Wednesday, November 13, 2013
597. Why do we conclude by asking “But deliver us from evil”? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 597 repetition) “Evil” indicates
the person of Satan who opposes God and is “the deceiver of the whole world”
(Revelation 12:9). Victory over the devil has already been won by Christ. We
pray, however, that the human family be freed from Satan and his works. We also
ask for the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance as we wait for
the coming of Christ who will free us definitively from the Evil One.
“In brief”
(CCC 2864) In the last petition,
"but deliver us from evil," Christians pray to God with the Church to
show forth the victory, already won by Christ, over the "ruler of this
world," Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and to his plan of
salvation.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2853) Victory over the "prince of this world"
(Jn 14:30) was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up
to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the
prince of this world is "cast out" (Jn 12:31; Rev 12:10). "He
pursued the woman" (Rev 12:13-169) but had no hold on her: the new Eve,
"full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the
corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most
Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with
the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring" (Rev
12:17). Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus"
(Rev 22:17,20), since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.
Reflection
(CCC 2854) When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we
pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he
is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before
the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils
that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace
of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return. By praying in this way, she
anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and
everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is
and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8, 18; cf. Rev 1:4;
Eph 1:10). Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace
in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and
protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our
Savior, Jesus Christ. (Roman Missal,
Embolism after the Lord's Prayer, 126: Libera
nos, quaesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris,
ut, ope misericordiae tuae adiuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni
perturbatione securi: expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri
Iesu Christi). [END]
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