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- Our Father: saying this presupposes that the faithful recognizes that the life of every creature comes from the same source. In saying it, the faithful welcomes every human being as his own brother or sister. For man, being able to call God Father is a privilege granted to him by Christ, who, by forgiving him for his faults, makes him worthy of divine filiation.
- Hallowed be thy name: let us celebrate the glory of God, that is, the immensity of his love, by proclaiming it, but also by making it visible, manifesting it to mankind through the example of his own life: it is in each person’s life that the spirit that animates it is revealed.
- Thy kingdom come: God’s kingdom is present when people are united by bonds of brotherly love. This reality is within everyone’s reach, as long as we welcome our neighbor into our hearts, friend and foe alike. The kingdom of heaven come down to earth is Christ, in whom we contemplate the bond of love that unites God with each of his creatures.
- Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: the reality of the kingdom of heaven is present right now, insofar as we live out love of neighbor, and can welcome ever more men and women as brothers and sisters, as is the case in heaven, where this welcoming of one another is fully realized.
- Give us the bread that is immanent, the bread that comes from above. It’s a question of being nourished by God’s word, of trusting in his word, in his promises. God’s word became flesh in Jesus Christ. By offering his life for the forgiveness of mankind, he made a covenant with them and gave his body and blood as food, to seal an eternal covenant with mankind in a meal of communion, where humanity is united with divinity. The bread that is Christ’s body, offered to mankind at his last supper, which anticipated his death on the cross, is real food, bread that came down from heaven (epioúsios).
- Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: receiving the gift of God’s love, welcoming his love into our hearts, means being moved by that same love, making it visible to the world in turn, by offering our neighbor the same mercy we have received.
- Don’t let us enter into trial: life is a trial that reveals at every moment the spirit that animates each of us. Every moment is an opportunity to live in the spirit of love, to be enlivened and fulfilled by it, and to show it to others. At any given moment, human beings can live for good or for evil, choose to love or not. The purpose of the test is to lead to full confidence in the Father’s fidelity, who helps the child to grow, takes him by the hand through difficulties, and fills him with his love. Trials are an opportunity to grow, to experience a greater love, to have the chance to prove and show our love. To pray not to enter into trial is to pray that trial never leads to despair, but to trust, never to doubt the Father’s solicitude for his children.
- Make us victorious over evil, save us, deliver us, that evil may not have the upper hand, but that the victory of love, of light over darkness, may manifest itself in us. This is the power of the gift of trust, of the for-giveness offered to those who have offended, which, when offered infinitely, conquers the hardened heart. It is this phrase that helps us to understand that trials must not lead to despair, but to trust. It is an affirmation of this hope, trust and faith in the Father’s divine assistance.
Related articles
Aramaic versions of the Our Father
John 6:22-59 Bread from heaven
Our Father: the filial relationship
Jesus himself teaches people to pray, and in his words he reveals the nature of the bond that unites man to God. In this bond lies the origin and purpose of human life. This bond is the one that unites parents to their children: parents want to pass on the best of themselves to their children, and wish their children to blossom and grow in harmony and peace, to be fulfilled. And when they have several children, they want each one to know that they are loved with the same love, so that they can grow together by helping each other, and so that the bonds of their brotherly love strengthen them and are a source of joy. In this way, Jesus invites God’s children to enter into a filial relationship with him; he invites his human brothers and sisters to live in full trust in the one who gave them life and who is full of concern for them. He invites them to express their requests, explaining that God knows what they need before they ask him, but it’s only by asking that the child fully lives the filial relationship, that he expresses his trust. It’s thanks to this trust that the child will be helped by the father, giving him his hand and letting him lead when he doesn’t know the way, or when he’s going through a difficult passage. It’s about listening to the Father’s words and putting them into practice, so as to grow in wisdom and in turn experience the joy of loving and giving one’s life for one’s friends. Jesus himself sums up what the Father’s teaching is all about: “These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. My word is this: that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:11-12). These are the father’s last recommendations to his children, his last wishes, which sum up all his teaching, all the wisdom he wanted to pass on to them. In this way, Jesus teaches his brothers to pray for this, to ask the Father in heaven, who gave life to all that exists, to be able to fulfill his will, and to help us in this.
