Today’s Readings
Today and tomorrow we read about the difficulties that Abraham and Sarah had in conceiving a child. This is not a difficulty unfamiliar to many husbands and wives today. The sorrows and struggles of humanity have not really changed so much in the past 4000 years. Tomorrow we will read about the solution that Abraham and Sarah come to. It is a bad solution, which, again, is not so dissimilar to the solutions that many couples grasp at today. They decide to use a surrogate mother.
The Church has always stood strongly against all artificial birth control, both that which is intended to prevent conception and that which seeks to conceive a human being outside of the natural order that God has set down within marriage. In vitro fertilization, a surrogate mother, egg donation, artificial fertilization – these are all wrong. They are a betrayal of the intimacy proper to marriage. They are a betrayal of the dignity due to the beginning of all human life.
That it was wrong when Abraham did it and it is still wrong today is revealed in the words spoken between Abraham and the Lord. Abraham says to the Lord, “You have given me no offspring.” He shows that he knows that children are a gift from God. When we receive gifts we must receive them, not reach out and grasp.
Is it fair that some couples conceive easily and others are unable to conceive after years of trying? Is that fair? No, its not fair, but a lot of things in this world are not fair. It is also not fair that there are children without parents to care for them. A couple may use various moral methods to help them conceive in the true way, but, if they are still not able to conceive, they should consider what God wants from them and for them rather than demand what they want.
Indeed, after doctors who use their God-given abilities to kill children, there is no medical field as filled with corruption and greed as fertility clinics. Conception in a cooperative act between a man, a woman, and God. Fertility clinics promise that they can replace God in that equation. They cannot, but they demand large amounts of money for trying.
As Jesus tells us today, we should look at the fruits. Ishmael was Abraham’s son, and Abraham loved Ishmael, but Sarah was jealous, sad, and angry. Any person who was conceived through artificial means has the same dignity as every person, but that is what God has provided: life. What man has added, the grasping, the greed, the grief, these are rotten fruit, which is not even to mention the bodies of conceived but unborn babies cast aside in a blind desire for a perfect child.
Daily Homilies
June 21, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
Today's Readings
Jesus says “Do not throw your pearls before swine.” We can guess the pearls because of the other analogy Jesus uses: “Do not give what is holy to dogs.” The pearls represent what is holy.
As for the swine and the dogs, they are people. Jesus is not talking about animals. However, to say that such and such a person is a dog and a pig seems to imply that they are less than human, certainly less than the one speaking, but Jesus is only talking about one particular aspect of a person, not their whole dignity. Every single human person is created in the image and likeness of God. There are no people on this Earth who are not loved by God, and that is what gives us dignity.
So who are these people, fully human, but like a dog or a pig in one aspect? They are those who cannot tell the holy from the normal. A pig cannot tell the difference between a church and a basketball court. A dog does not know when people are talking and when they are praying. There are people like this too. They have no respect for what is holy because they cannot tell what is holy.
I remember, a few years ago, a few hundred Catholic high school students were gathered in a church. They were arriving in batches, and prayer was going to begin as soon as everyone arrived. Some students were carrying cappuccinos, some were chewing gum, all were talking very loudly. The church sounded like a gymnasium.
And this is the problem. It is not as if some other people are dogs or swine. We are the dogs. We are the swine. Every time we treat holy things and holy places as if they were normal things and normal places, we are being swine. Human beings do not talk or eat or drink in church. Piety is the feeling, like fear, which makes us human. Piety is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We must teach our children piety. We must constantly pray for the gift of piety for ourselves.
“I should like church infinitely more,” think the dogs and swine, “if we carried on in a different manner. It would surely be much more fun if conversation instead of praying made the order of Mass.” More fun, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a church.
June 20, 2011 - Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Jesus uses two images in the gospel today. The first is the image of the measure and the second is the image of the splinter. Both images are at the service of the command of Jesus: "Stop judging."
