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THE LORD'S PRAYER

Source: Gospel According to the Spiritism, 28: 1-5.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

2. PREFACE. - The Spirits recommended that we begin this anthology with the Lord's Prayer, not
simply as a prayer, but also as a symbol. Of all the prayers, this one is considered the most important because it
came from Jesus Himself (see Matthew, 6: 9-13) and because it can substitute all others, according to the intention
and the thoughts that are joined to it. It is the most concisely perfect model; a truly sublime work of art in its
simplicity. With effect, in its very reduced form, it manages to summarize all Man's duties before God, before himself
and before his neighbour. It includes a mark of faith, an act of adoration and submission, a request for those things
necessary to terrestrial life and the principle of charity. Whoever says this prayer for another, asks for them what
they would ask for themselves.
Nevertheless, because of its shortness, the deep meaning of some of its words escapes most people. This
is usually because they say it without thinking of the meaning of each of its phrases. They say it just like a
mechanical formula, whose efficiency is proportional to the number of times it is repeated. This number is almost
always cabalistic: three, seven or nine, in view of the ancient superstitious belief in the power of numbers and of
their practical use in magic.
In order to fill the void often felt by the shortness of this prayer, the Spirits recommended and helped us to
odd a commentary to each of the phrases which increases their meaning and shows the best way to make use of
each one. In accordance with individual circumstances and the time at your disposal at any given moment, you con
say the Lord’s Prayer in its simple form or in the more developed way.
3. PRAYER:
(1) Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!
Lord, we believe in thee, because everything about us reveals Your goodness and Your power. The
harmony of the Universe is proof of a wisdom, a prudence and a foresight which surpasses all human faculties. The
Name of a Being Who is supremely great and wise is written on all the works of Creation, from the humble grass
and the smallest insect up to the stars and planets in space. On all sides we see proof of a paternal solicitude. Blind
then is the one who does not recognize Your works, prideful is the one who does not worship You, and ungrateful is
the one who does not give thanks to You.
(2) Thy kingdom come!
Lord, you gave Man laws full of wisdom, which would make him happy if only he observed them. With these
laws, justice and peace could be established, and all could help each other instead of causing mutual harm as they
do. The strong should uphold the weak instead of crushing them.
All the evils which are born of abuses and excesses of all kinds could be avoided. AH the miseries of this
world stem from the violation of Your laws, because there is not one infraction that does not bring its fatal
consequences.
You gave the animals an instinct which traces the limits of their necessities and to which they respond
mechanically. But to Man, as well as instinct, You also gave intelligence and reason.
Still more, You gave the liberty to keep or to violate those of Your laws which concern each one personally,
or rather the faculty to choose between good and bad, so that we have the merit and the responsibility for our acts.
No one can protest ignorance of Your laws, because in Your paternal providence You desired that they be
recorded in the consciousness of each one, without distinction as to cults or nationality. In this manner those who
violate them do so because they despise You.
The day will come when according to Your promise, all will practice these laws. Then incredulity will have
disappeared; all will recognize in You the Supreme Lord of all things and the reign of Your laws will herald Your
Reign here on Earth.
Lord, deign to hasten Your accession by giving to Man the necessary enlightenment which will conduct him
along the pathway of truth!
(3) Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
If submission is the duty of a son towards his father, of the inferior towards his superior, how much greater
is that of a being towards his Creator! By the words: 'Your will be done, Lord,' it is for us to observe Your laws and to
1
Study of ‘the Lord’s prayer’ done in Centro Espírita Joana d’Arc on 05/ 01/ 2010.