Hallowed be thy name:
In this way, he will be glorified by the reflection his children will give of him in this world; they will give glory to the father, that is to say, they will manifest his glory and greatness, showing the world all the love and wisdom they have received from him, by being in the father’s image. The point is to manifest this divine filiation: human beings are not only born on earth, but the origin of life itself lies in the celestial reality of God. Jesus invites us to be born from above: “What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised if I say to you: you must be born from above” (John 3:6-7). The human being thus has a double birth: that which he has received from his parents, and that of the spirit which vivifies and gives life to both children and parents. This spirit comes from on high and makes all human beings in the image and likeness of God: capable of love, for God is love (1 John 4:8). The whole of the Lord’s Prayer is an invitation to live fully the bond that unites creatures to their heavenly Father, and not to forget the source of all life and love. To give glory to God, to sanctify his name through lives led by his spirit of love, is at the same time to honor one’s parents and to manifest what mankind has received from God.
The kingdom of heaven:
As the heavens surround the earth, so divine providence, which sees the whole of its creatures, provides for the needs of each one. Just as the heavens provide the sunlight, rain and air that bring life to the earth, so the father in heaven knows the needs of his children and provides for them. But what is the true need of his children? It’s the spirit of love, it’s the divine breath that has already been given to each one, but from which the children separate themselves, it’s the source of life from which the children no longer draw. This divine life lies in the bond of love that unites human beings to God and humans to one another. It is this spirit that binds us all together. If this bond is lived out in thanksgiving, trust and mutual love, then this is the peace of the kingdom of heaven, where God is all in everyone. In order for God to be all in everyone, each one must be all love for his brothers and sisters, just as God is all love for each one. We must be able to contemplate the image of the Father in each one of us. It is then that God reigns in the heart of the human being, when one reflects the father’s gaze on his brothers and sisters. The purpose of life is to realize the kingdom of heaven, to live in the spirit of love for one’s brothers and sisters, so that the Father’s will to lead his children to perfect joy will be fulfilled on earth, as it is fulfilled in the heavenly reality, where the bond of love that unites father and son is the expression of a perfect exchange in which the father’s will is perfectly accepted by the son in trust, enabling him to welcome the fullness of the father’s love, to manifest it to his creatures, and to return to him in thanksgiving the love with which he has been fulfilled. This is the mystery of the unity of the one divine ousía in three hupostáseis (μία οὐσία, τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις), the mystery of God’s unity in the Trinitarian love relationship.
The bread epioúsios:
This communion of love in the eternal relationship that unites the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is also the one in which mankind is invited to participate. The spirit of love that is in God, which is the bond that unites Father and Son, is also the one who gives life to the world out of love, through his willingness to share everything with his creatures. This gesture of love is expressed by God’s word made flesh. This word, which perfectly expresses the Father’s will, is the one that associates human beings with the life of God. This love, whose highest expression is to give one’s own life, is expressed in word and in truth by the son who took on human nature and gave his life. In this he created: through this word all things were made. This word is the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to mankind. To partake of this bread is to welcome the life that God offers mankind in thanksgiving, that is, animated by the same spirit of filial trust that is freely given to the son and returns to the father in gratitude: it is a gratuitous love that unites father and son. When men, nourished by the bread that comes down from heaven, become members of the same body, the body of the Son, they welcome the love with which they are loved in all its gratuitousness and, in thanksgiving, they return it to the Father. Grace is that which is freely given. In Latin, the words grace (gratia) and gratuitous (gratis) have the same origin, which is why God’s love is called charity, from the Greek word kháris, which also means grace. Charity (charitas) is the gratuitous love that unites parents with their children, children with their parents, and friends and brothers with each other. What people always want to prove to each other is the gratuitousness of their love, not dictated by interest or calculation, for the mutual joy of being together, of being one. The communion to the bread that Christ gives to the apostles at the Last Supper realizes this mystery, where God gives his life to mankind, and mankind welcomes it in thanksgiving, gathered together in brotherhood at the same table, sharing the same food. This is why, in both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospel texts, Jesus invites people to ask for a bread which, in Greek, is called epioúsios, a bread that concerns the ousía, a bread that comes from above, because it is the Father who gives it. The Greek value of these words is explained in detail by one of the earliest church fathers: Origen (see Origen on the Lord’s Prayer). In fact, the etymology of the word epioúsios can be understood in two different ways:
1. that which arrives, that which occurs (implied the following day)
2. that which concerns the ousía, “that which is” (implied god, for that which “is” eminently is the being of god).
