Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
God's will is embodied in everything Christ himself performed and taught. It shows itself as humble conduct, firm faith, restrained speech, righteous deeds, merciful works, and disciplined character. It means never learning how to injure another while being able to endure an injury received; keeping peace among the brethren; loving the Lord wholeheartedly, cherishing him as Father and fearing him as God. It means placing nothing whatsoever ahead of Christ, just as he placed nothing ahead of us; holding fast to his love without ever letting go; standing beside his cross with courage and trust whenever the struggle touches his name and glory; displaying, in speech, the steadiness of our confession, in questioning, the boldness with which we engage, and in death, the endurance that earns our crown. Wanting to share Christ's inheritance, obeying God's own precept, carrying out the Father's will — these three amount to one and the same thing.
We ask that God's will come to pass both in heaven and on earth — a plea that touches the very completion of our deliverance and our salvation. Since our body comes from the earth while our spirit comes from heaven, we ourselves constitute both earth and heaven, and it is regarding both — body together with spirit — that we pray for God's will to be accomplished. A contest goes on daily between flesh and spirit, each warring against the other, so that we fail to do what we actually want, because the spirit longs after heavenly and divine realities while the flesh hungers for what belongs to earth and this present age. So we ask that harmony between these two be brought about through God's help and support, so that as his will is worked out in spirit and in flesh alike, the soul reborn through him may be kept safe. Paul makes this plain without disguise, in his own words: flesh, he says, wars against spirit, and spirit resists flesh in return — locked together in mutual opposition, they leave you powerless to accomplish what you wish. The deeds produced by the flesh are plain to see: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idol-worship, sorcery, hatred, quarreling, jealousy, anger, rivalry, dissension, factionalism, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and similar things — people who practice such things will never inherit God's kingdom. By contrast, what the spirit produces is love, joy, peace, magnanimity, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-mastery, purity. This is why, in prayers offered daily — indeed unceasingly — we beg that his will be accomplished toward us in heaven and on earth alike: because God wills precisely this, that earthly concerns should yield to heavenly ones, and that what is spiritual and divine should hold sway.
This can also be taken another way, dearest brothers: because the Lord bids and urges us to love even our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, let us also intercede for those who remain of the earth and have not yet started becoming heavenly, asking that God's will be accomplished in them as well — the very will Christ carried out by rescuing and remaking humankind. For the disciples are no longer termed earth by him but rather earth's salt, and the apostle names the first man as formed from earth's clay while the second came from heaven; so it suits us, who should resemble God the Father, who causes his sun to rise on good and wicked alike and sends rain on just and unjust, to pray and ask, following Christ's own teaching, that we plead on behalf of everyone's deliverance — so that, just as in heaven (that is, within ourselves) his will has already been done through our faith, that we might belong to heaven, so too on earth (that is, among those still refusing belief) his will may likewise be done, that those still earthly by their first birth may start becoming heavenly, born from water and spirit.
As the prayer continues, we petition, saying: grant us this day our daily portion of bread. This admits of both a spiritual and a plain reading, since either interpretation, through God's own gift, serves toward salvation. This bread belongs not to everyone, but only to us, for Christ himself is life's own bread. Just as we call him 'our Father' because he fathers those who comprehend and trust him, so likewise we speak of 'our bread,' since Christ becomes bread for those among us who partake of his body. We ask that this bread be granted to us day by day, so that those of us united to Christ, receiving his eucharist daily as saving nourishment, might not be held back by some more serious fault intervening — barred from communion and thereby cut off from the bread of heaven, separated from Christ's own body — for he himself declares: I am the bread of life who descended from heaven; whoever eats of my bread will live forever; and the bread I will give is my own flesh, given for the life of the world. Since he says that eternal life belongs to whoever eats his bread, it is evident that life belongs to those who partake of his body and rightly share in the eucharist through communion; conversely, then, we must dread and pray against the possibility that someone, held back and cut off from Christ's body, might fall short of salvation — elsewhere he issues this same warning: fail to eat the Son of Man's flesh and drink his blood, and no life at all will be found within you. For this reason we ask that our bread — Christ himself — be given us daily, so that, abiding and living within Christ, we might never break away from his sanctifying presence and his body.
This can also be taken another way: we who have turned away from the world, and, through the faith of spiritual grace, cast off its wealth and display, ask for ourselves nothing but food and the means of living, since the Lord teaches and says: whoever does not give up everything he owns cannot be my disciple. Now whoever has taken up discipleship under Christ, renouncing everything as his teacher's voice demands, should request enough food for that single day rather than stretching his petitions toward some distant future, since the Lord himself lays it down again, saying: do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself; each day's trouble is sufficient for itself. Rightly, then, does Christ's disciple ask for his sustenance one day at a time, forbidden as he is from dwelling on tomorrow — since it would be self-defeating and contradictory to seek a long life in this world while praying for God's kingdom to arrive swiftly. In the same way the blessed apostle exhorts us, building up and confirming how solid our hope and trust ought to be: nothing, he says, did we carry into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out of it; so, having food and clothing, let these be enough for us. But those wanting to grow rich fall into temptation, into snares, into many harmful and hurtful desires that drown a person in ruin and destruction. Greed is the root from which every evil springs, and some, grasping eagerly after it, have wrecked themselves away from the faith and impaled themselves on many sorrows.
