Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer
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Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer
Asexplained by Emmet Fox
Original in Spanish, Translation by Luis E. Prada.
The Lord’s Prayer was carefully conceived by Jesus with certain very precise ends. Jesus taught it to outline an accurate path towards God. So, we should use it intelligently. If done by heart, it is a compact formula to develop the soul, being the only important path for the soul. The Lord’s Prayer is prepared to help to that change.
Jesus composed the prayer in such a way as it would pass through ages without suffering alterations. The Lord’s Prayer is naturally divided in seven clauses. The number seven symbolizes the perfection of the individual soul.
Matthew, Chapter 6, verses 9 through 13.
1. Our Father
2. which art in Heaven,
3. hallowed be Thy Name.
4. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
5. Give us this day our daily bread.
6. And forgive us our debts,as we forgive our debtors.
7. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
1. Our Father:
These words describe God’s nature and character and summarize the truth of being. In this clause Jesus establishes once and for all that the relationship between God and Man is that of Father and Son. Man by being God’s son becomes participant of his/her nature, "as the father, so the son". And as God is Divine Spirit, so man too, independent of illusory appearances on the contrary.
God is a merciful Father of humanity eliminating the belief of the old theology of a vengeful and punishing God.
If we meditate in this fact diseases in our lives and all that is apparently negative would start to lose meaning and power , since their roots are based on fear. If we are conscious of these truths our existence would be converted in a demonstration of our perfect spiritual condition.
By saying Our Father we are revealing the fact of the brotherhood of men. This dissipates the illusion that men of a particular race, nation or color be superior to others. And when pronounced this prayer not only are we praying for ourselves but for all humanity, "we are truly members of just one body".
2.Which art in Heaven:
Jesus explains that God’s nature is to be in Heaven and man’s to be on Earth, because God is cause and man effect or manifestation. Here the word "Heaven" means Presence of God, and the word "Earth" means manifestation.
The function of man is to express or manifest God, express means take it out, take it to the light.
3.Hallowed be Thy Name:
The name of a thing represents its essential nature and character. Jesus says that the nature of God is "hallowed (sanctified)", whose etymological origin means "holy", "whole", "to heal". In this manner God’s nature is revealed to us as perfect and eternally good.
An effect is always of the same nature as the cause that produces it, as such all that comes from God cannot be less sanctified that Him/Her. Your nature is essentially good, and you are creator of the perfect good.
4.Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven:
Man as manifestation of God has an unlimited destiny. His work is to consciously express the abstract ideas that God supplies to him. Man in himself is a individualized creating consciousness,"there exist as many universes as individuals, which are conceived by the only fact of thinking them".
"Thy Kingdom come" is our mission to manifestGod’s ideas in the material planes. If we just discover the plan that He/She has individually outlined for us and accomplish it all doors would open before us, all obstacles would vanish, and in consequence we would enjoy happiness, success, money and all of the Father’s virtues. We must harmonize ourselves to that end with God’s Superior Will because in His/Her Will is our Peace.
5.Give us this day our daily bread:
We are the children of a Father that loves us, and we can naturally expect from Him/Her all we need as in a natural and spontaneous manner children expect to receive from their parents. It is God’s Will that our lives be abundant. Our financial resources are not more than natural channels through which come to us what the Eternal Source supplies. The number of channels is infinite, but the source is one alone, God.
For that end we should put our mind beyond the apparent material channels, changing our limited belief and placing our consciousness in the only Infinite Source that is God. In this way the belief of limitation and scarcity will be dissipating and disappearing. "As you thought it, so it will be".
6.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors:
Sin is the sensation of being separated from God, and the cause of all suffering, it comes of that feeling of separation. It is the sensation of an absolutely personal existence, while the truth of Self is that everything is One. Evil, selfishness and all suffering come form the negation of not recognizing this idea, since what you do to other you are doing to yourself. The purpose of forgiveness is to make disappear the illusion of separateness, and with this to come closer to God and our neighbor dissipating all blames that tie us to an unnecessary suffering. Forgiveness is the escape of limitation and blame.
7.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
In this clause we ask to be freed of all difficulties, remembering this sentence: "No plague will touch your dwelling, I AM with you always, even unto the end of the world."
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