Men, then, ask the father in heaven to give them bread today, food, real food. What kind of bread is this? what does epiousíos mean? in any case, it’s a bread that comes from God, a bread from heaven. This bread comes from God’s concern for his children; he knows better than they do what they need. So he provides both what s necessary to live, every day, and what nourishes of his divine life, what nourishes and make live out of his love. Insofar as this food, spiritual or material, is received in thanksgiving, man is united in the same spirit with God, by the holy spirit of filial trust, of gratitude, restored insofar as the creature rediscovers the trusting bond of gratuitous love that unites him/her to his Creator. This is the bread Jesus offers his apostles at the Last Supper, saying: “This is my body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19) (see The Eucharistic Meal). This is the bread of which Jesus speaks when he says: “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst… I am the bread, the living one who came down from heaven: if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”. (John 6, 33-34.51). (see John 6, 22-59 The bread that came down from heaven).
Forgive us:
To be forgiven by God means to welcome his love, to see and experience the extent of his love, which does not look at merits but gives his life for his children completely freely. Those who accept this gift trust in this unconditional love. The evildoer crucified next to Christ, after acknowledging that he was not worthy of this live by confessing that he had deserved the torment of the cross, opens himself up to Christ’s mercy, appealing to the Father’s goodness by saying to him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). This is enough for him to welcome in himself the immensity of the gift. Christ replies: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43). The love of God that dwells in those who welcome it bears fruit. Knowing that one is loved transforms the way he/her looks at the world and the neighbor. The proof of having truly received this love is that those who have been forgiven will in turn want to multiply this experience, offering their own forgiveness to those who owe them. The for-giveness is the renewed gift of God’s love. God offers his love anew to those who have betrayed and abandoned him. The welcoming of God’s love precedes man’s generosity towards his fellow man; it is because he has welcomed God’s gratuitous love into his heart that he too can forgive those who are indebted to him. So when Zacchaeus, the dishonest tax collector, welcomes Jesus’ offer to come and stay with him, he contemplates the immensity of God’s love, which looked upon him regardless of his wrongdoing and renewed the invitation to open the door of his heart so that his love could dwell within him. It was at this point that Zacchaeus, having measured the greatness of God’s love for him, was overwhelmed by it, and in turn wished to be worthy of it. To this end, he gave his fortune to the poor and returned fourfold to those he had deceived. So Jesus invites us to truly welcome this love and forgiveness from God first, and then to offer it ourselves to others. First, therefore, the request for the bread of life, which opens us up to receive, then the man who has assimilated the divine food, becomes like God and forgives in turn. Only then will he be made worthy of welcoming God, because God himself will have transformed and purified him.
