Thursday of the
Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
(II Corinthians 11:1-11; Matthew 6:7-15)
The story of Job illustrates an important point in the
Our Father. Job is a rich man who
pleases God. Satan, who in the story is
part of the heavenly court, believes that Job is faithful because things go his
way. God then allows Satan to test
job. He loses in a flash his property,
his family, and his health. He is tempted
to curse God for his misfortune but doesn’t.
In the standard form of the Our Father, we pray, “Lead us
not into temptation.” We are asking God
not to have us tempted like Satan tempted Job.
Pope Francis does not like the wording, however, because it can imply something
different. It sounds like God might tempt
someone like a drug lord tempts youth to sell drugs for large commissions. The pope has reportedly approved a
translation which says, “Do not let us fall into temptation.”
It is not likely that the pope’s translation will gain much
traction. The standard prayer is so well
established that people will have great difficulty uttering different
words. The real problem is not so much
the present wording, which have a legitimate meaning. Rather the problem is that we do not listen
to what we are saying when we pray the Our Father. We do not tune into the words that Jesus
himself has offered us for our salvation.
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