St Luke Chapter XI : Verses 1-13
Contents
- Luke xi. Verses 1-13. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate)
- Douay-Rheims 1582 text
- Annotations based on the Great Commentary
Luke xi. Verses 1-13.
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| When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Et factum est : cum esset in quodam loco orans, ut cessavit, dixit unus ex discipulis ejus ad eum : Domine, doce nos orare, sicut docuit et Joannes discipulos suos.
2 And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.
Et ait illis : Cum oratis, dicite : Pater, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum.
3 Give us this day our daily bread.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie.
4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.
Et dimitte nobis peccata nostra, siquidem et ipsi dimittimus omni debenti nobis. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem.
5 And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves,
Et ait ad illos : Quis vestrum habebit amicum, et ibit ad illum media nocte, et dicet illi : Amice, commoda mihi tres panes,
6 Because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him.
quoniam amicus meus venit de via ad me, et non habeo quod ponam ante illum,
7 And he from within should answer, and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
et ille de intus respondens dicat : Noli mihi molestus esse, jam ostrium clausum est, et pueri mei mecum sunt in cubili : non possum surgere, et dare tibi.
8 Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth.
Et si ille perseveraverit pulsans : dico vobis, etsi non dabit illi surgens eo quod amicus ejus sit, propter improbitatem tamen ejus surget, et dabit illi quotquot habet necessarios.
9 And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
Et ego dico vobis : Petite, et dabitur vobis; quaerite, et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis.
10 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Omnis enim qui petit, accipit : et qui quaerit, invenit : et pulsanti aperietur.
11 And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Quis autem ex vobis patrem petit panem, numquid lapidem dabit illi? aut piscem, numquid pro pisce serpentem dabit illi?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?
aut si petierit ovum, numquid porriget illi scorpionem?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?
Si ergo vos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris : quanto magis Pater vester de caelo dabit spiritum bonum petentibus se?
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text
1. AND it came to paſſe, when he was in a certaine place praying, as he ceaſed, one of his Diſciples ſaid to him: Lord teach vs to pray, as Iohn alſo taught his Diſciples.
2. And he ſaid to them: When you pray, say, FATHER, ſanctified be thy name. Thy Kingdom come,
3. Our daily bread giue vs this day,
4. and forgiue vs our ſinnes, for becauſe our ſelues alſo doe forgiue euery one that is in debt to vs. And lead vs not into temptation.
5. And he ſaid to them: Which of you ſhal haue a freind, and ſhal goe to him at midnight, and ſhal say to him, Freind, lend me three loaues,
6. becauſe a freind of mine is come out of his way to me, and I haue not what ſet before him:
7. and he from within anſwering ſaith: Trouble me not, now the doore is ſhut, and my children are with me in bed; I can not riſe and giue thee.
8. And if he ſhal perſeuer knocking, I ſay to you, although he wil not riſe and giue him as many as he needeth.
9. ⋮ And I ſay to you, Aſke, and it ſhal be giuen you: ſeeke, and you ſhal find: knock, and it ſhal be opened to you.
10. For euery one that asſketh, receiueth: and he that ſeeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it ſhal be opened.
11. And which of you if he aſke his father bread, wil he giue him a ſtone? or a fiſh, wil he for a fiſh giue him a ſerpent?
12. Or if he aſke an egge, wil he reach him a ſcorpion?
13. If you then being naught, know how to giue good guiftes to your children, how much more wil your father from Heauen giue the good Spirit to them that aſke him?
Annotations
2. When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. S. Matthew adds this prayer to the sermon on the mount, whilst S. Luke places it at a later period. Either, therefore, Christ taught His disciples this prayer on two separate occasions, or S. Matthew added it to the sermon on the mount, in order to make that sermon a complete summary of evangelical doctrine.
Here we may observe, that S. Matthew makes this prayer consist of seven petitions, but S. Luke of five. The latter evangelist unites two, because they are contained in the others. Hence, because S. Luke omits the last petition, “deliver us from evil,” the Pelagians argued that although we might pray against being led into temptation, we ought not to pray for deliverance from evil.
5. And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves
at midnight, i.e. at a most inconvenient time.
Christ puts forth this parable to teach His disciples not to be disheartened, nor to cease to pray because their petitions are unanswered, but to persevere, for if they do this, God will listen to their prayers and grant them their requests.
6. Because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him. My friend, hungry and wearied with his journey, seeks refreshment, and I have nothing to set before him.
7. And he from within should answer, and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. He makes excuse that he cannot wake his children from their sleep and disturb his household.
8. I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth.
importunity—ἀναίδειαν, i.e., impudence, used as the Latin word impudens—e.g., labor impudens (i.e. unceasing labour) omnia vincit.
Here S. Augustine asks, “Why because of his importunity? Because he continued to knock and did not go away because his request was denied him. He who was unwilling to give what his friend had need of, gave at last because the other continued his demands. Much more then will God who in His goodness bids us make known our requests to Him, and is displeased with those who seek Him not, grant our requests.”