The trial:
The whole life is a trial whose purpose is to lead man to live the greatest love, to experience it fully. The greatest love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). Every time man is afflicted by a trial, attacked by enemies, he has an opportunity to live, to offer a greater gesture of love, to give his life as Christ gave it. Then he himself will have lived love and experienced the victory of that love over all evil. The apostles say: “We are pressed in every way, but not crushed; we are destitute, but we do not despair; we are persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing with us in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that also the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are continually delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). In other words, instead of leading to hatred of their persecutors, the trials were an opportunity to manifest an even greater love to the world. However, there is a danger in trial: the danger of giving in to despair, of responding to evil with evil. This is the trial the Hebrew people underwent in the desert, when they believed themselves abandoned by God and Moses, and turned to other gods. The place where this happened was called Massah (from the verb nassah, to test), where the people put God to the test, because they doubted and accused the Lord of having abandoned them. What Jesus teaches is that we must ask God to accompany us, to guide us in moments of doubt, despair and revolt, so that with him we can get through the trial and be victorious over evil, without this separating us from God. Do not let us enter into trial so that it may destroy us and separate us from you, but that through it you may lead us to victory over evil. Whoever can say Our Father, that is, sanctify his name, because he truly manifests his divine filiation, has already received everything from him. “Whatever you ask for in prayer, you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24) and “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). If we do not forgive in turn, if we do not offer our cheek to the slap, it is because we have not yet contemplated and welcomed God’s gift, that his love does not dwell within us. “If, then, we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all guilt; if we say we have no guilt, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:7-8). To be in this assembly of saints means to ask for grace every day, and every day to welcome trial as an opportunity to access, prove and manifest love. Should we fail seventy times seven times, evil will not have the last word: “remain steadfast, faithful to the end”, that’s where God will give his full measure, in the weakness of those who have recognized their weakness every day, those who have asked to be strengthened, those whom God has led through trial and delivered, finally.
Matthew 6:6-13 (Parallel in Luke 11:2-4)
6 σὺ δὲ ὅταν προσεύχῃ, εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖόν σου, καὶ κλείσας τὴν θύραν σου, Πρόσευξαι τῷ πατρί σου τῷ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ- καὶ ὁ πατήρ σου βλέπων ἐν κρυπτῷ ἀποδώσει σοι ἐν τῷ φανερῷ.
6 You, on the contrary, when you pray, go into your room and having shut your door, pray to your father who [is] in the secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you.
7 Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βαττολογήσητε, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί- δοκοῦσι γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται.
7 When praying, do not harp on, like those of [other] peoples: for they believe that if they speak much, they will be heard.
8 μὴ οὖν ὁμοιωθῆτε αὐτοῖς- οἶδε γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὧν χρείαν ἔχετε, πρὸ τοῦ ὑμᾶς αἰτῆσαι αὐτόν.
8 So don’t be like them: indeed, your father knows what you need, before you ask him.
9 οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς- Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου-
9 You, therefore, pray thus: ‘Our Father who [are] in heaven, sanctified be your name;
Sanctify the name of god: show its glory and splendor, that is, the immensity of his love. It was when he was about to be lifted up on the cross that Jesus said: “Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified. On the cross, indeed, by offering forgiveness even to his enemies, he will show the extent of God’s love. We too are made to be a reflection of this love, of this glory of God, and to manifest it to the world as children of God, children of light. It’s up to us to sanctify God’s name by manifesting his love and glory, just as a father is glorified by a son whose qualities reflect those of his parents. It should also be added that certain Fathers of the Church recall that the name of god, revealed to men, is that of Jesus, and that to sanctify the name of god is also to profess one’s faith in Jesus Christ.
10 ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου- γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς-
10 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.
11 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον-
11 give us today our epioúsion (ἐπιούσιον) bread;
The bread epioúsios. The ancient translations of this word are varied. This is due to a possible double reading. Indeed the same form, epioúsios, can derive from two verbs both spelled ἔπειμι (épeimi), but one formed from the preposition ἐπί (epí), on, plus the verb εἶμι, to go or come, and the other formed from ἐπί plus εἰμί, to be. The form -oúsios in turn comes from the participle oûs– plus the adjectival suffix -ios which is also identical to the masculine singular for both verbs, to go and to be. So, if we read:
1. epioúsios as derived from εἶμι has the meaning of what is going to happen. We find, thus, the expression ἡ ἐπιοῦσα ἡμέρα to mean the next day, that which is on (epí) the point of coming. ἔπειμι means to approach, to advance.
