9. In this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our
Father Who art in the heavens. A vow is different from a prayer. A vow is a
promise made to God, as, for example, when one vows to abstain from wine, etc.
But prayer is a petitioning for good things. By saying "Father," the
Lord shows you of what good things you have been deemed worthy, having become a
son of God. By saying "in the heavens" He has revealed to you your
fatherland and your paternal home. For if you desire to have God as your
Father, then look toward heaven and not toward earth. And you must not say,
"My Father," but "Our Father," regarding all men as
brothers of one and the same Father. Hallowed be Thy Name. This means, Make
us holy, so that Thou mightest be glorified through us. For just as God is
blasphemed through me, so also is He hallowed through me, that is, He is
glorified as the Holy One.
10. Thy kingdom come. This refers to the
second coming. He whose clean conscience renders him bold prays that the
resurrection and the judgement will come. Thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven. Just as the angels do Thy will, the Lord says, so also grant us
to do the same.
11. Give us this day our dally bread. By
the word "daily" He means what is sufficient for our existence, our
essence, and our sustenance. Thus He teaches us not to worry about tomorrow.
"Bread for our essence" is also the Body of Christ, of Which we pray
that we may partake without condemnation.
12. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. Because we sin even after our baptism, we beseech Him to forgive
us. But forgive us as we forgive others: if we remember wrongs, God will not
forgive us. God takes me as the pattern He will follow: what I do to another,
He does to me.
13. And lead us not into temptation. We
humans are weak and therefore we should not throw ourselves into temptations.
But when we have fallen into temptation, we should pray that we not be
swallowed up by it. For he who has been led into the very depth of temptation
is the one who has been swallowed up and defeated by temptation. But it is
different for him who merely fell into temptation, and then conquered it. But
deliver us from, the evil one. He did not say, from evil men, for it is not
they who do us harm, but the devil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory unto the ages. Amen. Here He emboldens us, for if our Father
is King, powerful and glorious, then certainly we too will defeat the evil one
and we will then be made glorious.
14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Again He teaches us not to
remember wrongs. He reminds us of the Father so that we might revere Him, since
we are the children of such a Father, and not act as fierce beasts, refusing to
forgive.
15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. God, Who is meek, hates
nothing more than cruelty.
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