The measure can be considered in two ways. The measure with which we measure will be measured out to us, but what is in this measure? If we consider that it is a measuring cup full of judgment, then we want the measure to be as small as possible. However, if the measure is full of the opposite of judgment, then we will want to have the most generous measure ever.
What is the opposite of judging? Not judging, minding our own business. This is sometimes good advice for us, but we are God's business. Also, judgment comes naturally. We judge what we see and hear. We cannot get through life without making judgments, and God will judge all of us. What should we measure out to temper the judgment?
Perhaps indulgence. We see others doing what is objectively wrong, and we act as if what they are doing is not really so bad. This cannot be right though. God does not have once ounce of indulgence for sin.
Another possibility is allowance. We see someone do what is objectively wrong, and we allow for mitigating circumstances. I love playing the allowance game. When somebody is speeding irresponsibly down the road, I say, "Perhaps they are going to the hospital or to a life-changing appointment." This measure has the distinct advantage of truth. In truth, I do not know enough to judge. I simply insert a reasonable doubt. Allowance is a very important tool to prevent us from judging, but God cannot use it. He knows us through and through. He is never ignorant of our situation or circumstances.
So we should not measure out indulgence, and we should measure out allowance by the bucketful, but greater than allowance is mercy. Mercy is what Jesus is talking about. Mercy has manifold advantages. Mercy never denies that wrong is wrong. Mercy is useful even when a person is absolutely guilty, as we are absolutely guilty of sin.
What is mercy? Mercy is love. When we someone has done wrong, and we love them, we want to help them. If it is possible to help someone, without regard to how they have hurt us, we should. True love is not blind; true love looks with eagle eyes for some possibility of redemption. If we measure out mercy with a fire hose, we can never go wrong.
Forgiveness is pure mercy. We do not wait for someone to pay us back for how they have wronged us. We certainly never take revenge. If there is a glimmer of sorrow for sin, then we should forgive them all for the sake of the little sorrow. If there is not even a glimmer, we should forgive them all since they do not know what they are doing.
Jesus uses two images in the gospel today. The first is the image of the measure and the second is the image of the splinter. Both images are at the service of the command of Jesus: "Stop judging."
The measure can be considered in two ways. The measure with which we measure will be measured out to us, but what is in this measure? If we consider that it is a measuring cup full of judgment, then we want the measure to be as small as possible. However, if the measure is full of the opposite of judgment, then we will want to have the most generous measure ever.
What is the opposite of judging? Not judging, minding our own business. This is sometimes good advice for us, but we are God's business. Also, judgment comes naturally. We judge what we see and hear. We cannot get through life without making judgments, and God will judge all of us. What should we measure out to temper the judgment?
Perhaps indulgence. We see others doing what is objectively wrong, and we act as if what they are doing is not really so bad. This cannot be right though. God does not have once ounce of indulgence for sin.
Another possibility is allowance. We see someone do what is objectively wrong, and we allow for mitigating circumstances. I love playing the allowance game. When somebody is speeding irresponsibly down the road, I say, "Perhaps they are going to the hospital or to a life-changing appointment." This measure has the distinct advantage of truth. In truth, I do not know enough to judge. I simply insert a reasonable doubt. Allowance is a very important tool to prevent us from judging, but God cannot use it. He knows us through and through. He is never ignorant of our situation or circumstances.
So we should not measure out indulgence, and we should measure out allowance by the bucketful, but greater than allowance is mercy. Mercy is what Jesus is talking about. Mercy has manifold advantages. Mercy never denies that wrong is wrong. Mercy is useful even when a person is absolutely guilty, as we are absolutely guilty of sin.
What is mercy? Mercy is love. When we someone has done wrong, and we love them, we want to help them. If it is possible to help someone, without regard to how they have hurt us, we should. True love is not blind; true love looks with eagle eyes for some possibility of redemption. If we measure out mercy with a fire hose, we can never go wrong.
