Richard Challoner

“ CONSIDER first, that after seeking in the three first petitions, the greater glory of the name of God, the propagation of his kingdom, and the execution of his will both in heaven and in earth; we are taught in the fourth petition to pray for all necessaries for ourselves, both for soul and body, under the name of our daily bread, which we here beg for this short day of our mortal life, in order to support us in our pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world, till we come to our true country and to the happy day of everlasting light and life, in the heavenly kingdom of our Father. ”

“ This petition claims the first place in the Lord's prayer, as its undoubted right; because the first and principal duty of a Christian is, to love his God with his whole heart and soul, and therefore the first and principal thing he ought to desire and pray for is, the great honour and glory of God. His love for his God makes him rejoice, to think that he is, in himself, infinitely happy and glorious, and will be so for all eternity, and that he is, and will be eternally adored, praised, and glorified by all the Angels and Saints. ”

“ See thou never more make thyself a slave to sin, or Satan: O child of heaven, lie no longer groveling in the mire of the earth. In this prayer we are taught to address ourselves to our Father, who is in heaven, to the end, that we may reflect whither we are to direct our thoughts when we pray and that we may not suffer any attachment to the things of the earth, by love and affection, to hinder them from freely flying up to heaven. My soul, where are thy thoughts in the time of prayer? Do not irregular affections chain them down to the earth, when they ought to be in heaven? ”

“ Consider 3dly, that, as true charity should begin at home, we are particularly to have in view in this petition, the establishment of the kingdom of God in our own souls, by heartily desiring, and earnestly praying, that God may come to us, and take full possession of our souls, by his grace; that he may set up his throne within us, and reign without control, and without rival in our hearts; that he may suppress all rebellions there, subdue all our passions, and make our whole interior his own, by giving us a strong and perfect love for him. O blessed kingdom of divine love! ”

“ Consider 2dly, how the Angel, in his salutation, styles the Blessed Virgin full of grace; to signify the supereminent degree of divine grace, to which God elevated her soul, to prepare her to be the mother of his Son. For she was full of all that habitual grace, which justifies and sanctifies the soul; full of faith and hope: full of divine charity, in both its branches; ever loving God with her whole heart, with her whole soul, with all her mind, and with all her strength, and loving her neighbour as herself ”

“ The true penitent abhors the monster of sin, beyond all other evils whatsoever; and therefore he is not content with seeking the remission of all his offences, but is ever solicitous to avoid the like evils, for the time to come; and there fore he flies the occasions of them, seeks to keep out of all dangerous temptations, and being sensible of his own weakness, he is earnest in prayer to beg of God to stand by him, and to help him to overcome all the enemies of his soul, and rather to let him die a thousand deaths, than to commit one wilful sin. ”

“ Then see what thou hast to apprehend of evil for the future, from the judgments of God ever hanging over the head of impenitent sinners, from the malice and subtilty of thy enemies, ever intent upon thy ruin; and the hold thou givest them by thy passions, and that unhappy self-love which keeps a continual correspondence with them ”

“ CONSIDER first, that divine hope cannot lie idle in the soul, nor suffer her to be idle, but exercises the soul in prayer, as the great means of obtaining all the good she hopes for. Now all the good that we are to hope and pray for, is marked out to us by our Lord, and comprised in a very few words, in that excellent prayer which he has taught us, commonly called, The Lord's Prayer. ”

“ Admire and adore the incomprehensible ways, by which thy God seeks to communicate him self to thee; and see thou correspond with his goodness and love, by turning daily to him, and giving thy whole self to him. ”

“ Now, of all these evils, sin is not only the greatest, but is, in some sense, the only thing that deserves to be called evil; because all other things that we call evils, are either the consequence of sin, or cease to be real evils, when not accompanied with sin. So that the main business of this petition is to beg of God that he would deliver us from all sin, past, present, or to come ”

“ For as one woman by disobedience, in hearkening to the suggestions of the infernal serpent, was the beginning of all the maledictions that fell upon all mankind; so one woman by her humble obedience to the proposals brought her by an Angel from heaven, was the beginning of all the benedictions, that were to come upon all mankind, from the blessed fruit of her womb ”

“ O! see, my soul, with what sentiments of devotion thou oughtest to join with the Angel, and with the blessed St. Elizabeth, and with the whole Church of God, in this solemn address to the Virgin Lady: " blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb," Luke i, 24.
Conclude ever to keep up in thy soul a grateful remembrance of all the great things, that God has done for the Blessed Virgin, and for us all, in the Incarnation of his Son, by a frequent and devout repetition of the Angelical salutation ”

“ That the like may never happen to our souls, we must be daily repenting for these daily sins, and offering up daily for them the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, as often as we repeat this petition of the Lord's Prayer.
Consider 2dly, that besides the obligation of daily labouring to procure the discharge of these daily debts, we must see if we have not reason to apprehend a more heavy load of debt lying upon our souls, on account of our past sins; more especially if, in any part of our life, we have lived in mortal sin. ”

“ Consider 3dly, with regard to temptations, that they are no sins to us, if we give no way to them, nor bring them upon us by our own faults. So far from it, that they are often the occasions of very great good to our souls; by obliging us to watch and to pray the more, from the sense of our dangers; by keeping us humble, and by affording us the opportunity of gaining us many victories, and consequently as many glorious crowns for all eternity, as we have had conflicts with the enemy, by occasion of temptations. ”

“ So that here is also exercised an act of perfect love, both with relation to God, by desiring that his kingdom, his grace, and his truth, may be victorious over all the world; and with relation to all mankind, by praying that all men may be subdued to that happy kingdom, and may be true and faithful subjects to this great King. ”

“ Moreover, as those trials, which God often sends for the exercise of our virtue, and for the proof of our fidelity, are also in Scripture called temptations; such as afflictions, crosses, pains, &c., of which God is certainly the author and distributor; we beg of him, by these words, Lead us not into temptation, that with relation to all such trials as these, he would ever have regard to our weakness, and never lay upon us any load above our strength. ”

“ These lesser faults into which We daily fall, if neglected and suffered to grow and multiply upon us, are of worse consequence to our souls than we can well imagine; the water that comes into the ship by small chinks, if not daily pumped out, may in time, increase in such manner as to sink the vessel. ”

“ And this is the principal meaning of this petition, " Lead us not into temptation," which ought to be recited by all Christians, with these dispositions of a great horror of sin, and a most earnest desire to be ever preserved from it.
Consider 2dly, in what sense we here beg of God "not to lead us into temptation;" since, as St. James says, chap, i, 13, "God is not a tempter of evils, and he tempteth no man," viz., so as to incite, allure, or provoke to sin. No certainly; such temptations as these cannot be from God, who is essentially good, and ever abhors sin ”

“ Alas! the load of such debts of these is immense, a sum of ten thousand talents, which we are utterly unable to discharge of ourselves; and whether our repentance has been sufficient to apply to our souls the discharge purchased by the blood of Christ, we cannot tell. ”

“ CONSIDER first, that in this fifth petition, our Lord has furnished us with a daily remedy for those many evils into which we daily fall. " We all offend in many things," James, iii, 2, and not a day passes, in which we are not contracting fresh debts to our great Master, either by omission or commission, in thought, word, or deed. Therefore we ought daily to sue for a discharge, and to call for mercy and forgiveness, with a truly penitent heart ”