Consider The "Our Father" Prayer

Our Father, Who is God, the Creator of human beings including Jesus, His Son, Creator of Heaven and earth, and of all things, First Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Who art in Heaven:  Where is Heaven?  There is a true story that is told of Mother Mary appearing and speaking to a woman who was praying in her house in Ephesus, Turkey, one day.  Mother Mary said that there was such a thin veil between the Heaven and the earth that she could step right through and be on the earth.

Hallowed be Thy Name:  On November 24, 1843, Our Lord spoke the following words to the French Carmelite nun, Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre:  “The earth is covered with crimes.  The violation of the first three Commandments of God has irritated My Father.  The Holy Name of God blasphemed, and the Holy Day of the Lord profaned, fills up the measure in iniquities.  These sins have risen unto the Throne of God and provoked his wrath which will soon burst forth if His justice be not appeased.  At no time have these crimes reached such a pitch.”

            Consider:  How often have we sworn “God damn it!” 
            Replace the name of God with your father’s name – Joe, Jim, etc.
                        “Joe damn it!”  “Jim damn it!” 

                        Why would we ask God to damn His own work of creation or anyone or anything in it, for we are in the physical world which He made, not He in our world.  If you are really so angry at being in this His world, then you must ask your mother and your father why you are here.  God created you because they asked of Him.  And each human being has only one mother and one father, for it takes only one man human being and one woman human being to create one new human being.

            On March 16, 1844, Our Lord, Jesus, told Sister Marie de St. Pierre, “Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God,’ in the spirit of reparation of blasphemy.”  (Say often.)

            Consider the Third Commandment:  “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.”
Thy Kingdom come:  Consider:  Why did Jesus, the Messiah, die?  The thing is, Jesus was a human being – one head, two arms, two legs and worked the same as every other human being – and He had a soul.


The following paragraphs are taken from the book The Way of Divine Love, by Sister Josefa Menéndez, Reprinted by arrangement with the copyright holder:  Sands & Co. (Publishers), Ltd., 79 Larmans Road, Enfield, Middlesex, England 1949.  Copyright © 1972 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. (Pocketbook Edition).


On March 12, 1923, Jesus came to Sister Josefa and asked her to “. . . come with Me . . . let us go to Gethsemane, and may your heart be immersed in the feelings of bitterness and sadness with which Mine was submerged.


“After having preached to great crowds, healed the sick, given sight to the blind, raised the dead . . . after having lived three years with My apostles to train them and teach My doctrine to them . . . I finally willed to teach them by example how to love one another, to put up with one another, and how mutually to serve each other; and this I did by washing their feet and making Myself their food.


“The hour had come for the Son of God made man, Redeemer of the human race, to shed His Blood and give His life for the world.  And that I might surrender Myself to My Father’s will I forthwith betook Myself to prayer.”


“. . .I withdrew into the Garden of Gethsemane, that is to say into solitude.  God is to be sought within, away from distraction and noise. . . .”


“It was thus I offered Myself to carry out the redemption of the world.


“At the same moment I felt all the torments of My Passion burst overwhelmingly upon Me:  the calumnies and the insults . . . the scourging and the Crown of Thorns, the thirst . . . the Cross. . . . All these sufferings thronged before My eyes and pressed upon My Heart, while at one and the same time I saw all the offences, sins and crimes that were to be committed throughout the ages . . . I not only witnessed them all, but was invested in them . . . so that under the burden of their ignominy I was constrained to present Myself before the face of My all-holy Father and implore Him to show mercy.


“And there burst upon Me the wrath of an angry and offended God, and in order to appease His Majesty I offered myself as security for sinful man, I, His Son, to calm His anger and satisfy His justice.  But so great was the anguish and so mortal the agony of My human nature under the strain and weight of so much guilt, that a bloody sweat poured from Me to the ground.”

On March 13, 1923, Jesus continued:  “Draw near Me, and when you see Me submerged in an ocean of grief, rise, and go with Me to the three disciples whom I had left a stone’s throw away.