Forgiveness is pure mercy. We do not wait for someone to pay us back for how they have wronged us. We certainly never take revenge. If there is a glimmer of sorrow for sin, then we should forgive them all for the sake of the little sorrow. If there is not even a glimmer, we should forgive them all since they do not know what they are doing.
June 19, 2011 - The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Today's Readings
The theory of relativity tells us that time and space are relative to speed, that all time and space are unified at the speed of light. When we look at a star that is 100 light years away, the light from that star has taken 100 years to travel to our eyes, but the light is not 100 years old. The photons of light did not experience any passage of time or space from the star to our eyes. As far the light beam is concerned, there is no distance between the star and our eyes. So if you could travel at the speed of light, and you traveled 100 light years away and came back to Earth, it would be the year 2211, but you would not be any older. You would experience the acceleration and the turning around and the deceleration back to earth, but the trip itself would seem to happen instantly. As soon as we can travel at close to the speed of light, it will be possible to travel into the future, although there is no way to return to the past.
Do you understand all of this? This is only a small part of modern physics; we have not even gotten into how gravity affects all of this, let alone quantum physics. I mention all of this to point out a simple truth: physics is hard. Physics is not just building toothpick bridges and shooting two-liter bottles into the air. Of course, the same could be said about every general field. Every subject, whether science or art, seems very approachable from a certain angle, but it is a mistake to think that the whole field is contained in that angle. A child once asked my sister, who was studying to be a nurse, “Why do you need to know chemistry? All a nurse does is take you to the room and say, ‘The doctor will be with you shortly.’” There is more to everything than what we see.
Every human art and every science is an attempt to understand the truth. No matter how much truth you have learned, there is always more truth to learn. Anyone can learn a little physics or a little nursing, but being a master of the subject requires years of study and a mind gifted for that particular field. Even then, the greatest master in the world of any subject knows that all their learning has only shown them how much they do not know. Every answered question leads to more questions.
Nevertheless, this does not in any way diminish what education has done. A great physicist has a vision of how enormous the field of physics really is, but they still can use all their knowledge to design GPS satellites. A great nurse has a vision of how complex people really are, both physically and psychologically, but they can still use their knowledge to care for the sick.
Although it is often thought to be one, theology is not an exception to this universal truth. Indeed, what is true of studying the laws of the universe and of studying the greatest creatures on Earth, is ever so much more true when studying the Creator. The theory of Relativity is true whether I understand it or not. The best practices of nursing are true whether I know them or not. Truth is not dependent on my own understanding. So also with truth about God.
So many people, when confronted with a theological idea consider themselves qualified to judge it. They say, “I don’t understand why…” or “It doesn’t make sense to me that…”, but often these words are covering up a presumption that what they do not understand cannot be true. They have not studied theology or even once read the whole Bible. In theology, as in every science, a person is not an expert just because they think that they are one.
There is a problem, however: how do we know who is a real expert? The other sciences and arts prove themselves by their fruits. Physicists can predict the motion of the stars, so we trust those who can design such equations. The recovery of sick people is correlated to best nursing practices, so we trust those who can design such practices. Theology produces it own fruits: the Saints. We belong to the Church of St. Paul, of St. Anthony, of St. Francis, of St. Ignatius, of St. Therese, of Blessed Mother Theresa. Other religions produce impressive people, but only Christianity produces Saints. An impressive person is as good as humanly possible. A Saint is better than that. There is a world of difference between Gandhi and Gertrude, between Buddha and Benedict, between Plato and Paul.
So when the Church teaches us something, our first reaction should not be to judge the teaching, but to understand how to submit to the teaching. Consider, for instance, the moral teaching that birth control is fundamentally incompatible with marriage. Many people do not understand the teaching; many married Catholics do not understand the teaching, but this is no reason to disobey it. The correct reaction to this teaching and every other teaching we do not understand is to trust the Church. Believe first and then learn what you can.