2. epioúsios as derived from εἰμί has the meaning to be above, to be placed above (figuratively a danger stands above, overhangs, is imminent). In this case -oúsios , which contains the participle of the verb to be, can also be read as an adjective meaning: relating to the ousía, “that which is”. The word ousía, in fact, is also formed from the participle of the verb to be and therefore means that which has the quality of being, and this has been translated into Latin as essence or substance.
Nevertheless, the form epioúsios derived from the verb εἰμί, to be, is rare, a word not found in other ancient Greek literary texts, appearing only in the Gospels. This ambiguity of derivation of the adjective epioúsios has led to two lines of reading:
1. those who read in it the bread, the food, that God provides for his children every day
2. those who see in it more the essential food, that which is not only bodily, that bread which concerns “that which is”, the divinity itself, which comes from above, the bread that came down from heaven, of which Jesus speaks at length.
In reality, however, these two readings are not very far apart, if we listen to the interpretative tradition of early Christians, particularly the Church Fathers. In fact, both refer to a food that stands above us, that will come, that is imminent, that occurs. Both refer to God’s gesture of providing food for his children, and not letting them lack what is necessary, what is essential, for their survival, and this includes both material bread and spiritual food, for man feeds not only on bread, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And the word that came from God is Jesus himself, the word made flesh. In John 8:42, Jesus tells us, “I came forth from god” (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον); in John 6:41, “I am the bread that came down from heaven” and in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.” (see John 6:22-59 The bread that came down from heaven).
So, both the Greek and Latin Fathers recall that God provides for the sustenance of his children as much bodily as spiritual, but, like Jesus, they invite us to seek the food that comes from above, the food that nourishes the spirit after the new birth of baptism.
Thus:
1. in the Greek tradition, Origen speaks of bread whose ousía comes from above (see Origen on the Lord’s Prayer).
2. in the Latin tradition, Jerome, the ancient translator of the Bible, translates epioúsios by supersubstantialis, in the sense of “which has a substance that is above, superior”. (see Jerome on the Lord’s Prayer).
Both traditions, then, immediately link the bread that is asked for in the Lord’s Prayer to the words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper as he took the bread: “This is my body”. In this sense, the bread spoken of in the Our Father is that which Jesus himself gives us, a bread that contains the divine ousía, a bread that came down from heaven, as he announced after the multiplication of the breads on the mountain when he said: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).
But to fully understand the meaning of Jesus’ words, we also need to recall the words used at the time in the Aramaic versions of the Bible, as Jerome does in his Commentary on Matthew’s Gospel. Now, what Jesus expresses when he introduces the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:8), saying: “Your father knows what you need, before you ask him”, corresponds to a vision of divine solicitude towards his children that was widespread among Semitic peoples. This is what Arabic-speaking peoples still express today when they speak of rizq, the portion given to us by God every day. God, who knows the true needs of mankind, provides them not only with the necessities of daily sustenance, but also with the spiritual nourishment that roots them in eternal life, the life of the kingdom of heaven. The essence of this life is the bond of love that unites men to God and to each other. It is through God’s spirit that humanity subsists, united to Christ who is the head of a body of which men are the members: his spirit enlivens them, this spirit that comes from God. Feeding on the body of Christ, drinking his blood, means uniting with him and being enlivened and strengthened by his spirit.
