PRAYER.
THE LORS'S PRAYER.

Explanation of the Plate.

1. The several small pictures here illustrate the Lord's Prayer, so called because it was Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who composed it in order to show us how we should pray. (Matt. VI, 9-13.)
2. The Lord's Prayer consists of a short preface and seven petitions to the Almighty. In the first three of these petitions we pray for what ministers to His glory and in the remaining four we ask for what concerns our own spiritual and temporal welfare.
3. The prefatory words « Our Father who art in heaven » are given in the scroll over the picture of heaven wherein God is manifesting His glory to the angels and saints.
4. The first two words 'Our Father' are there to remind us that we are God's children and that as such we must pray to Him with love and confidence as to our Father.
5. We continue with « Who art in heaven » to make us pray with due respect, remembering that we are addressing One, who is Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.
6. FIRST PETITION: « Hallowed be Thy name. - We pray thus that all mankind may know and serve God.
7. The top picture on the left representing the healing of the lame man by St. Peter illustrates this petition. By the words, « In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk » (Acts III, 6) and the resulting cure St. Peter hallowed the name of God, proclaiming thereby the holiness and divine power of the Name of Jesus.
8. SECOND PETITION: « Thy kingdom com ». - In pronouncing these words we pray (1), that God may graciously come and reign in our hearts, (2), that He may one day allow us to reign with Him in heaven, and (3) that all nations with their rulers may acknowledge the sovereignty of God and of His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
9. Under the scroll containing those words the elder Tobias is shown predicting the coming of the kingdom of God within the Church: « Jerusalem, thou shalt shine with a glorious light. Nation from afar shall come to thee and shall bring gifts and shall adore the Lord in thee and shall esteem thy land as holy. » (Tob. XIII, 13-14.)
10. THIRD PETITION: « Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ». - With these words we pray that God may grant us the grace to obey Him here on earth as the Angels obey Him in heaven.
11. Above the scroll carrying these words we see Jesus in His agony in the garden saying to His Father: « Father if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me; but yet not my will, but Thine be done. » (Luke XXII, 42.)
12. FOURTH PETITION: « Give us this day our daily bread ». Here we ask God to give us what is necessary for the life of the body as well as of the soul.
13. What the body requires are food, raiment and shelter.
14. Christ used the word bread with a purpose - we must be satisfied with what is strictly necessary and not to ask or long for superfluities.
15. What the soul needs are (1) the word of God, (2) sanctifying and actual grace, and (3) the Holy Eucharist, which is « the Living Bread which came down from heaven ». (John VI, 41.)
16. The picture over the scroll containing this petition shows an angel bringing a loaf of bread to the prophet Elias in the desert. (II Kings XIX.)
17. FIFTH PETITION: « And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us ». - These words mean that if we wish God to forgive us, we ourselves must forgive those who have done or are doing us wrong.
18. Above the double length of scroll containing the words of the petition we have two pictures to illustrating it. One represents Christ on the Cross pardoning His executioners and the penitent thief, the other, David sparing the sleeping Saul, who was seeking to kill him. (I Kings XXVI).
19. SIXTH PETITION: « And lead us not into temptation ». Temptation is a movement within us inciting us to sin and due to the devil and concupiscence.
20. God allows us to be tempted in order that we may realise our miserably frail nature and be given an opportunity of gaining merit by the resistance we offer with the help of His grace.
21. The illustration to this petition shows Jesus tempted in the desert by the devil, but utterly routing him.
22. SEVENTH PETITION: « But deliver us from evil ». - Here we beseech God to deliver us from bodily as well as spiritual dangers, to save us from sin and from eternal damnation.
23. In the illustration above these words we see the prophet Daniel in the lions' den miraculously preserved from all harm. (Dan. VI, 16 et seq.)
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