He teaches that riches are not only to be despised but are dangerous, that there lies the root of evils which flatter, the blindness of the human mind deceived by a hidden trickery. That is why God rebukes the rich fool who was thinking of his worldly stores and boasting of the abundance of his overflowing crops, saying: fool, this very night your soul is demanded of you; the things you have prepared, then, whose will they be? The fool was rejoicing over his crops, though he was to die that night, and while his life was already failing he was thinking about an abundance of provisions. The Lord, on the other hand, teaches that a man becomes perfect and complete who, after selling all he has and distributing it for the use of the poor, lays up for himself a treasure in heaven. He says that the one who can follow him and imitate the glory of his passion is he who, unencumbered and girded, is entangled by no snares of household wealth, but, freed and unbound, himself follows after his goods which he has already sent ahead to the Lord. So that every one of us might be capable of readying ourselves for this, he here teaches us to pray and to grasp what prayer's rule should be.
The righteous person can never lack daily food, for Scripture says: the Lord will not allow a just soul to perish from hunger; and elsewhere: I was once young, now I have grown old, yet never have I witnessed the just abandoned, nor his offspring begging for bread. Likewise the Lord makes this promise: do not worry, asking yourselves what you will eat, what you will drink, or what you will wear — such concerns belong to the pagans. Your Father already knows that you need all of this. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and everything else will be granted to you besides. He assures those who pursue God's kingdom and righteousness that every other thing will be supplied. Since everything belongs to God, whoever possesses God will lack nothing — so long as he himself does not abandon God. This is how Daniel, confined to the lions' den at the king's command, received his meal through divine provision, fed by God's care even while surrounded by beasts that hungered yet held back from harming him. In just the same way Elijah was sustained during his flight into the wilderness, with ravens serving him and birds delivering his food, kept alive even amid persecution. And — what a shameful cruelty found only in human wickedness! — wild animals restrain themselves and birds provide nourishment, while men ambush and savage one another!
Concerning our sins we next offer this petition: forgive us our debts, even as we ourselves forgive those who owe us. Once food has been requested, forgiveness for wrongdoing is sought next, so that whoever is nourished by God may go on living within God, provided for not merely in this present, temporary life but in the eternal one — reachable only if the sins that the Lord terms debts are pardoned, exactly as he states in his own gospel: I released you from that whole debt because you begged me to. How essential, how wisely arranged, and how beneficial it is that we are reminded of our sinfulness, driven as we are to plead on our sins' behalf, so that in seeking pardon from God, a person's mind might turn back to examine its own conscience. So that no one might flatter himself as innocent and, by puffing himself up, ruin himself further, he is shown and taught that sinning happens to him every day, since he is commanded to pray daily concerning his sins. John likewise cautions in his letter: should we claim to be without sin, we only fool ourselves, and truth has no place in us; yet if we acknowledge our sins, the Lord, faithful and righteous, will pardon them. Within that same letter he brings together both points — that we must plead for our sins, and that pleading secures pardon. Thus he named the Lord faithful, since he honors the assurance of his own pledge to forgive — for the one who instructed us to pray about our debts and offenses has guaranteed the Father's compassion and the forgiveness that comes after.