To understand that what is needed to live each day is given by God, we also need to analyze the episode of the manna, the food with which God fed the Jewish people as they were led through the desert to the promised land. When the people ran out of food, God sent them manna, a substance they could gather in the morning from the surface of the ground. The peculiarity of this food was that it couldn’t be stored up, it couldn’t be kept for the next day; each day, they had to trust in tomorrow, they had to trust each day in divine help. This episode is recounted in chapter 16 of the book of Exodus, of which this is verse 4:
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל-מֹשֶׁ֔ה הִנְנִ֨י מַמְטִ֥יר לָכֶ֛ם לֶ֖חֶם מִן-הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְיָצָ֨א הָעָ֤ם וְלָֽקְטוּ֙ דְּבַר-יֹ֣ום בְּיֹומֹ֔ו לְמַ֧עַן אֲנַסֶּ֛נּוּ הֲיֵלֵ֥ךְ בְּתֹורָתִ֖י אִם-לֹֽא׃
And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather the word (devar) of the day in every day that I may test them: will they walk according to my torah [from the root iarah teach, guide] or not?
It’s interesting to note that the bread the people will harvest each day is referred to as the word (devar) of the day. Now, this word is very important because the ten words that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai are also called devarim (plural of devar) and in this same verse we find the word torah, which also designates, in addition to God’s daily “ guidance ”, all the teaching that God gave to his people. Here, then, is a miraculous food that also leads the people through God’s word, according to his teaching. And here’s what’s clearly specified: it can’t be hoarded, it can’t be provided, it’s a daily trust in divine assistance, in his rizq, the vital share assigned to each man: every day the people must let themselves be guided by him, every day they must renew their trust and therefore their faith in him. Jesus, too, in the long discourse that follows the Lord’s Prayer, exhorting us not to hoard riches, not to make provisions, not to worry about tomorrow, reminds us that “sufficient to the day is its own trouble (or evil, in Greek kakía κακία, what is bad)” (Matthew 6:34).
The oldest translations of this word are those found in the Aramaic or Aramaic-Syriac lectionaries, i.e. the books used for liturgy in the monasteries and churches of Palestine, or in other regions where an Aramaic dialect called Syriac was spoken (see Aramaic Versions of the Lord’s Prayer). A version of the Bible in Syriac, called Peshitta, was in use in Eastern churches. Among the Church Fathers’ commentaries on the word epioúsios, the commentary by the ancient Latin translator of the Bible, St. Jerome, mentions several Aramaic translations of this word. Here are some of the terms used in the Aramaic texts for translating epioúsios :
‘atira, ‘atirin: (Aramaic lectionary) rich, abundant. One could also imagine for this word the variant ‘atidin: who must come, who comes
sunqonon: (used in the Peshitta) from the root snq to need, to be necessary. The same word is also used in 1 Corinthians 12:22 to translate the Greek anankaîos, meaning necessary.
amyno deyuma’: (Cureton) in which we trust (amyno), of this day (deyuma’).
amyno dekolyom: (Sinaitic palympsest) in which we trust or constant (amyno) of every day (dekolyom)
12 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν-
12 And remit to us our obligations, as we also remit to those who are obligated to us;
13 καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. [ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.]
13 And let us not enter into trial, but deliver us from evil. [Because thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for the ages. Amen.]
Do not let us enter (mē eisenénkēis hēmās) into trial: in the earliest Aramaic versions and also in the Syriac version of the Peshitta, to the Greek verb eisphérō which means to introduce, to lead towards or into, correspond the Aramaic forms t’il and t’l, factive forms of the root ‘ll which means to enter and which therefore have the same meaning as in Greek: to let enter into. Another ancient Syriac version of the Gospels (Cureton) includes the factive form tyt of the verb ‘t ’ venir, which also means to lead.
Temptation: all Aramaic texts use the same word, nesyono, from the root nsy, whose intensive form, nessy (nissah in Hebrew), means to put to the test. This root comes into play in a famous episode in the Bible, when the people rebelled against God, challenged him and put him to the test. Indeed, when the people were led into the desert by the luminous cloud, on their way to the promised land, they found themselves without water and shouted at Moses. Moses, who risked being stoned, called on God, who told him to strike the rock with the rod that had miraculously divided the waters when he left Egypt, and to have the people quench their thirst with the waters that would rise from the rock. Moses then named the place Massa and Meribah, as explained in Exodus 17:7:
וַיִּקְרָא֙ שֵׁ֣ם הַמָּקֹ֔ום מַסָּ֖ה וּמְרִיבָ֑ה עַל-רִ֣יב ׀ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְעַ֨ל נַסֹּתָ֤ם אֶת-יְהוָה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הֲיֵ֧שׁ יְהוָ֛ה בְּקִרְבֵּ֖נוּ אִם-אָֽיִן׃
And he [Moses] called the name of that place Massah and Meribah because of the accusation made by the sons of Israel and because of the fact that they tested the Lord, saying, “Is there a Lord with us or not?”