I say all this as a preface. Today is Trinity Sunday. Today we remember that God is one God and that God is three persons. This is a mystery. It is easy to repeat this formula: one God, three persons, but impossible to completely understand the mystery of the Trinity. Whether you know only that God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father, or you are able to quote the five notions and four relations and speak of the difference between homoousia and homoiousia, the Trinity is equally incomprehensible. The mystery of the Trinity is more than anyone can understand. Not even the angels completely understand this mystery.
But this does not mean that the Trinity is whatever we want it to be or whatever we happen to think is best. The Trinity is something very definite, the most definite truth in the whole universe. The Trinity's existence in no way depends on our ability to understand the mystery. The simple teaching, revealed to us through Jesus Christ, handed on by the Church, is trustworthy. First we believe the teaching, which is far more important than understanding how such a thing is possible. Then we try to understand, using analogies: the Son is to the Father as the light from a star is to the light in a star, light from light, true God from true God.
The theory of relativity tells us that time and space are relative to speed, that all time and space are unified at the speed of light. When we look at a star that is 100 light years away, the light from that star has taken 100 years to travel to our eyes, but the light is not 100 years old. The photons of light did not experience any passage of time or space from the star to our eyes. As far the light beam is concerned, there is no distance between the star and our eyes. So if you could travel at the speed of light, and you traveled 100 light years away and came back to Earth, it would be the year 2211, but you would not be any older. You would experience the acceleration and the turning around and the deceleration back to earth, but the trip itself would seem to happen instantly. As soon as we can travel at close to the speed of light, it will be possible to travel into the future, although there is no way to return to the past.
Do you understand all of this? This is only a small part of modern physics; we have not even gotten into how gravity affects all of this, let alone quantum physics. I mention all of this to point out a simple truth: physics is hard. Physics is not just building toothpick bridges and shooting two-liter bottles into the air. Of course, the same could be said about every general field. Every subject, whether science or art, seems very approachable from a certain angle, but it is a mistake to think that the whole field is contained in that angle. A child once asked my sister, who was studying to be a nurse, “Why do you need to know chemistry? All a nurse does is take you to the room and say, ‘The doctor will be with you shortly.’” There is more to everything than what we see.
Every human art and every science is an attempt to understand the truth. No matter how much truth you have learned, there is always more truth to learn. Anyone can learn a little physics or a little nursing, but being a master of the subject requires years of study and a mind gifted for that particular field. Even then, the greatest master in the world of any subject knows that all their learning has only shown them how much they do not know. Every answered question leads to more questions.
Nevertheless, this does not in any way diminish what education has done. A great physicist has a vision of how enormous the field of physics really is, but they still can use all their knowledge to design GPS satellites. A great nurse has a vision of how complex people really are, both physically and psychologically, but they can still use their knowledge to care for the sick.
Although it is often thought to be one, theology is not an exception to this universal truth. Indeed, what is true of studying the laws of the universe and of studying the greatest creatures on Earth, is ever so much more true when studying the Creator. The theory of Relativity is true whether I understand it or not. The best practices of nursing are true whether I know them or not. Truth is not dependent on my own understanding. So also with truth about God.
So many people, when confronted with a theological idea consider themselves qualified to judge it. They say, “I don’t understand why…” or “It doesn’t make sense to me that…”, but often these words are covering up a presumption that what they do not understand cannot be true. They have not studied theology or even once read the whole Bible. In theology, as in every science, a person is not an expert just because they think that they are one.
There is a problem, however: how do we know who is a real expert? The other sciences and arts prove themselves by their fruits. Physicists can predict the motion of the stars, so we trust those who can design such equations. The recovery of sick people is correlated to best nursing practices, so we trust those who can design such practices. Theology produces it own fruits: the Saints. We belong to the Church of St. Paul, of St. Anthony, of St. Francis, of St. Ignatius, of St. Therese, of Blessed Mother Theresa. Other religions produce impressive people, but only Christianity produces Saints. An impressive person is as good as humanly possible. A Saint is better than that. There is a world of difference between Gandhi and Gertrude, between Buddha and Benedict, between Plato and Paul.
