by Vincent Jones

Created on: February 19, 2009

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

LATIN

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:

sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;

adveniat Regnum Tuum;

fiat voluntas Tua,

sicut in caelo, et in terra.

Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;

et dimitte nobis debita nostra,

Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;

et ne nos inducas in tentationem;

sed libera nos a Malo.

OUR FATHER

Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "My religion is summed up in the first two words of the Lord's Prayer." "Our Father." On a Sunday morning you do not have to look far to find someone laying down the "law" that fire and brimstone coupled with eternal damnation the result if you don't believe and "get" Jesus their way. What a gift the truth is and we don't have to look far to find it. It begins here with the first clause of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father." Of course there will always be the exceptions that make the headlines but aren't we truly at our best when our children are involved? The concept of a cruel and despotic ruler of the Heavens imbued with all the evil and capricious tendencies that humans unfortunately have shown when placed in a position of ultimate authority is destroyed finally and forever by this simple and revolutionary truth, "Our Father". As Jesus teaches: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11).

Ninety years ago (1919) the Constitution of the United States was changed, amended, to make the consumption and possession of alcoholic beverages illegal. Now take a moment and consider that. Try to imagine how monumental a task it is to change the Constitution. It has only been tried once in my lifetime and that attempt failed. Then thirteen years later the Constitution was changed again to nullify the previous change and make booze legal again! Made for some interesting battles on the editorial pages of newspapers. Imagine if talk radio had been invented! Now you may be asking what does this have to do with the Lord's Prayer? Many within the religious community seem to have missed the memo that the Christ teaching supersedes all that came before.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• ...
• 10
• Next Page >>