THE OUR FATHER

For Christians the Our Father prayer is the most sacred of all prayers, handed on to them by Jesus Christ.

Now - not for the first time - there is a rumour that the English language version of the prayer may be changed into more everyday and present day English. There is a good argument for this -  we don't talk to our friends with "thy" ,"thee" and "thou art", we use the word "hallowed" very seldom , making a speech for instance about "hallowed ground" where important events have happened, or at Hallowe'en time every year. Nowadays "trespasses" may seem  too gentle a word for offences by the creature against the laws of the Creator. So there is a desire for change.

But on the other hand - there is always an "other hand" - words mean what speaker and spoken-to understand them to mean, so  it matters little what age a particular word  may be, it is what the speaker means by it now that counts.   

Those who pray the Our Father know and trust that their Lord will understand perfectly  what we need even if we never utter a word or use the wrong one and this prayer graciously admits that. Still, some people would feel greatly honoured to be able to talk to their creator with the same ease as they talk to the rest of their friends. After all, Jesus Christ said our  primary human relationship is with a creator and head of family. An old Irish prayer put it, is nearer to you than your own front, or back, door. Many  Irish Christians  still have a custom of praying while going in and out of the house.

So changing the wording of a prayer is not just a matter of feeling more comfortable and up to date.  For Christians it is a matter of relationship. Saint Teresa, a brilliantly wise women of Avila in Spain, went a bit further in this - when she prayed she used to argue,  "Lord, why do you do this or that , for goodness' sake..... ?", arguing in friendship as friends do. And  another saint compared his relationship with the divine to that of a lover sneaking out at night  for a blissful intimate meeting with his beloved. That was St. John of the Cross. Can't get much nearer than that , so sacred familiarity does not always breed contempt, quite the opposite. So why not change the wording of any prayer to more intimate, friendly language?

One day years ago I asked a friend, a Dominican priest, if he was doing anything special these days and he said, Yes, I'm helping to translate the New Testament into more modern English.

"That's great", I said. "One of the things I've longed for is a better translation of the Our Father....."

"Oh", he said. "I don't think we're  going to touch that really ......."

After that we had only a polite conversation about  the project,  avoiding the biggest question of all : Why do Christians ask their Lord not to " lead us into temptation?

 Surely that is a completely unnecessary thing to ask ?

It's really a translation problem. The present English version of the Our Father is a translation from Latin. In the Latin version the word 'temptationem' is used , and there was a time when translators often used the nearest English-shaped  word when translating rather than searching for the deep, and most suitable,  meaning of Latin  which might require a differently-shaped word. In this instance the Latin word has shades of meaning depending on the context in which it is used ; and one other meaning is " trial", or "test" , a test of endurance for example, a trial of strength.  It  would be understandable to ask a Father not to go by rocky roads with road blocks too big for them to remove , get around or over.  But a  Father could well be asked to take a big stumbling block ( for which an old word is "scandal")  away himself , because , as  the Our Father adds, he has the authority, the ability, to move the evil stumbling block and will have everybody's thanks in advance for doing so.

"Let us not be tried (tested) beyond our strength, take the burden on yourself, setting us free to get on our way home......."  

That might be a reasonable version of that part of the Our Father.

But just try putting it into short, concise, English suitable for the concise rhythmic  rest of the prayer.  Most translators are probably unwilling to try it.