“I had chosen them that they might share My agony, pray with Me and by their company afford Me some consolation . . . What were My feelings to find them asleep?  O the pang of loneliness, and to have none to share in My sorrow. . . .”

“It is useless for Me to attempt to awaken them, to make them leave themselves and their preoccupations, their vain and fruitless conversations . . . too often the reply that reaches Me in act if not in words amounts to:  ‘I cannot now, I am too busy . . . too tired . . . I need repose’.  Then gently insisting I say to this soul ‘Come for a little while.  Come and pray with Me, I need you, do not be afraid of sacrificing your rest for Me; I will be your reward’ . . .”  And the same answer is repeated. . . . Poor sleeping souls who cannot watch one hour with Me. . . .”

“I went back to My prayer, and again falling on My face I worshipped My father and implored His help. . . .”

“My soul, already shattered and a prey to sadness, had to endure still more deadly grief, for crushed by the weight of the sins of men, and in return for so much suffering and love, I saw only outrages and ingratitude.  The Blood now pouring from My body and which I was soon to shed from countless wounds would be in vain for so many souls . . . many would be lost . . . a still greater number would sin against Me . . . and myriads would not so much as hear My name . . . I would pour out My Blood for all, offer My merits to each soul. . . . Blood of a God . . .infinite merits . . . yet to be in vain for how great a number.”

“Alas!  At this moment I see how many will turn away from Me . . . some will not listen to My call . . . others will hear but not follow Me . . . others will respond for a time with a certain amount of generosity to the call of My Heart, but then will gradually grow drowsy and one day will say to Me by their deeds:  ‘I have worked enough . . . I have been faithful to every detail of my duty . . . I have overcome nature . . . I am no longer a child . . . so many privations . . . so much vigilance are no longer necessary . . . I need no longer endure this restraint, etc. . . .”

“”I saw all this and felt it in My Heart.  What should I do . . . turn back, ask My Father to free Me from this torment?  Show Him the uselessness of My sacrifice for so many souls? . . . No! again I surrendered Myself to His holy will and accepted this chalice, to drink it to the dregs.”

“I Myself would neither go back nor escape, and knowing that My enemies would come and seize Me in that very garden, I stayed where I was.”
The following paragraphs are taken from the book The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ From the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Translation published circa 1928 by Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd., London

Jesus’s death on the cross.

“. . .The hour of our Lord was at last come; his death-struggle had commenced; a cold sweat overspread every limb.  John stood at the foot of the Cross, and wiped the feet of Jesus with his scapular.  Magdalen was crouched to the ground in a perfect frenzy of grief behind the Cross.  The Blessed Virgin stood between Jesus and the good thief, supported by Salome and Mary of Cleophas, with her eyes riveted on the countenance of her dying Son. Jesus then said:  ‘It is consummated;’ and, raising his head, cried out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’  These words, which he uttered in a clear and thrilling tone, resounded through heaven and earth; and a moment after, he bowed down his head and gave up the ghost.  I saw his soul, under the appearance of a bright meteor, penetrate the earth at the foot of the Cross.”

“. . .Limbo, the place where the souls were waiting for the Redemption, was divided into different compartments, and encompassed by a thick foggy atmosphere.  Our Lord appeared radiant with light and surrounded by angels, who conducted him triumphantly between two of these compartments; the one on the left containing the patriarchs who lived before the time of Abraham, and that on the right those who lived between the days of Abraham and St. John Baptist. . . . The soul of our Lord then wended its way to the right, towards that part which really constituted Limbo; and there he met the soul of the good thief. . .as also that of the bad thief.”

Jesus is the Just Judge and the Gatekeeper to God, the Father’s kingdom, which is in Eternity.  The thing is God, the Father could not ask His Son to be a judge of human beings if He did not know what it was like to be a human being.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven: 
Consider:  How do we offend God?  By breaking His Ten Commandments.  The thing is, if we cannot follow God’s rules here on this His good earth, how are we ever going to follow them in His Heaven?

