Of such a Father what shall we ask? Do we not ask rain of Him, to-day, and yesterday, and
the day before? This is no great thing to have asked of such a Father, and yet ye see with
what sighings, and with what great desire we ask for rain, when death is feared, when that
is feared which none can escape. For sooner or later every man must die, and we groan, and
pray, and travail in pain, and cry to God, that we may die a little later. How much more
ought we to cry to Him, that we may come to that place where we shall never die!
4. Therefore is it said, “Hallowed be Thy Name.” This we also ask of Him that his Name
may be hallowed in us; for Holy is it always. And how is His Name hallowed in us, except
while it makes us holy. For once we were not holy, and we are made holy by His Name; but
He is always Holy, and His Name always Holy. It is for ourselves, not for God, that we pray.
For we do not wish well to God, to whom no ill can ever happen. But we wish what is good
for ourselves, that His Holy Name may be hallowed, that that which is always Holy, may be
hallowed in us.
5. “Thy kingdom come.”2007 Come it surely will, whether we ask or no. Indeed, God
hath an eternal kingdom. For when did He not reign? When did He begin to reign? For His
kingdom hath no beginning, neither shall it have any end. But that we may know that in
this prayer also we pray for ourselves, and not for God (for we do not say, “Thy kingdom
come,” as though we were asking that God may reign); we shall be ourselves His kingdom,
if believing in Him we make progress in this faith. All the faithful, redeemed by the Blood
of His Only Son, will be His kingdom. And this His kingdom will come, when the resurrection
of the dead shall have taken place; for then He will come Himself. And when the dead are
risen, He will divide them, as He Himself saith, “and He shall set some on the right hand,
and some on the left.”2008 To those who shall be on the right hand He will say, “Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom.” This is what we wish and pray for when we say,
“Thy kingdom come;” that it may come to us. For if we shall be reprobates, that kingdom
will come to others, but not to us. But if we shall be of that number, who belong to the
members of His Only-begotten Son, His kingdom will come to us, and will not tarry. For
are there as many ages yet remaining, as have already passed away? The Apostle John hath
said, “My little children, it is the last hour.”2009 But it is a long hour proportioned to this
long day; and see how many years this last hour lasteth. But nevertheless, be ye as those who
watch, and so sleep, and rise again, and reign. Let us watch now, let us sleep in death; at the
end we shall rise again, and shall reign without end.
6. “Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth.”2010 The third thing we pray for is, that
His will may be done as in heaven so in earth. And in this too we wish well for ourselves.
2007 Matt. vi. 10.
2008 Matt. xxv. 33.
2009 1 John ii. 18, Vulgate.
2010 Matt. vi. 10.
597
Again, on Matt. vi. on the Lord’s Prayer. To the Competentes.