Not everyone has caught up to this yet… Pope Francis (and some national hierarchies) changed the phrase “lead us not into temptation” to “do not let us fall into temptation.”
The reaction is somewhat predictable.
On social media, the pope’s change has received praise for making sense but others have called it an abomination. One user said: “this is like changing the Declaration of Independence.”
Pope Francis, in his weekly catechesis on the “our Father”, addresses the issue head-on!
We read in the Letter of the Apostle James: “let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one” (1:13).
Yet, one could be forgiven for thinking that the ‘traditional” translation sounds like reminding God that God should not lead us into temptation! So why do we pray… “Lead us not into temptation”?
Listen to Pope Francis’ understanding…
Let us not forget: the “Our Father” begins with “Father”. And a father does not lay snares for his children. “
Jesus teaches — and when evil appears in people’s lives, he fights beside them, so they may be freed from it. A God who always fights for us, not against us. He is the Father! It is in this sense that we pray the “Our Father”.
We all know what evil is; we all know what temptation is; we have all experienced temptation of some kind in the flesh. But it is the tempter who persuades and pushes us towards evil, telling us: “do this, think about this, go down that road”.
These two moments — trial and temptation — were mysteriously present in the life of Jesus himself. In this experience the Son of God became wholly our brother, in a way that is almost scandalous.
In a time of agony, God asks man not to abandon him, but instead, man falls asleep.
But when man faces times of trial, God is watching. In the most awful moments of our life, in the most painful moments, in the most anguishing moments, God watches with us; God fights alongside us; he is always close to us. Why? Because he is Father. Thus, we began the prayer: “Our Father”. And a father does not abandon his children...
Our Father, show us that we are not alone. You are the Father. Show us that Christ has already taken upon himself the weight of that cross too. Show us that Jesus calls us to carry it with him, abandoning ourselves trustfully to your Fatherly love. Thank you.
With this twofold plea: “do not abandon us” and “deliver us”, an essential characteristic of Christian prayer emerges. Jesus teaches his friends to place the invocation of the Father above all else, also and especially in moments in which the evil one makes his threatening presence felt.
If the last verses of the “Our Father” were not there, how could sinners, the persecuted, the desperate, the dying, pray? The last petition is precisely the petition we make when we are at the limit, always.
Jesus says: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mk 14:36).
Jesus experiences the piercing of evil in its entirety. Not only death, but death on the cross. Not only solitude, but also contempt, humiliation. Not only ill will but also cruelty, rage against him.
Thus Jesus’ prayer leaves us the most precious legacy: the presence of the Son of God who delivered us from evil, fighting to convert it.
Does the change make sense to you?
Click below for an audio version of this post
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” – Matthew 4:1
That “led by the Spirit … to be tempted” part had been a source of confusion for me. Then, I came to appreciate that the elements of the Lord’s Prayer reflected experiences within Jesus’ own life and he offered us the best way to use those experiences to better reflect the Father’s love and care in spite of it all.
Of all the vernacular revisions done since Vatican II, it seems odd to me that we still use the King James Version of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 6: 9-13) in our common prayer, especially in our Liturgy. A more faithful translation of that passage (one more in keeping with Pope Francis’ interpretation) appears in the New American Bible. (see link below)
Years ago, I heard one of those televangelists proclaim that Jesus instructed us to “pray LIKE this, not necessarily to use those actual words.” I guess there will always be different ways to look at everything. I frequently use my little pocket Latin Dictionary to look up words that are less familiar to me and I came to realize that there are countless words that have different meanings in different contexts. What I found intriguing is that the word “mater” has only one meaning in all of its contexts: mother. Maybe the Our Father and Hail Mary should never leave one another’s side.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/6