So when the Church teaches us something, our first reaction should not be to judge the teaching, but to understand how to submit to the teaching. Consider, for instance, the moral teaching that birth control is fundamentally incompatible with marriage. Many people do not understand the teaching; many married Catholics do not understand the teaching, but this is no reason to disobey it. The correct reaction to this teaching and every other teaching we do not understand is to trust the Church. Believe first and then learn what you can.
I say all this as a preface. Today is Trinity Sunday. Today we remember that God is one God and that God is three persons. This is a mystery. It is easy to repeat this formula: one God, three persons, but impossible to completely understand the mystery of the Trinity. Whether you know only that God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father, or you are able to quote the five notions and four relations and speak of the difference between homoousia and homoiousia, the Trinity is equally incomprehensible. The mystery of the Trinity is more than anyone can understand. Not even the angels completely understand this mystery.
But this does not mean that the Trinity is whatever we want it to be or whatever we happen to think is best. The Trinity is something very definite, the most definite truth in the whole universe. The Trinity's existence in no way depends on our ability to understand the mystery. The simple teaching, revealed to us through Jesus Christ, handed on by the Church, is trustworthy. First we believe the teaching, which is far more important than understanding how such a thing is possible. Then we try to understand, using analogies: the Son is to the Father as the light from a star is to the light in a star, light from light, true God from true God.
June 18, 2011 - Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
"No one can serve two masters." Why not? Because no one is two people. Each of us is only one person. I think though, that we quickly see what Jesus missed: time. Time allows us to serve two masters, today I will serve one, tomorrow I will serve the other. Many people live their lives using this principle. Monday through Friday, 8 to 6, I serve one master. Each morning, 7 to 8, I serve God. The rest of the time I split between myself and my family.
But Jesus did not forget about time. Jesus created time. He knows all about time. He knows how we grumble about going to work, how we grumble about missing work, how we grumble about going to Mass. So he says that if we try to serve two masters, we will hate one and love the other. He knows that we will have to do all kinds of practical things and he has given us time to do them, but he is teaching us today that we will only love one master.
Which of your masters do you love: God, Mammon, or yourself? Whichever one we love, we will see the others as inconveniences. Is earning money preventing you from praying or is praying preventing you from earning money? A favorite meditation of this world is, "What if I won the lottery?" The people of this world like to consider what they would do if they had so much money. This question has the potential to reveal whether we serve Mammon or God.
A Christian should be able to say that if they won the lottery, nothing much would change. Sure, they could pay off loans. Perhaps buy a new house and car. But then what? Would their life, day to day, be any different? Does money have so much power over them that it defines what they do, who they are?
If you are supporting yourself with a job that you hate, which you would quit tomorrow if you could, you should really consider whether you could quit today. I am not referring to hard work. There is no virtue in replacing hard work with laziness. I mean that if you are doing something useless, without dignity, something which in no way is serving God or neighbor, who are you serving? God gave each of us one life, we should not undervalue that life and sell it for money. Your life is worth more than any possession, more than anything this culture presumes you should own.
"No one can serve two masters." Why not? Because no one is two people. Each of us is only one person. I think though, that we quickly see what Jesus missed: time. Time allows us to serve two masters, today I will serve one, tomorrow I will serve the other. Many people live their lives using this principle. Monday through Friday, 8 to 6, I serve one master. Each morning, 7 to 8, I serve God. The rest of the time I split between myself and my family.
But Jesus did not forget about time. Jesus created time. He knows all about time. He knows how we grumble about going to work, how we grumble about missing work, how we grumble about going to Mass. So he says that if we try to serve two masters, we will hate one and love the other. He knows that we will have to do all kinds of practical things and he has given us time to do them, but he is teaching us today that we will only love one master.
Which of your masters do you love: God, Mammon, or yourself? Whichever one we love, we will see the others as inconveniences. Is earning money preventing you from praying or is praying preventing you from earning money? A favorite meditation of this world is, "What if I won the lottery?" The people of this world like to consider what they would do if they had so much money. This question has the potential to reveal whether we serve Mammon or God.