God wills that we should continue instant in prayer, and is pleased with our “importunity,” for persistent prayer is “violence pleasing to God.” Tertullian.
9. And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
Cf. Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. (See S. Matt. vii. 7.)
12. Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? This verse is omitted by S. Matthew. An egg, because of the nourishment it contains.
[The following text is based on the commentary on St Matthew's Gospel, vii. 7 et seq.]
9. Ask, and it shall be given you:, &c. He returns to the subject of prayer, of which He had begun to treat. Ask, viz., from God, by prayer, those things about which I have been teaching, such as are necessary for you, but arduous and difficult, and especially the things which I have laid down to be looked for in the Lord’s Prayer. For to it Luke refers these words (xi. 9). Observe, these three words, ask, seek, knock, mean the same thing, that is, earnest prayer. To ask signifies confidence in prayer as a prime requisite; to seek signifies zeal and diligence, for he who seeks for anything, applies the whole vigour of his mind to obtain what he seeks. To knock means perseverance.
Christ then signifies that we must pray faithfully, diligently, ardently, and perseveringly. So S. Augustine, who says that ask refers to praying for strength, by which we may be able to fulfil the commandments of God: seek, that we may find the truth: knock, that heaven may be opened unto us.
To this we may add the words of S. Chrysostom.
“Ask,” he says, “in supplications, praying night and day: seek by zeal and labours, for heaven is not given to the slothful: knock in prayers, in fastings, and almsgiving, for he who knocks at a door knocks with his hand.”
Again, these three words denote increasing earnestness in prayer. When anything is asked for, it is first spoken for; by-and-by, if no answer be given, we cry out; if calling out do not suffice, we seek for some other means of gaining attention, we apply our mouth to some chink in the door by which our voices may be made to reach the master of the house: if that too fail, we beat at the door, until we gain a hearing. Hence Remigius thus expounds,
“We ask by praying; we seek by living well; we knock by persevering.” Others, “Ask by faith, seek by hope, knock by charity.”
Lastly, Climacus (Gradu 28) says, Ask by striving, seek by obedience, knock by long-suffering.
Mystically, S. Bernard (in Scala Claustralium):
“Seek by reading, and ye shall find in meditation: knock in prayer, and it shall be opened to you in contemplation. Reading offers solid food to the mouth, meditation masticates it, reason gives it flavour, contemplation is the very sweetness itself which pleases and refreshes.”
He then defines these four processes.
“Meditation is a studious action of the mind, which under the guidance of right reason searches out the knowledge of hidden truth: contemplation is the elevation of a mind depending upon God, and tasting the joys of eternal sweetness. Reading searches, meditation finds, contemplation feeds, prayer asks.”
10. For every one that asketh, receiveth &c. Elegantly and truly says S. Augustine, or whoever was the author of lib. de Salutar. Monitis, (c. 28), “The prayer of the righteous is the key of heaven. Prayer ascends, God’s mercy descends.” The same S. Augustine (lib. senten. apud Prospr. Sent. 87), says, “The physician knows best what is good for the sick man. Therefore God sometimes in mercy hears not.” Again he says (ad Paulinum, Epist. 43), “The Lord often denies what we wish for, that he may give us what we would rather, in the end.” And the Gloss says, “God does not deny Himself to those who ask, for He voluntarily offered Himself to those who asked not for him. And those who seek shall find Him: for He gave Himself to those who sought Him not, that He might be found of them: and He will open to those who knock, for He it is who crieth out, ‘Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ ” (Rev. iii. 20)
11. And which of you, if he ask, &c. The force of the or in this verse is, that God is more liberal than man. It, as it were, compares God and man, and shows the superiority of God to man.
or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?, &c. For a serpent has the appearance and form of a fish, so that it might be deceitfully substituted for a fish, though only by an enemy, not by a father. He says the same thing that He said in the previous verse, but by a still more striking similitude. For if a father gave a stone to a child who asked him for bread, he would only give him a useless and uneatable thing; but if he gave him a serpent when he asked for a fish, he would give him not only a useless but a noxious and poisonous thing. Thus Christ speaks of what is a moral impossibility.
13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?
being evil: i.e. “by the natural propensity to evil, which ye have contracted in your nature by sin.” So S. Jerome. “Also by your own will and actions.” Whence it is plain that these words were spoken to the people generally, not to the Apostles. For the Apostles were good, but among the multitude there were many who were evil and entangled in vices. S. Chrysostom was of another opinion: “In comparison with God,” he says, “all appear evil, even the good, as in comparison with the sun all things, even such as are light, appear dark.”
the good Spirit. For all good things are given by the grace of the Holy Spirit, says Remigius. By good things understand true and solid goods which lead to blessedness. Whence S. Augustine says, “Gold and silver are good, not because they make thee good, but because thou mayest do good with them.”
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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