On the Lord's Prayer 2

Among his other saving warnings and divine precepts by which he provides for his people's salvation, he himself also gave a form of prayer; he himself advised and instructed us what to pray for. He who made us live taught us also to pray, with that same kindness, of course, with which he has deigned to give and bestow everything else, so that, while we speak to the Father in the petition and prayer that the Son taught, we may be more readily heard. He had already foretold that the hour was coming when true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth; and he fulfilled what he had promised before, so that we, who have received the Spirit and the truth from his sanctification, may also worship truly and spiritually by his tradition. For what prayer can be more spiritual than that which was given us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit too was sent to us? What petition more true before the Father than that which was uttered by the mouth of the Son, who is the truth? So that to pray otherwise than he taught is not only ignorance but also a fault, since he himself laid it down and said: "You reject the commandment of God, so as to establish your own tradition."