August/September
2009 - Vol. 32
On
the Lord's Prayer
by
Cyprian of Carthage, 3rd century
But Deliver Us from Evil
The Lord's Prayer has an ending which neatly summarizes the different
requests. We say actually at the end:`But deliver us from evil,' understanding
by such an expression everything that the Enemy can devise against us in
this world.
One certain conviction we have: that God is a powerful support since
he grants his help to anyone who asks for it.
Consequently, when we say: `Deliver us from evil,'there is nothing else
left for us to ask. Invoking the protection of God against evil means asking
for everything we need.
This prayer secures us against any kind of machination of the devil
and of the world. Who could be afraid of the world if he has God as his
protector?
You see, brothers and sisters, how amazing the Lord's Prayer is. It
is truly a compendium of all the requests we could possibly make.
Our Lord Jesus Christ who came for all people, for the wise as for the
ignorant, without distinction of sex or age, reduces the precepts of salvation
to the essential minimum. He wants even the simplest to be able to understand
and remember them.
[Breviario Patristico © 1971 Piero Gribaudi Editore, Turin, Italy;
translated by Paul Drake]
| Introduction
Sermons
on God the Father
»
I
believe in God the Father, by Augustine of Hippo
»
God
is Father, by Cyril of Jerusalem
»
The
Foundation Stone of the Soul, by Cyril of Jerusalem
Sermons
on the Lord's Prayer
»
Our
Father, by Gregory of Nyssa
»
Who
art in Heaven, by Gregory of Nyssa
»
Hallowed
by thy Name, by Origen
»
Thy
Kingdom Come, by Origen
»
Thy
will be done, by Origen
»
Give
us our daily bread, by Gregory of Nyssa
»
Forgive
us our trespasses, by Cassian
»
And
lead us not into temptation, by Origen
»
But
deliver us from evil, by Cyprian of Carthage |
