ACUERDO DEL CONSEJO GENERAL DEL INS- INS-TITUTO ELECTORAL DE QUERETARO

“Our Fa ther who art in heaven.”

[11.] The best be gin ning and pref ace of a prayer is to know how to ad dress, how to honor and treat him to whom one wishes to pray, and how to so con- duct one’s self to ward him as to make him gra cious and dis posed to hear. Now, of all names, none puts us into a bet ter re la tion to God than “Fa ther.” This is a truly friendly, lov ing, pro found and cor dial ad dress. To say “Lord” or “God” or “Judge” would not be nearly so pre cious and com fort ing. For the name “Fa ther” is by na ture born in us and nat u rally has a sweet sound. For this rea son it pleases God best, and it, more than any other name, moves him to hear us. At the same time in us ing it we con fess our con scious ness of be ing chil dren of God and thereby it ex erts a pow er ful in flu ence upon him; for there is no love lier voice for the fa ther than that of his child.

[12.] The ef fect of these words is en hanced by those fol low ing: “Who art in heaven.” By these words we pro claim our lam en ta ble need and mis ery; and they sup ply a pow er ful mo tive both for us to pray and for God to show mercy.

For he who be gins to pray, “Our Fa ther, who art in heaven,” and does so from the depths of his heart, con fesses that he has a Fa ther, and that, too, in heaven. He knows that he is in ex ile, and for lorn, on earth. Hence a heart felt long ing nec es sar ily arises in him, like that which comes over a child far

away from its fa ther’s coun try, among strangers, in ex ile and mis ery. It is as if he said: “O Fa ther, who art in heaven! I, thy wretched child upon earth, in ex ile, far from thee, in all per ils, in dis tress and need, among dev ils and sur- rounded by the great est en e mies and man i fold dan gers.”

[13.] He who prays in this man ner stands be fore God with a right and up lifted heart, and is pre pared to pray and to stir God’s pity. This is so lofty a word that it can not be spo ken out of the na ture of man, un less the spirit of Christ is in the heart. For, if a thor ough ex am i na tion is made into the mat ter, it shall be found that no man is so per fect that he can truth fully say he has no fa ther here; that he has noth ing, he is al to gether a stranger and God alone is his fa ther. Our na ture is so evil that it al ways seeks some thing on earth and is not con tent with God in heaven.

[14.] Yet, these words set forth the kind of trust we should have in God and in none but him. For no one but the Fa ther can help us into heaven. It is writ ten, “No one hath as cended into heaven, but he that de scended out of heaven, even the Son of man,” Jn 3:13. To be ar rayed in him and to be borne on his shoul ders is the only way to as cend thither.

[15.] There fore, this is a prayer for all those that la bor; and even for those who have not grasped the mean ing of the words. The lat ter I con sider the best prayer, for then rather the heart speaks than the mouth.

[16.] Mean while, an other stands in church and turns over the leaves, counts the rosary beads un til they rat tle, and with his heart thinks of some- thing which has no bear ing what ever upon what he is con fess ing with his lips. This is no prayer. To such God speaks through the prophet Isa iah (29:13): “This peo ple draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have re moved their heart far from me.”

So there are priests and min is ters who rush through the es tab lished hours of prayer with out a trace of de vo tion. Then they shame lessly say: Now I am happy; I have now ren dered our Lord his due. They think they have thus sat is fied God.

[17.] But I tell you, though I con cede that they per haps sat isfy the re- quire ments of the Church, that God shall say to them: “This peo ple hon- oreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me,” Mt 15:8. And it is to be feared that, re ly ing upon such prayers, they never get a prayer to God. So they pray least who ap pear to pray most, and, con versely, they who ap pear to pray least, pray most.

[18.] Now we place our com fort and con fi dence in much wail ing, much shout ing and sing-song, which Christ has for bid den when he says that no one shall be heard for his much speak ing. The cause of this is the wretched ser mons. In these, those that guide the peo ple, de part ing from the ex am ple of the fa thers, do not lead them with toil and ef fort to the true foun da tion and to in ward prayer, but only to ex ter nal forms and lip-prayers, with their own ad van tage as the chief aim.

