Matthew 6:5–15

Verse 5. Hypocrisy is forbidden in all these three good works of justice, but not the doing of them openly for the glory of God, the edification of our neighbour, and our own salvation. Let your light so shine before men, that is let your work be so done in public, that the intention remain in secret. Saint Gregory

Verse 6. Because he who should pray in his chamber, and at the same time desire it to be known by men, that he might thence receive vain glory, might truly be said to pray in the street, and sound a trumpet before him: whilst he, who though he pray in public, seeks not thence any vain glory, acts the same as if he prayed in his chamber. Menochius.—Jesus Christ went up to the temple, to attend public worship on the festival days.

Verse 7. Long prayer is not here forbidden; for Christ himself spent whole nights in prayer: and he sayeth, we must pray always; and the apostle, that we must pray without intermission, 1 Thessalonians 5.; and the holy Church hath had from the beginning her canonical hours for prayer, but rhetorical and elaborate prayer, as if we thought to persuade God by our eloquence, is forbidden; the collects of the Church are most brief and most effectual. Aug. ep. 121. c. viii, ix, x. B.—Perseverance in prayer is recommended us by the example of the poor widow, who by her importunity prevailed over the unjust judge. Chry. hom. xix.—The Greek word means, to babble or trifle.

Verse 9. As God is the common Father of all, we pray for all. Let none fear on account of their lowly station here, for all are comprised in the same heavenly nobility … By saying, “who art in heaven,” he does not mean to insinuate that he is there only, but he wishes to withdraw the humble petitioner from earth, and fix his attention on heaven. Chry. hom. xx. Other prayers are not forbidden. Jesus Christ prayed in different words (John, chapter 8), and the apostles; (Acts 1:24,) but this is an example of the simple style to be used in prayer, and is applicable to all occasions.—Hallowed be thy name, from the word holy, be held and kept holy, be glorified by us, and that not only by our words, but principally by the lives we lead. The honour and glory of God should be the principal subject of our prayers, and the ultimate end of our every action; every other thing must be subordinate to this. A.

Verse 10. Those who desire to arrive at the kingdom of heaven, must endeavour so to order their life and conversation, as if they were already conversing in heaven. This petition is also to be understood for the accomplishment of the divine will in every part of the world, for the extirpation of error, and explosion of vice, that truth and virtue may everywhere obtain, and heaven and earth differ no more in honouring the supreme majesty of God. Chry. hom. xx.

Verse 11. Our supersubstantial bread. [2] So it is at present in the Latin text: yet the same Greek word in Saint Luke, is translated daily bread, as we say it in our Lord’s prayer, and as it was used to be said in the second or third age, as we find by Tertullian and S. Cyprian. Perhaps the Latin word, supersubstantialis, may bear the same sense as daily bread, or bread that we daily stand in need of; for it need not be taken for supernatural bread, but for bread which is daily added, to maintain and support the substance of our bodies. Witham.—In Saint Luke the same word is rendered daily bread. It is understood of the bread of life, which we receive in the blessed sacrament. Challoner.—It is also understood of the supernatural support of the grace of God, and especially of the bread of life received in the blessed eucharist. A.—As we are only to pray for our daily bread, we are not to be over solicitous for the morrow, nor for the things of this earth, but being satisfied with what is necessary, turn all our thoughts to the joys of heaven. Chry. hom. xx.

Verse 12. Of all the petitions this alone is repeated twice. God puts our judgment in our own hands, that none might complain, being the author of his own sentence. He could have forgiven us our sins without this condition, but he consulted our good, in affording us opportunities of practising daily the virtues of piety and mildness. Chry. hom. xx.—These debts signify not only mortal but venial sins, as Saint Augustine often teaches. Therefore every man, be he ever so just, yet because he cannot live without venial sin, ought to say this prayer. Cont. 2 epis. Pelag. l. i. chapter 14.—l. xxi. de civit. Dei. c. xxvii. B.

Verse 13. God is not the tempter of evil, or author of sin. James 1:13. He tempteth no man: we pray that he would not suffer the devil to tempt us above our strength: that he would remove the temptations, or enable us to overcome them, and deliver us from evil, particularly the evil of sin, which is the first, and the greatest, and the true efficient cause of all evils. A.—In the Greek we here read, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory; which words are found in some old Greek liturgies, and there is every appearance that they have thence slipped into the text of S. Matt. They do not occur in Saint Luke (6:4), nor in any one of the old Latin copies, nor yet in the most ancient of the Greek texts. The holy Fathers prior to S. Chrysostom, as Grotius observes, who have explained the Lord’s prayer, never mention these words.—And not being found in Tertullian, S. Cyprian, S. Jerom, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, and so forth, nor in the Vatican Greek copy, nor in the Cambridge MSS. and so forth as Dr. Wells also observes, it seems certain that they were only a pious conclusion, or doxology, with which the Greeks in the fourth age began to conclude their prayers, much after the same manner as, Glory be to the Father, and so forth was added to the end of each psalm. We may reasonably presume, that these words at first were in the margin of some copies, and afterwards by some transcribers taken into the text itself. Witham.

NU omits “For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”

Verse 14. Here he again recommendeth the forgiving of others, as the means of obtaining forgiveness. A.