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submit ourselves without lamentations to all Your divine designs. Man will become submissive when he
understands You are the source of all wisdom and that without You he can do nothing. Then he will do Your bidding
on Earth as do Your elected ones in Heaven.
(4) Give us this day our daily bread!
Give us the necessary food for the maintenance of our physical strength and give us also spiritual
nourishment for the development of our spirits.
The animals find their pastures, but Man depends on his own activity and his mental resources to produce
his food because You gave him freedom.
You have said: "You will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow," and with these words You made work
an obligation, which makes us exercise our intelligence in the search for the means to provide our necessities and
to attend to our well-being: some by their material work, others by their intellectual work. Without work, Man would
remain stationary and could not aspire to the happiness of the Superior Spirits.
Please help those of goodwill, who depend on You for what is necessary, but not those who take pleasure
in being lazy and like to receive all things without any effort, nor those who seek superfluity (See chapter 25).
How many succumb throught their own fault, through negligence, through being improvident, through
ambition, or through not being content with what You had given them! These are the authors of their own
misfortunes and do not have the right to complain, since they are punished according to the manner in which they
sinned. But You will not abandon even these because You are infinitely merciful and will extend a providential hand
to them, if they return to You with sincerity, like the prodigal son (See chapter 5, item 4).
Before lamenting our bad luck, help us ask ourselves if it is not our own work; at each misfortune which
befalls us, help us to verify if we could have avoided it; help us repeat to ourselves that God has given us
intelligence so as to be able to get ourselves out of any slough and that it depends on us to put this intelligence to
good use.
Seeing that Man is subject to the law of labour here on Earth, give us the courage and the strength to fulfill
this law, Give us also prudence and moderation so that we may not lose its fruits.
Give us then, Lord, our daily bread, or rather the means of acquiring our necessities through work, because
no one has the right to ask for superfluity.
If we are unable to work, help us have confidence in Your divine providence.
If it is within Your design to test us with great privation, despite our efforts, we accept this as a just expiation
for the faults which we have committed in this life or in a previous one, because we know that You are just, and that
there are no undeserved penalties since You never punish without cause.
Lord, preserve us from envying those who have what we have not, or of those who have superfluous things
at their disposal, when we are wanting in what is necessary. Forgive them, Lord, if they forget the law of charity and
of love towards one's neighbour, which You have taught (See chapter 16, item 8).
Withdraw also from our spirit the idea of denying the existence of Your justice when we see evil prosper,
and the unhappiness which sometimes falls upon the godly man. Thanks to the new enlightenment which You have
given us, we know that Your justice never fails and does not make any exceptions; the material prosperity of one
who is evil is as fragile as his bodily existence and he will experience terrible reverses; whereas life will be eternal
bliss for those who suffer with resignation (See chapter 5, items 7, 9,12 & 18).
(5)
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass
against us!
Lord, each one of our infractions against Your laws is an offence we commit against You, a debt contracted,
which sooner or later will have to be paid. We implore that You forgive us through Your infinite mercy, subject to the
promise we make to employ all our strength in not contracting others.
You made charity an express law for everyone; but charity does not only consist of helping our fellow
beings in all their needs, but also in the forgetfulness and the forgiving of offences. With what right do we demand
your indulgence, if we lack charity towards those who have given us motive for complaint?
Dear Lord, give us the strength to stifle within ourselves all resentment, hate and rancour.
Do not let death surprise us with a desire for vengeance in our hearts. If You approve of our being taken
from this world today, help us to be able to present ourself to You completely cleansed of animosity, just like Christ,
Whose last words were in favour of His tormentors (See chapter 10).
The persecutions which those who are evil inflict upon us constitute part of our earthly tests; we should
accept them without complaint, as we should accept all other tests, without cursing those who by their wrongdoing,