This passage explains, among other things, the etymology of the word Massa, which comes from the verb nissah to put to the test. In fact, Moses says: the fact of their putting to the test (nassotam), which can be translated into english as: the fact that they put to the test. Indeed, they put God to the test, which is what the verb nissah means, and the Aramaic word nessayona expresses exactly that, the fact of being put to the test. A temptation, but a temptation with a purpose: to highlight and reveal the faithfulness and greatness of the saints’ souls. Indeed, here, the people want to put God to the test, but often in the Bible it is God who puts his faithful to the test, to highlight their fidelity, as shown in the book of Job, or the book of Genesis (22, 1-18) where God puts Abraham’s faith to the test by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. This not only highlights Abraham’s or Job’s faithfulness, but also reveals God’s greatness, his own faithfulness. The Book of Deuteronomy recalls on several occasions (Deuteronomy 7:19; 29:2) the great trials (massot) and signs to which Egypt was subjected, which revealed God’s greatness. It should also be remembered that a closely related root of nassah (נסה) is the verbal root nassa’ (נשא), which means to elevate. Thus, we might understand that the ordeal to which the human race is subjected is intended to elevate it, so that it may grow out of it, so that its faithfulness and therefore its love may appear and be experienced to the full. The purpose of human existence is to experience the greatest love: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for those one loves. The difficulty of the human race is to believe in the love of others, or to prove to others how great is one’s love for them. It’s in trials that this is not only revealed, but experienced and discovered. You have to have lived it, put it into practice, experienced it to know it and to know yourself, to know what kind of love you are capable of. This is the glory of God, of Christ who gave his life on the cross and revealed to mankind the love with which he loves them, and it is the glory of each individual who shows the world the extent to which love animates him, the love he received from God and which makes him in God’s image. In this way too, God is glorified in his children, and the creature in him. But we must be able to assume this love, to make it our own, to go right to the end of love in difficulties is also to show our faith in divine help, when we go beyond our own strength, when we face death: we know that the enemy will apparently be stronger, but we trust in the love that will be even stronger than death, in the love that will bear fruit according to divine design. As explained in Hebrews 11:19 and by the apostle Paul (Romans 4:17): Abraham, at the moment of sacrificing the son of promise, trusted in the one who had given him life, who had miraculously offered him a son. He believed that God would restore him to life beyond death. Sacrificing his son, for Abraham, would have been even harder than sacrificing his own life: he would have gladly given his own life for his son, but to take his son’s life, to place total trust in God, was an even greater test. He was ready to do it, but God stopped him: it wasn’t Isaac’s sacrifice that God was really asking for, it was himself who, in Jesus Christ, would one day have given his life for his children.