A Christian should be able to say that if they won the lottery, nothing much would change. Sure, they could pay off loans. Perhaps buy a new house and car. But then what? Would their life, day to day, be any different? Does money have so much power over them that it defines what they do, who they are?
If you are supporting yourself with a job that you hate, which you would quit tomorrow if you could, you should really consider whether you could quit today. I am not referring to hard work. There is no virtue in replacing hard work with laziness. I mean that if you are doing something useless, without dignity, something which in no way is serving God or neighbor, who are you serving? God gave each of us one life, we should not undervalue that life and sell it for money. Your life is worth more than any possession, more than anything this culture presumes you should own.
June 17, 2011 - Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
How many eyes does one person have? This does not seem like a very difficult question. Two. Easy, right? Not so fast.One person has many different eyes. "The eye is the lamp of the body", Jesus tells us. This is a metaphor. As a lamp is to a room, so is the eye to the body. But this is a multi-layered metaphor. Jesus is not merely telling us that if our eyes were not working we would always be experiencing darkness. He is referring here to spiritual eyes which are the lamps of our souls.
Physical eyes reveal the physical world to us. Spiritual eyes reveal the spiritual world. We all have spiritual eyes, many, many spiritual eyes. If they are good, we see the spiritual world for what it is. If they are bad, we will see a distorted and false spiritual world.
Consider one kind of spiritual eye: greed. If we see the world with greed, we will believe that we should try to possess as much treasure here on earth as we possibly can, yet Jesus, who saw more clearly than we will ever see, said that we should store up treasure in heaven and forget about treasure here on earth, where thieves steal and moths destroy. When a person looks at earthly treasure with greed, they fall in love and give their heart away. When a saint looks at earthly treasure, their only thought is, "How can I use this to further the Kingdom of God?" They see clearly. If it is stolen, they quickly forget about it.
Consider another spiritual eye: humility. St. Paul had humility. Today he reaches the apex of his boasting to the Corinthians. He begins boasting about how many times he has failed, how many times he has been scourged, how many times he has been shipwrecked. Some people would hear this boasting and laugh and say, "I wouldn't want to be like him." A Christian, with Christian humility, who remembers that our Lord died on a Cross, hears all this and says, "Wow, God must really be with this man."
It matters what spiritual eyes you have. If any, like greed, are causing you to sin, pluck them out. If any, like humility, help you see clearly, exercise them until you can look at the world and see God.
How many eyes does one person have? This does not seem like a very difficult question. Two. Easy, right? Not so fast.One person has many different eyes. "The eye is the lamp of the body", Jesus tells us. This is a metaphor. As a lamp is to a room, so is the eye to the body. But this is a multi-layered metaphor. Jesus is not merely telling us that if our eyes were not working we would always be experiencing darkness. He is referring here to spiritual eyes which are the lamps of our souls.
Physical eyes reveal the physical world to us. Spiritual eyes reveal the spiritual world. We all have spiritual eyes, many, many spiritual eyes. If they are good, we see the spiritual world for what it is. If they are bad, we will see a distorted and false spiritual world.
Consider one kind of spiritual eye: greed. If we see the world with greed, we will believe that we should try to possess as much treasure here on earth as we possibly can, yet Jesus, who saw more clearly than we will ever see, said that we should store up treasure in heaven and forget about treasure here on earth, where thieves steal and moths destroy. When a person looks at earthly treasure with greed, they fall in love and give their heart away. When a saint looks at earthly treasure, their only thought is, "How can I use this to further the Kingdom of God?" They see clearly. If it is stolen, they quickly forget about it.
Consider another spiritual eye: humility. St. Paul had humility. Today he reaches the apex of his boasting to the Corinthians. He begins boasting about how many times he has failed, how many times he has been scourged, how many times he has been shipwrecked. Some people would hear this boasting and laugh and say, "I wouldn't want to be like him." A Christian, with Christian humility, who remembers that our Lord died on a Cross, hears all this and says, "Wow, God must really be with this man."