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open up a pathway for us to eternal happiness seeing that You said, through the intermediary of Jesus: "Blessed be
those who suffer for the sake of justice!"
Consequently, blessed be the hand that injures and humiliates us, as the mortifications of the body
strengthen our soul, and we shall then be raised up from our humiliations (See chapter 12, item 4).
Blessed be Your name Lord, because You have taught us that our destiny is not irrevocably fixed after
death; we will find in yet other existences, the means by which we may make atonement and repay all our past
debts, and be able to realise in a new life, all those things to help our progress that we were unable to do in this one
(See chapter 4; chapter 5, item 5).
In this manner all the apparent irregularities of life are finally explained. The light is cast over our past and
our future, as a brilliant sign of Your supreme justice and of Your infinite goodness.
(6) Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil. (1)
Lord, give us the necessary strength to resist all impulses towards evil which will try to divert us from the
path of goodness by inspiring us with bad thoughts.
But nevertheless we too are also imperfect Spirits incarnated on Earth so as to expiate our sins and to be
able to better ourselves. The cause of evil lies deep within our souls and the bad Spirits only take advantage of
these inferior tendencies so as to be able to tempt us. Each imperfection is an open door to their influences; just as
they are powerless and give up any attempt against perfect beings. We are only unable to get rid of them as long as
we do not put up a decided and unshakable desire for goodness, together with total renunciation of all evil.
Therefore it is against ourselves that our strength must be directed and if we do this, the bad Spirits will naturally
leave us since it is the evil which attracts them, whereas goodness repels them (See further on in this chapter:
Prayers for the obsessed).
Dear Lord, uphold us in our weakness, inspire us through the voices of our Guardian Angels and the good
Spirits, with the desire to correct our imperfections so that we may prevent access to our soul by the evil Spirits
(See further on, item 11).
Evil is not Your work Lord, because the source of all goodness cannot engender any badness. It is
ourselves who create it when we infringe Your laws and through the bad use we make of the liberty You concede to
us. When Man has learnt to keep Your laws then evil will disappear from Earth, just as it has already disappeared
from more advanced worlds.
Evil does not constitute a fatal necessity for anybody and only appears to be irresistible to those who take
pleasure in it. So if we have a desire to practise evil, we can also have a desire to practise good. For this reason,
dear God, we beg Your assistance and that of the good Spirits so we may resist temptation.
__________
(1) There are some translations of the Bible which say: do not induce us to temptation (et nos inducas in
tentationem).
This sentence gives us to understand that temptation stems from God and that He voluntarily impels Man
towards evil; which I a blasphemous idea putting God on an equal basis with Satan and therefore, could not have
been in the mind of Jesus. Actually, it is in accordance with the popular idea that exists about the part played by
Devils (See HEAVEN & HELL, 1st part, chapter 9 - THE DEVILS).
(7) So be it!
O God, may the realisation of our desires be accomplished! But we nevertheless bow down before Your
infinite wisdom. In all things that we are unable to understand, may Your blessed Will be done and not ours, since
You only desire our improvement and know better than us what is best for us.
We offer You this prayer, Lord, not only for ourselves, but also for all suffering creatures, both incarnate and
discarnate, for our friends and our enemies, for all those who demand our help, and especially for X . . . We
beseech Your mercy and blessing for all.
(NOTE: Here you can offer thanks to God for all that has been conceded to you and formulate any
request you may have, either for yourself or for others (See further on, prayers No. 26 & 27).”

CONSIDERATIONS:
All of us in the dominical schools learn the Lord’s prayer and we recite it usually, without giving the
necessary attention to the complexity of the content of this small prayer compiled by Jesus so deep and complete,
and now in each sentence or phrase, Allan Kardec develops for us and opens our understanding explaining and
translating in interpretation the profundity of the prayer offered for all of us by Jesus.

