I was raised in a strict Roman Catholic family. Along with the Hail Mary, I used to recite the Lord’s Prayer almost daily. I even considered becoming a priest.
Over time I could no longer accept Roman Catholic dogma and eventually joined the United Church. But I kept searching for my spiritual centre. Perhaps like you.
I investigated Buddhism, Hinduism, Theosophy, Baha’i, Rosicrucianism and Unitarian beliefs. I read the Bible, the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita and other sacred texts. Practiced yoga and meditation. Studied and took courses in The Silva Method, Neurolinguistic Programming , Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique [EFT or Tapping], metaphysics and the Law Of Attraction. Joined Unity.
All the while I continued to read, investigate, study, learn, grow and evolve as a “spiritual being in an earth suit”. Part of my research led me to this new interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer.
It has apparently been helpful to many people. Perhaps it will be of assistance to you too.
You see, today we have available many more accurate translations of this prayer. They reveal that it was originally intended to be a series of affirmations. They are intended as a frame of reference in which to think about and pray the Lord‘s Prayer.
You can use this version on its own merit. As part of your daily ritual or morning routine.
Note the “traditional” words which are then followed by the reinterpretation of each affirmation.
Our Father who art in heaven: I am now conscious of the infinite and eternal Presence in whom I live and by which I think and create.
Hallowed be Thy name: This Presence in me is whole and complete. It is the activity of health that heals, of intelligence that inspires, of substance that prospers, and of love that harmonizes.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: I am a glorious possibility of the Presence. I now let its perfect idea of me unfold in me and through me. My desire for betterment is the desire of the Presence to perfect that which it is expressing as me, and I let it have its way. I see myself doing that which it sees me as being.
Give us this day our daily bread: I have no existence outside of the Presence, for I am that Presence expressing as me. Therefore, I can never be separated from the all-sufficient substance of the opulent Universe. I claim my divine inheritance and I daily, perpetually, manifest abundant supply.
And forgive us our trespassers, as we forgive those who trespass against us: The Presence in me is my potential for dissolving all conflicts or transgression. The Presence is Love, and it lives in me and through me as I forgive. It releases me as I loose and let go of all my limited thoughts about myself or others.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: The Presence in me is my light and my deliverance. There is no darkness in the light, and there can be no darkness in me when I am established in spiritual unity with the Presence within me – which is “better than light and safer than a known way”.
[For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever and ever]: In all that I seek to be or do or have, I humbly realize that in the Presence is my power to think, my very thought of aspiration, my will to commence, my strength to keep on, my power to achieve, and the glory of all my accomplishments.
Amen: This is the truth, and it is now done.
This interpretation has been adapted from “Discover The Power Within You [ A Guide To The Unexplored Depths Within]”, by the “20th century Emerson”, Eric Butterworth. Feel free to revise it for your own use.
In this version I have taken the liberty of replacing the word “God” with the word “Presence”. To some people, the name of God has negative connotations. They think of the God of the Old Testament. The old guy with the white beard who sits on his golden throne up in heaven, judging and condemning, full of wrath, and damning sinners to hell. The God that humanity had made in the image of man, rather than the one who created man in his image.
Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony
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