So what do we ask when we pray: “Do not bring us into trial”? The human condition is entirely immersed in this trial, and Jesus would not invite us to ask for the impossible, that we be entirely removed from this trial, as Origen says (see Origen on the Lord’s Prayer). But we must remember the negative consequences of this trial if, instead of strengthening and elevating man, it leads him to lose faith in divine assistance, in the Father’s help for his children. It is not the intention of good parents to bring a child into the world and then leave the baby to fend for itself, to fetch its own milk as soon as it is born. Nature goes so far as to foresee that the mother doesn’t have to fetch the milk herself, but rather gives her something to feed her child, and this applies not only to human beings, but also to animals. But the child who doesn’t want to receive anything from his parents is lost. This is what Moses explains when he says that they tested the Lord by saying: “Is there a Lord among us or not? The temptation, the test that leads to departing from the father and seeking other false divinities, gold, silver. This is what happened to the people when Moses was away on the mountain for forty days: they made themselves a golden calf. Every trial is designed to give us the opportunity to make amends, to grow in love, trust and faith. Trials are there to establish a victory over the evil that undermines the human condition. So Jesus’ prayer teaches us to ask him not to let us fall into temptation to the point of separating ourselves from the Father, to the point of losing hope, beyond our strength, but to make us victors over evil. Indeed, the verb rhuomai, by which we adj God to be freed from evil, also means to be saved, from death, from evil, from danger, from enemies. God takes his children by the hand and accompanies them through trials, leading them to the way out and to victory. God’s work is to come to the rescue of his children who have lost their way, who have been seduced by the tempter. God’s work, is manifested in his son whose name, Yehoshu’a means “God saves”.
14 ἐὰν γὰρ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος-
14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.
15 ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἀφήσει τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν.
15 On the other hand, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
Luke 11:1-13
1 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ προσευχόμενον, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέν τις μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν Κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάνης ἐδίδαξεν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.
1 And it happened that he was praying in a certain place, when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς Ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε Πάτερ, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου- ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου-
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come;
3 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δίδου ἡμῖν τὸ καθ’ ἡμέραν-
3 our bread epioúsion give us every day;
4 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν- καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν.
4 And forgive us our trespasses, indeed, we also forgive all who are obligated to us; and let us not enter into trial.”
5 Καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς Τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἕξει φίλον, καὶ πορεύσεται πρὸς αὐτὸν μεσονυκτίου εἴπῃ αὐτῷ Φίλε, χρῆσόν μοι τρεῖς ἄρτους,
5 And he said to them, “Someone of you will have a friend and [this friend] will come to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6 ἐπειδὴ φίλος μου παρεγένετο ἐξ ὁδοῦ πρός με καὶ οὐκ ἔχω ὃ παραθήσω αὐτῷ-
6 since a friend of mine has appeared from the way beside me and I have not what I could offer him [literally: what I will put before him].
7 κἀκεῖνος ἔσωθεν ἀποκριθεὶς εἴπῃ Μή μοι κόπους πάρεχε- ἤδη ἡ θύρα κέκλεισται, καὶ τὰ παιδία μου μετ’ ἐμοῦ εἰς τὴν κοίτην εἰσίν- οὐ δύναμαι ἀναστὰς δοῦναί σοι.
7 And let this one answering from within say, “Don’t bother me: the door has already been closed and my children are already in bed with me: I can’t get up and give it to you.”
8 λέγω ὑμῖν, εἰ καὶ οὐ δώσει αὐτῷ ἀναστὰς διὰ τὸ εἶναι φίλον αὐτοῦ, διά γε τὴν ἀναιδίαν αὐτοῦ ἐγερθεὶς δώσει αὐτῷ ὅσων χρῄζει.
8 I tell you, even though he will not stand up and give it to him because of the fact that he is his friend, he will stand up and give it to him because of his impudence.
9 Κἀγὼ ὑμῖν λέγω, αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν- ζητεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε- κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν-
9 And I say to you, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει, καὶ ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει, καὶ τῷ κρούοντι ἀνοιγήσεται.
10 indeed, all who ask receive and those who seek find, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 τίνα δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν τὸν πατέρα αἰτήσει ὁ υἱὸς ἰχθύν, μὴ ἀντὶ ἰχθύος ὄφιν αὐτῷ ἐπιδώσει;
11 Which father of you to the son who would ask for a fish, would give a snake instead?
12 ἢ καὶ αἰτήσει ᾠόν, ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ σκορπίον;
12 Or would he ask for an egg and give him a scorpion?
13 εἰ οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὑπάρχοντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθὰ διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ Πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν.
13 If then you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.