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 We will appreciate and keep in our heart in this interpretation, a little bit more of the values of the prayer,
because the most important in our spiritual lives as spirits which we are it is the exchange with the spiritual world,
which is our true Homeland.
In agreement with our spiritual degree we are assisted in the beyond, be it by God, be it by Jesus, be it by
our guardian angel, be it by family spirits, be it by similar spirits, be it by spirits who have affinity in or be
sympathized with us, being appreciated that grace or means which God provided us, for us to be although it may
seem to be moved away from God, however together for the simple reason of there being the prayer as law divinely
made provision to the reach of everyone.
Reminding that we are not of this world, since we are passing through learning in this world as a school
which really is, therefore we know that we came from our true Homeland and we will return in its due time to the
dearly Homeland our natural habitat although yes, we had left our tasks there, our relatives spirits of our
coexistence for in the avatar (to move forward) to our spiritual progress, 2 thence in our prayer our away ness
becomes nearer and we are inspired in the development of our mission in Earth, which as a world of 'Tests and
Atonements' 3 it has usefulness of helping us to progress spiritually.
The prayer is necessary for loss of spiritual northing, in the seeking of readjustment, in the prayer we also
find in ourselves the profundity of our souls the reasons of our needs and we seek out the accomplishment of us as
spirits, giving and receiving, helping and being helped, it is as a psychiatry which makes us to change and to grow
spiritually modifying and keeping us the good and holding fast that which is good 4 and in faith we receive the
flowing benefits which emanated from God they are dispersed through the Universe for everyone, as well as God
does make to rain or to sunshine for us all 5 without having any privileged.
With Jesus' coming, there has been a stop of the need of high priests to intervene for us and to be our
middlemen before God,6 because the separation curtain was torn in the Temple 7 and all can come to God in prayer,
that understanding was not of the Old Testament but it came to us thanks to Jesus.
We discovered that prayer is not only to ask in favor of our needs, but also coexistence with God, with
Jesus and with the superior plan, not for less than Jesus saw the Temple not as a house with material
conveniences, but as a house of God, because he said:' it is written, my house will be called a house of prayer', 8
since God is Spirit and who adores Him ought to adore Him in spirit and in truth,9 and not materially.
The Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, but it was not for that, that the Jews come to the walls of the
Temple to pray, to pray out, to complain, to cry, to try to release, to try to find into with their true self, to seek out for
God, however of truth it is not for being the remaining wall of the Temple in which God acted formerly, that the need
of prayer encounter provokes that encounter, but the pertinent instinct to the soul that tries to satiate from the
spiritual life which is actually its natural root, its essence, its reason of being
Jesus still went further and he taught 'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and hen thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret shall reward thee openly', 10 thence the prayer need as the
biggest naturalness of our lives, everyone is more or less medium, 11 what suggests in the case of prayer all can
pray and to communicate and to receive from God according to one’s receptive capacity and of expressing, if one
translates one’s intimate feelings in communion with God, Jesus or with similar.
God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, it was revealed to us, 12 but in our hearts He and acts in us
according to our free will, thence we may pray should we want anywhere, circumstance, desire, faith according to
the light that we may have or naturalness, or even spontaneity in relationship pulse with God or with similar.
*****
Let us see opinion on the prayer in the Book of the Spirits, subject n° 658: - 663
THE LAW OF ADORATION:

2
Allan Kardec’ Genesis, 3: 57.
3
The gospel according to Spiritism, 3: 13-15.
4
I Tessalonicenses, 5: 21.
5
Matthew, 5: 45.
6
Hebrews, 5: 1.
7
Matthew, 27: 51.
8
Mark, 11: 17.
9
John, 4: 24.
10
Matthew, 6: 6.
11
The Mediums’ Book, 14: 159.
12
Acts, 17: 24 - I Corinthians, 3: 16. - II Corinthians, 6: 16.

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Prayer.
658. Is prayer acceptable to God?
"Prayer is always acceptable to God when dictated by the heart, for the intention is everything in His sight;
and the prayer of the heart is preferable to one read from a book, however beautiful it may be, if read with the lips
rather than with the thought. Prayer is acceptable to God when it is offered with faith, fervour, and sincerity; but do
not imagine that He will listen to that of the vain, proud, or selfish man, unless it be offered as an act of sincere
repentance and humility."

659. What is the general character of prayer?

"Prayer is an act of adoration. To pray to God is to think of Him, to draw nearer to Him, to put one's self in
communication with Him. He who prays may propose to himself three things: to praise, to ask, and to thank."

660. Does prayer make men better?

"Yes; for lie who prays with fervour and confidence has more strength for withstanding the temptations of evil,
and for obtaining from God the help of good spirits to assist him in so doing. Such help is never refused when asked
for with sincerity."
- How is it that persons who pray a great deal are sometimes very unnameable, jealous, envious, and harsh,
wanting in benevolence and forbearance, and even extremely vicious?
"What is needed is not to pray a great deal, but to pray aright. Such persons suppose that all the virtue of
prayer is in its length, and shut their eyes to their own defects. Prayer, for them, is an occupation, a means of
passing their time, but not a study of themselves. In such cases, it is not the remedy that is inefficaceous, but the
mode in which it is employed."

