On Prayer

Contents

1. 1Christ, the Spirit, Word, and Reason of God, gave his new disciples a new, brief form of prayer, to be offered in secret, that sums up the whole gospel.
2. 2In calling God “Father” we honor him, fulfill Christ's command, and acknowledge the Son and the church, our mother, while rebuking those who do not know the Father.
3. 3The Father's name, revealed in the Son, is already holy; in praying “hallowed be your name” we join the angels' praise and ask that it be hallowed in us and in all people, even our enemies.
4. 4In praying “your will be done” we ask that God's saving will be done in us, flesh and spirit, and prepare ourselves to endure as Christ submitted to the Father's will in his passion.
5. 5Praying for God's kingdom to come means longing for the end of the world and the final vindication of the martyrs, not asking for the world to be prolonged.
6. 6The petition for daily bread is chiefly a prayer for Christ, the bread of life, and union with his body; taken literally it asks only for what is needed today.
7. 7After asking for bread we ask for forgiveness, confessing our sins and promising to forgive others, as Christ taught in the parable of the unforgiving servant.
8. 8“Lead us not into temptation” means “do not let us be led into it” by the devil, the true tempter; the last clause, “deliver us from evil,” explains it.
9. 9The Lord's Prayer, though brief, sums up the teaching of Scripture and fulfills every duty of prayer, because God himself taught it.
10. 10After the Lord's Prayer, as a foundation, believers may add their own petitions for particular needs.
11. 11Before praying we must be reconciled with our brothers and put away anger, as Christ and the apostle commanded.
12. 12Prayer must come from a spirit free of every disturbance, for the Holy Spirit receives only a spirit like his own.
13. 13What matters in prayer is a clean spirit and hands clean of sin, not ritual handwashing, which some practice in imitation of Pilate.
14. 14Jewish ritual washing cannot cleanse hands stained with the blood of the prophets and of Christ; Christians pray with hands raised and outstretched in the shape of the cross.
15. 15Tertullian rejects superstitious customs in prayer with no apostolic warrant, such as removing one's cloak, which imitates pagan practice.
16. 16The custom of sitting down after prayer has no authority; the Shepherd of Hermas mentions it only as narrative, and it is irreverent before God and his angel.
17. 17Prayer should be offered humbly and quietly, like the tax collector's, since God hears the heart, as Jonah's prayer from the whale shows.
18. 18Those fasting should not refuse the kiss of peace after common prayer, since that reveals their fast, which Christ commanded be kept hidden; only on the public fast of Passover is the kiss rightly omitted.
19. 19On fast days (“stations”) Christians should still attend the Eucharist and may receive the Lord's body and keep it to take later, without breaking their fast.
20. 20Tertullian turns to women's dress, following Peter and Paul, who both forbid ostentatious clothes, gold, and elaborate hairstyles.
21. 21Tertullian takes up the disputed question whether virgins must be veiled, beginning with the argument of those who say Paul's command applies only to married women.
22. 22Tertullian argues that Paul's command to veil “women” includes virgins, from the use of the word in Genesis and in Greek, from “every woman,” from the angels, and from nature; at the least, betrothed girls and consecrated virgins should be veiled.
23. 23Christians do not kneel on Sunday or during the Easter season, as signs of joy, but kneel at other times, especially on fast days; Scripture sets no fixed times, only to pray always.
24. 24Praying “in every place” does not contradict the command not to pray in public; it means wherever occasion or necessity requires, as the apostles did in prison and on the ship.
25. 25Though no hours of prayer are commanded, it is good to pray at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, as the apostles did, besides morning and evening prayer and prayer before meals and bathing.
26. 26Hospitality should include prayer, both when receiving a brother and when being received, as Christ commanded his disciples to greet a house with peace.
27. 27Some add the Alleluia and responsorial psalms to their prayers, a good practice that honors God.
28. 28Prayer offered in spirit and truth is the spiritual sacrifice that replaces the old sacrifices, and Christians are its priests.
29. 29Prayer has great power: in the old covenant it worked deliverances and punishments, but Christian prayer brings endurance in suffering, turns away God's wrath, and does only good; all creation prays, and Christ himself prayed.