It matters what spiritual eyes you have. If any, like greed, are causing you to sin, pluck them out. If any, like humility, help you see clearly, exercise them until you can look at the world and see God.
June 16, 2011 - Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Our - Because it is not just me and God. It is me and God and everyone God loves.
Father - Because, although Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, we all have been adopted by God in our baptism.
Who art - Of course "art" means "is" and God is. Before we say anything else about God, we acknowledge his existence, which is the foundation of all existence.
In heaven - which is to say, the perfect place. Not that God is more present in heaven then anywhere else. He is equally present everywhere.
Hallowed be thy name - which means Holy is. Holy, which means "belongs to God." God is Holy because he is not our invention. We cannot change him or control him in any way. He does not belong to us.
Thy Kingdom come - which is to say the kingship of God, the reign of God. We ask that God take charge of this world. We know he will fully at the end of the world.
Thy will be done - Nothing is good unless it is the will of God. We might think something is good that is not the will of God, but we are wrong.
On earth as it is in heaven - because we want this imperfect place to become perfect like heaven is.
Give us - we ask God for one thing, as a reminder that from him we have received all things.
This day - our request is not for a future, potential event that we are uncertain of. We are asking for help in our actual situation.
Our daily bread - This especially signifies the Bread of Life, which is the Body of Jesus Christ.
And forgive us - We ask him to give and to forgive. To give and to take away. To give us what is good, and to take away the evil we have welcomed into our lives.
Our trespasses - Our debts. We owe God big time. We cannot fathom what we owe God on so many different levels. What we know for certain is we can never pay him back.
As we forgive those who trespass against us - We forget how much we owe God, but we remember how much others owe us. An unforgiven grudge is corrosive to the soul.
And lead us not into temptation - He led Jesus into temptation in the desert, but our faith is weak, and a real test would break us, so we beg God not to test us.
But deliver us from evil - Because we are prisoners. We are in chains of our own making which hold us to evil. We want to be free.
Amen - Because we mean every word.
Our - Because it is not just me and God. It is me and God and everyone God loves.
Father - Because, although Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, we all have been adopted by God in our baptism.
Who art - Of course "art" means "is" and God is. Before we say anything else about God, we acknowledge his existence, which is the foundation of all existence.
In heaven - which is to say, the perfect place. Not that God is more present in heaven then anywhere else. He is equally present everywhere.
Hallowed be thy name - which means Holy is. Holy, which means "belongs to God." God is Holy because he is not our invention. We cannot change him or control him in any way. He does not belong to us.
Thy Kingdom come - which is to say the kingship of God, the reign of God. We ask that God take charge of this world. We know he will fully at the end of the world.
Thy will be done - Nothing is good unless it is the will of God. We might think something is good that is not the will of God, but we are wrong.
On earth as it is in heaven - because we want this imperfect place to become perfect like heaven is.
Give us - we ask God for one thing, as a reminder that from him we have received all things.
This day - our request is not for a future, potential event that we are uncertain of. We are asking for help in our actual situation.
Our daily bread - This especially signifies the Bread of Life, which is the Body of Jesus Christ.
And forgive us - We ask him to give and to forgive. To give and to take away. To give us what is good, and to take away the evil we have welcomed into our lives.
Our trespasses - Our debts. We owe God big time. We cannot fathom what we owe God on so many different levels. What we know for certain is we can never pay him back.
As we forgive those who trespass against us - We forget how much we owe God, but we remember how much others owe us. An unforgiven grudge is corrosive to the soul.
And lead us not into temptation - He led Jesus into temptation in the desert, but our faith is weak, and a real test would break us, so we beg God not to test us.
But deliver us from evil - Because we are prisoners. We are in chains of our own making which hold us to evil. We want to be free.
Amen - Because we mean every word.
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