another.’ 2822 ‘Although he was a Son, (Jesus) learned
obedience through what he suffered.’ How
much more reason have we sinful creatures to learn obedience – we who in him
have become children of adoption. We ask
our Father to unite our will to his Son’s in order to fulfill his will, his
plan of salvation for the life of the world.
We can surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has
always chosen: to do what is pleasing to the Father. He commands each of the
faithful who prays to do so universally, for the whole world. For he did not say ‘thy will be done in me or
in us.’ But ‘on earth,’ the whole earth, so that error may be banished from it,
virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from heaven.” 2825
Personally, I think that is one
of the things which took me longest to internalize into my heart, the notion
that a) we are called to grow in holiness our whole life – and the associated
notion that we’ll never get there, perfect holiness nor perfect happiness, in
this life, and b) that we can get closer to heaven while here on earth, and
that it is when we live in Christ – doing as He did, the Father’s will. When the world lures me, myself and I, all of
me, into yearning for things “I” want and making me sad over things “I” don’t
have, I’m making no progress toward holiness or heaven or happiness, yet it
just initially seems so illogical: When I’m trying to make myself happier, I’m
growing farther from happiness?? Yet,
when I put myself first, that is what I am doing. Understanding the truth of that was a great
learning: “Thy” will be done, not mine.
“By prayer we can discern ‘what is the will of God’ and
obtain the endurance to do it. Jesus
teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by
doing ‘the will of my Father in heaven.’” 2826
Give Us This Day Our
Daily Bread “’Give us’: The trust of
children who look to their Father for everything beautiful. Jesus teaches us this petition, because it
glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness. But this ‘us’ also recognizes him as the
Father of all men and we pray to him for them all, in solidarity with their
needs and sufferings. 2828-9
But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up
another profound meaning of this petition.
The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to
exercise responsibility toward their brethren.
This petition of the Lord’s Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables
of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment. 2831
‘Pray and work.’ (from the Rule of St. Benedict) ‘Pray as if everything depended on God and
work as if everything depended on you.’
Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift
from our Father; it is good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian
families do when saying grace at meals. 2834 (There also
is this) specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerning the
Bread of Life: The Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received
in the Eucharist.’ 2835 The Lord addresses an
invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: ‘Truly,
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you.’ 1384 Daily: Taken in the qualitative sense, it
signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing
sufficient for subsistence. Taken
literally, it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the ‘medicine
of immortality,’ without which we have no life within us. Finally in this connection, its heavenly
meaning is evident: ‘this day’ is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of
the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the
kingdom to come. For this reason it is
fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.” 2836
And Forgive Us Our
Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us This
petition is astonishing. If it consisted
only of the first phrase, it might have been included, implicitly, in the first
three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, since Christ’s sacrifice is ‘that sins
may be forgiven.’ But, according to the
second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict
requirement. Our petition looks to the
future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the
single word ‘as’”. 2838 Now – and this is
daunting – this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we
have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is
indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother
or sister we do see. In refusing to
forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness
makes them impervious to the Father’s merciful love; but in confessing our
sins, our hearts are opened to his grace.
2840 Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, transfiguring
the disciple by configuring him to his Master.
Forgiveness is the high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned
to God’s compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our
world, love is stronger than sin.” 2844
And Lead Us Not Into
Temptation “It is difficult to
translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both ‘do
not allow us to enter into temptation’ and ‘do not let us yield to temptation.’ God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself
tempts no one, on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. 2846 The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are
necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin
and death. We must also discern between
being tempted and consenting to temptation.
Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears
to be good, a ‘delight to the eyes’ and desirable, when in reality its fruit is
death. 2847 ‘Lead us not into
temptation’ implies a decision of the
heart: ‘For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also … No one
can serve two masters.’ God is faithful,
and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the
temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to
endure it. 2848
But Deliver Us From
Evil The last petition to our
Father is also included in Jesus’ prayer: ‘I am not asking you to take them out
of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.’ It touches each of us personally, but it is
always ‘we’ who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance
of the whole human family. 2850
When we ask to be delivered from
the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and
future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings
before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that
overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of
perseverance in expectation of Christ’s return.
2854
The Final Doxology:
The final doxology, ‘For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever,’ takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions to
our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the
power of his saving will. But these
prayers are not proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of
heaven. Then, after the prayer is over
you say ‘Amen’, which means ‘So be it,’ thus ratifying with our ‘Amen’ what is
contained in the prayer that God has taught us.” 2855-6
This concludes this last section of the Catechism. Next time I’ll be starting at the beginning
section, which was skipped at the start of this study. I’ll conclude with the doctrine of the Creed,
a long study, which should take me near to the end of this Year of Faith in the
Church.
