On Prayer 3

The name of God the Father had been disclosed to no one. Even Moses, who had asked about it, had heard indeed another name. It has been revealed to us in the Son. For what is “Son” now but the new name of the Father? “I have come,” he says, “in the name of the Father”; and again, “Father, glorify your name”; and more openly, “I have made your name known to men.” That, then, we ask to be hallowed. Not that it befits men to wish God well, as though there were another from whom anything could be wished for him, or as though he would suffer unless we wished it. Certainly it is fitting that God be blessed in every place and time by every person, because of the remembrance of his benefits always due. But this petition too serves as a blessing. For when is the name of God not holy and hallowed through itself, since it hallows others from itself? To whom that surrounding company of angels does not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy.” So we too, candidates for the angels if we are worthy, learn already here that heavenly cry to God and the duty of our future glory. So much for the glory of God. But as to our petition, when we say “Hallowed be your name,” we ask that it be hallowed in us who are in him, and at the same time in others whom the grace of God still awaits; so that we may obey this precept too, by praying for all, even for our enemies. And so, leaving the phrase open, not saying “Hallowed be it in us,” we say “in all.”