661. Is there any use in asking God to forgive us our faults?

"God discerns the good and the evil: prayer does not hid faults from His eyes. He who asks of God the
forgiveness of his faults, obtains that forgiveness only through a change of conduct.
Good deeds are the best prayers, for deeds are of more worth than words."

662. Is there any use in praying for others?

"The spirit of him who prays exercises an influence through his desire to do good. By prayer, he attracts to
himself good spirits who take part with him in the good he desires to do."
We possess in ourselves. through our thought and our will, a power of action that extends far beyond
the limits of our corporeal sphere. To pray for' others is ~n act of our will. If our will be ardent and sincere, if
calls good spirits to the aid of the party prayed for, and thus helps him by the suggestion of good thoughts,
and by giving him the strength of body and of soul which he needs. But, in his case also, the prayer of the
heart is everything; that of the lips is nothing.

663. Can we, by praying for ourselves, avert our trials, or change their nature?
"Your trials are in the hands of God, and there are some of them that must be undergone to the very end; but
God always takes account of the resignation with which they are borne.
Prayer calls to your help good spirits who give you strength to bear them with courage. so that they seem to
you less severe. Prayer is never useless when it is sincere, because it gives you strength, which is, of itself, an
important result. 'Heaven helps him who helps himself,' 13 is a true saying. God could change the order of nature at
the various contradictory demands of His creatures; for what appears to be a great misfortune to you, from your
narrow point of view, and in relation to your ephemeral life on the earth, is often a great blessing in relation to the
general order of the universe; and, besides, of how many of the troubles of his life is man himself the author,
through his short-sightedness or through his wrong doing! He is punished in that wherein he has sinned.
Nevertheless, your reasonable requests are granted more often than you suppose.
You think your prayer has not been heeded, because God has not worked a miracle on your behalf; while, in
fact. He has really assisted you, but by means so natural that they seem to you to have been the effect of chance or

13
I myself have sublimed so as to remind that this maxim is explained in the Gospel
according to spiritism, 25: 1-5.

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of the ordinary course of things. And, more often still, He suggests to your minds the thought of what you must do in
order to help yourselves out of your difficulties." *****
Well, let us close the study conscious that prayer is necessary to us all, that need is natural and it has always
existed from the beginnings of existences, as a door to the Heavens provided by God, because it is in us the
intuition of approaching to God in prayer or short prayer when in trouble, happiness, solitude or other countless
situations of our spiritual walk stride, there is no doubting of that reality, of that law of God.
Well, may God be with us, as formerly, today and always.

The prayer is necessary for loss of spiritual northing,

In the seeking of readjustment,
In the prayer we also find in ourselves,
In the profundity of our souls the reasons of our needs,
And we seek out the accomplishment of us as spirits,
Giving and receiving, helping and being helped,
It is as a psychiatry which makes to change and to grow
spiritually,
Modifying keeping us the good and what is good,14
And in faith we receive the flowing benefits that emanated
of God,
They are dispersed throughout the Universe for everyone,
As well as God makes to rain or to sunshine for all 15
without having privileged.
With Jesus' coming,
There has been a stop of the need of high priests to
intervene for us,
And to be our middlemen before God,16
Because the separation curtain was torn in the Temple17
And all can come to God in prayer,
That understanding was not of the old Testament,
But came to us thanks to Jesus.

14
Extract from ‘Oração Dominical’ given at the Centro espírita Joana d’Arc, on 05/ 01/
2010.
I thassalonicenses, 5: 21.
15
Matthew, 5: 43.
16
Hebrews, 5: 1.
17
Matthew, 27: 51.

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We discovered that prayer is not only to ask in favor of our
needs,
But also coexistence with God,
With Jesus and with the superior plan,
Not for less than Jesus saw the Temple,
Not as a house with material conveniences,
But as a house of God, because he said: 'it is written,
My house will be called a house of prayer.' 18

18
Mark. 11: 17.