Category: FATHERS of the Church

Quote/s of the Day – 18 June – Thursday of the Eleventh week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: Sirach 48:1-14 (1-15), Psalm 97:1-7, Matthew 6:7-15

“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.
Amen”

Jesus
Matthew 6:9-13

“So, my brothers, let us pray as God our master has taught us.
To ask the Father in words His Son has given us,
to let Him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in His ears,
is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer.
Let the Father recognise the words of His Son.
Let the Son who lives in our hearts, be also on our lips.
We have Him as an Advocate for sinners, before the Father,
when we ask for forgiveness for ours sins,
let us use the words given by our Advocate.
He tells us –
Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you.
What more effective prayer could we then make,
in the name of Christ, than in the words of His own prayer?”

“As the Lord’s Prayer continues, we ask:
Give us this day our daily bread.
We can understand this petition in a spiritual
and in a literal sense.
For in the divine plan both senses
may help toward our salvation.
For Christ is the Bread of Life;
this Bread does not belong to everyone
but is ours alone.
When we say, our Father,
we understand that he is the Father
of those who know Him and believe in Him.
In the same way, we speak of our daily bread,
because Christ is the Bread of those who touch His body.”

St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258)
Bishop, Father of the Church and Martyr

An excerpt from his “On the Lord’s Prayer”

“For the author and giver of divine blessings
could not but be our teacher as well,
providing the words of this prayer,
as precepts of life,
for those disciples who believe in Him
and follow the way He taught in the flesh.
Through these words,
He has revealed the hidden treasures
of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3)
that exist in Him as pure form.
And, in all who offer this prayer,
He kindles the desire to enjoy such treasures.”

St Maximus the Confessor (c 580-662)
Monk and Theologian

Interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer

“You see, my children,
the Christian’s treasure is not on earth,
it is in heaven (Mt 6:20).
So our thinking must go to where our treasure is.
The human person has a beautiful task,
to pray and to love. 
You pray, you love –
that is the human being’s happiness on earth.”

“Prayer is nothing other than union with God.
… This union of God with his little creature
is something beautiful.
It is a happiness that we cannot understand.
We had deserved not to pray
but God, in His goodness, allows us to speak to Him.
Our prayer is incense,
which He receives with tremendous pleasure.”

St John-Marie Vianney (1786-1859)

Catechism on Prayer]

“Father, hallowed be thy name.”

Luke 11:2

“I have an instinct within me,
which leads me to rise and go to my Father,
to name the Name of His well-beloved Son
and having named it,
to place myself, unreservedly in His hands, saying
“if Thou, Lord, will mark iniquity, Lord,
who shall stand it?
For with Thee, there is merciful forgiveness.”

St John Henry Newman
(1801-1890)

To My Father

“God sees us always, for He is everywhere.
…He sees clearly, everything which we think,
desire or do, even our most secret hidden actions.
Do we perfectly grasp this tremendous truth?
Are we aware of it, at every moment of our lives
and do we make it the guide for our conduct?
If we were to live continually in the Presence of God,
our lives would be angelic, rather than human,
for we would not allow ourselves to commit even the slightest sin,
nor to be guilty of the least thought, word or action,
which might offend Him.
The more we fail in our awareness of the Presence of God,
the more disordered our actions become.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)