Give us this day our daily bread:
Consider:  “Our daily bread” can be the food which we need to eat every day to maintain our physical being; for example, bread, milk, meat, fruit, etc.

      “Our daily bread” also refers to Our Lord Jesus’s great gift of His Body and Blood, which we may receive in the Holy Eucharist every day.  If you do not know if you can receive this great gift, you must just ask Jesus, for it is His gift to give.

And forgive us our trespasses:  Forgive us our sins and offenses as we have broken His Ten Commandments by offending other human beings on this His good earth.
            Consider:  A human being’s greatest fear is of other human beings.  Whenever you have to speak to another human being, always say, “Dear Lord, please help.  And please may You use all for Your good, for Thine is the greater good.”  For Jesus knows everything about human beings and their relationships each one with the other.  And always helps each human being.

As we forgive those who trespass against us:
            It’s so hard to say “I’m sorry.” 

            Once when I was thinking about Jesus on His cross, He called to me and said, “Bernardette, do you think these people know what they are doing?”  I looked down at the people who were there – the Roman soldiers, the people who went to see a crucifixion and others.  The realization came to me that these people had no idea with whom they were dealing, Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish religious problem, a "rogue rabbi".  The Roman soldiers were just doing their job, keeping order and preventing the crowds from getting too unruly.  They had their own gods and probably wanted to be home in Rome with their families and friends.  One can only conjecture why other people would want to attend a crucifixion, but so be it.

            Retribution doesn’t work.  Consider what happens if you hit someone.  They hit you back.  The police may be called, legal charges filed, you may be jailed and unable to make bail money.  If your employer finds out, you may lose your job.  A lawsuit may ensue.  You may need a second mortgage to pay legal fees, judgments, etc.

            Bottom Line:  Don’t ever do anything to lose your freedom!  Always ask Jesus to help and always ask that He use all for His good, for His is the greater good.

And lead us not into temptation:
            Consider:  Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, God the Father used His angels to carry out His commands.

            The following paragraph describing, in part, the Annunciation is taken from the book The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary From the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, translated by Sir Michael Palairet, First published by Burns and Oates, Limited, London, England 1954:  “But now at her [Mary’s] right hand there poured down such a mass of light in a slanting line from the ceiling of the room that I felt myself pressed back by it against the wall near the door.  I saw in this light a shining white youth, with flowing yellow hair, floating down before her.  It was the Angel Gabriel.”

            So we too may ask God’s angels to help us:  St. Michael, the Archangel, walk with us.  Be our protector and our guide.  Show us our temptations and lead us away from them.

St. Michael, whose name means "Who is like God?", protect us from those who would be like God. Help us to remember Jesus before Pilate when those who would be like God tell us that they have power over us, and remind us to tell these human beings that they have no power over us, only God, our Father, has power over us.

St. Michael, please protect those human beings who would be like God, who believe they have power over others.  Guide them to Jesus, and guide them safely back to God's ways of holiness.  Amen.  (Taken from http://prayerclothes.blogspot.com)

But deliver us from evil:  And God created the Angels. And one-third of the Angels told God that they would not obey Him.  And God said, “Uh-Uh, not in my Heaven.”  And He sent them from His heaven.

And the devil was banished from Heaven with all of the angels who followed him. And where once the angels were so beautiful, they are now ugly – and are blamed for everything that goes wrong in the world.  The thing is, have you ever seen a devil or a demon in the world?  We only see human beings.  And when they are being so difficult and hard to understand, look to the Ten Commandments.

And the thing is that God created Lucifer, or the devil or Satan, or whatever name you may know him by, and if you ask God to hold the devil in His one Hand and you in His other Hand so that you may walk with God in His ways of holiness, He will.  (Taken from "All Souls Home To Heaven!!!" at http://prayerclothes.blogspot.com)

Amen.
Copyright Bernardette Grant 2013, 2017  All rights reserved

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