He plainly went further, attaching a rule that binds us under a definite condition and pledge — that we ask for our own debts to be released in the very way we release those indebted to us, aware that what we request concerning our sins will never be granted unless we do the same for those who offend against us. Elsewhere, accordingly, he states: by whatever measure you measure out, it will be measured back to you — and the servant who, once his master had forgiven his entire debt, refused in turn to forgive his fellow servant, was thrown into prison, because in denying mercy to a fellow servant he forfeited what the Lord had granted him. Christ presses this point with even greater force and weightier judgment: when you stand to pray, he says, forgive whatever grievance you hold against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive your sins; but should you fail to forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your sins. On the day of judgment no excuse will remain for you, since the verdict you pronounce becomes the verdict passed on you, and you will undergo precisely what you yourself inflicted. For God has ordered that those within his household be peaceable, unanimous, and of a single mind, wishing those he has remade through the second birth to persist as they were reborn, so that we, being sons of God, might dwell in God's peace, and so that those sharing one spirit might share one mind and one feeling. Thus God will not even receive the sacrifice of someone at odds with another, and he directs the one who leaves the altar to first make peace with his brother, so that God himself may be won over by peaceable prayer. A sacrifice greater to God than any other is our peace and fraternal unity, and a people gathered into one, arising from the oneness shared by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When Abel and Cain each brought their first offerings, God did not regard their gifts but examined their hearts, so that whoever was pleasing at heart would also be pleasing in what he presented. Abel, being peaceable and just, offered his sacrifice to God in innocence, and by this taught others that whenever they bring gifts to the altar, they should approach in reverence toward God, with an uncomplicated heart, following the standard of righteousness, and in harmonious peace. Because he showed himself this way in his offering to God, it was fitting that he himself later became an offering to God — the very first to demonstrate martyrdom, inaugurating through the glory of his own bloodshed the Lord's own passion, since he had possessed the Lord's own righteousness together with his peace. People of this kind receive their crown from the Lord; people of this kind will be vindicated alongside the Lord on judgment day. But whoever is quarrelsome, at odds with others, and fails to keep peace with the brethren cannot escape the charge of splitting the family of faith, even if put to death for the Name — as holy Scripture and the blessed apostle both attest, since it is written that whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer reaches the kingdom of heaven or lives together with God. Whoever chooses to imitate Judas rather than Christ cannot remain with Christ. What a grave fault this is, one that not even the baptism of blood can wash away; what a crime that not even martyrdom itself can atone for!
The Lord likewise warns us, out of necessity, to say in prayer: and do not let us be brought into temptation. This part reveals that the adversary holds no power over us unless God grants leave for it beforehand, so every bit of our fear, devotion, and vigilance ought to be directed toward God, since during trials the evil one can do nothing beyond what authority is handed him from that source. Scripture confirms this, stating: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, for the Lord had delivered it into his hand. Authority is granted to the evil one against us in proportion to our own sins, as Scripture says: who handed Jacob over to plunder, and Israel to those who stripped him bare? Was it not God, against whom they had sinned, refusing to walk in his ways or heed his law, so that he poured his burning anger down upon them? And again, when Solomon sinned and strayed from the Lord's commands and paths, it is recorded: and the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon himself.
Power is granted against us in two ways: as punishment when we transgress, or for glory when we are tested — as we observe in the case of Job, when God himself declares: look, I place everything he owns into your hands, but be careful not to touch the man himself. And the Lord speaks in the gospel at the moment of his passion: you would hold no power over me at all had it not been granted you from above. So when we pray not to be brought into temptation, our own weakness and frailty are being called to mind through that very prayer, lest anyone exalt himself with arrogance, lest anyone claim credit for himself with pride and presumption, lest anyone credit himself with the glory of his own confession or suffering — since the Lord, giving a lesson in humility himself, declared: stay alert and pray, so you do not fall into temptation; the spirit is eager enough, yet the flesh remains feeble. So it is that when submission and humility open the confession, and the whole of oneself is handed over to God, his own kindness grants whatever is asked in that submissive spirit, with fear and honor shown toward him.
After all this comes, at the close of the prayer, a final clause that gathers up all our petitions and prayers in a compact brevity. For at the very end we place: but deliver us from evil, comprehending all the adversities that the enemy works against us in this world — against which there can be a firm and trustworthy defense if God delivers us, if he grants his help to us as we beg and implore. Now when we say deliver us from evil, nothing further remains that need be asked for, since once we have sought God's protection against evil, when that has been obtained we stand secure and safe against all that the devil and the world contrive. For what fear is there from the world for one for whom God is the guardian even within the world?
Is it any wonder, dearest brothers, that God himself taught a prayer which, through his own instruction, compressed our entire petition into a discourse of salvation? This had been announced long beforehand by the prophet Isaiah, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke of God's grandeur and mercy: bringing the word to completion and cutting it short in righteousness, he says, for the Lord will produce an abbreviated word across the whole earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, himself God's Word, arrived for all people; gathering both learned and unlearned, every sex, every age, he set forth the precepts of salvation and drew his teaching together into one great summary — sparing learners' memory the strain of heavenly instruction while letting them grasp quickly what plain faith demanded. So, in teaching what eternal life consists of, he wrapped up life's mystery in a brief yet immense and divine statement, saying: this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ. Likewise, drawing the first and weightiest precepts out of the Law and the Prophets, he says: hear, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one; and: you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole strength — this comes first, and a second resembles it: you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. The entire Law and the Prophets rest upon these two commandments. And again: whatever you wish others would do for you, do that very thing for them, since this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
God taught us to pray through deeds as much as through words, praying frequently himself and interceding, demonstrating by his own example what we should do, as it is written: he would withdraw into deserted places and pray; and again: he went up the mountain to pray and remained there praying all night long. Yet if he who had no sin at all still prayed, how much greater is the obligation on sinners to pray; and if he, keeping vigil the entire night, prayed with unrelenting petitions, how much more should we stay awake through the night in devoted, frequent prayer!