[19.] They may say: It is writ ten (Lk 18:1), “Ye ought al ways to pray.” I an swer: Look closely at the words. He does not say. Ye ought al ways to turn leaves, count rosary beads, make many words and the like, but. Ye ought al- ways to pray. But what pray ing is, has been suf fi ciently ex plained above.

There were once cer tain heretics, called Eu chites, that is, sup pli cants. They wished to ob serve the Word of Christ and they prayed (that is, they chat tered with their mouths; day and night and did noth ing else. Nor did they per ceive their folly; for when they ate, drank or slept, it was ev i dent that their sup pli ca tions had to be in ter rupted. There fore, the word of Christ refers to spir i tual prayer. This can be of fered with out ceas ing, even when at phys i cal la bor; al though no one ac com plishes it per fectly, for who is able at all times to lift up his heart to God? There fore, this word sets up a stan dard by which we are to be di rected; and when we see that we come short of it, we are to rec og nize what weak, frail men we are, and to hum ble our selves and ask par don for our frailty.

[20.] All teach ers of the Scrip tures con clude that the na ture and essence of prayer is the up lift ing of the mind, or heart, to God. But if the up lift ing of the heart de ter mines the na ture and char ac ter of prayer, it fol lows that ev- ery thing which is not an up lift ing of the heart is not prayer. There fore, singing, speak ing, pip ing, when there is no up lift ing of the heart, are just as far from be ing prayer as the scare crows in the gar dens are from be ing men. The essence is not there, only the form and name.

This state ment is con firmed by Saint Jerome, who tells of a holy fa ther, named Agathon, who, for thirty years car ried a stone in his mouth in the desert, be cause he wished to learn si lence. How, then, did he pray? No doubt in wardly, in his heart — the prayer which God cares most for and which alone he ac cepts and re quires. But to hear the words and so to be in- duced to re flect and to pray aright is help ful. For, as we said above (§ 7), the words spo ken by the lips are to be re garded no more than the sound of a

trum pet, drum, or gan or other in stru ment, by which the heart is moved and lifted up to God.

[21.] In deed, no one should de pend upon his heart in prayer and dis pense with words un til he is so well dis ci plined in spirit and ex pe ri ence as to ex- pel for eign thoughts; oth er wise the devil will ut terly lead him astray and soon make heart prayer im pos si ble. There fore, we ought to hold fast to the words and by means of them climb un til our wings are grown and we can soar with out words. I do not re ject — nor should any one — the oral part of prayer — the words. They are rather to be ac cepted with thanks as a spe cial and great fa vor from God. What is re jected is the prac tice of di vorc ing the words from their proper of fice and ef fect, which is to stir the heart, and pre- sump tu ously to take credit for mum bling or bab bling them with out good re- sults and amend ment of life, and in deed as an in jury to the heart.

[22.] Let ev ery one also be on his guard when, with or with out words, his heart is kin dled and he feels the spirit of de vo tion, lest he yield to the poi- son of the old ser pent; that is, mur der ous pride, which speaks thus: Ah, now I pray with heart and mouth, and have such fer vor that I sup pose there is hardly any body who prays as well as I. These thoughts are in spired by the devil, and through them one be comes worse than those who do not pray; ay, such thoughts are not far from pro fan ity and blas phemy. For in all the good which you ex pe ri ence and pos sess, you ought to praise not your self, but God.

[23.] Fi nally, ob serve the or der in which Christ has ar ranged this prayer. He does not al low one to pray only for him self, but for all mankind. For he teaches us to say, not “My Fa ther,” but “Our Fa ther.” The prayer is a com- mon spir i tual pos ses sion; there fore no body is to be de prived of it, not even an en emy. For, if he is the Fa ther of us all, it is his will that we should be brethren, lov ing one an other and pray ing for one an other as well as for our- selves.