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Episodes
Wednesday Aug 20, 2025
Wednesday Aug 20, 2025
Wednesday Wisdom
Proverbs 17
G’day! Welcome to Partakers and to Wednesday Wisdom, where we are listening to what the Bible has to say through the Wisdom literature of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Come on in!
Today we are listening and learning from Proverbs 17.
1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife.
2 A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord tries the hearts.
4 A wicked doer gives heed to false lips; and a liar gives ear to a naughty tongue.
5 Whoso mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
7 Excellent speech becomes not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that has it: where ever it turns, it prospers.
9 He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates very friends.
10 A reproof enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
13 Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
14 The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
15 He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.
16 Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart to it?
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
18 A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his friend.
19 He loves transgression that loves strife: and he that exalts his gate seeks destruction.
20 He that has a perverse heart finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.
21 He that brings a fool does it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool has no joy.
22 A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.
23 A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
24 Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
26 Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.
27 He that has knowledge spares his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
28 Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
That’s it for today! Come back every day to Partakers Podcasts to hear something to encourage and uplift you as a Christian disciple, regardless of where you are in the world. You can also purchase our books via Amazon at Pulptheology.com
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Wednesday Aug 20, 2025
Wednesday Aug 20, 2025
Martin Luther
Study 12
The Ten Commandments
The Fourth Commandment: "Honor your father and your mother."
First, I learn to acknowledge God, my Creator; how wondrously he has created me, body and soul; and how he has given me life through my parents and has instilled in them the desire to care for me, the fruit of their bodies, with all their power. He has brought me into this world, has sustained and cared for me, nurtured and educated me with great diligence, carefulness, and concern, through danger, trouble, and hard work. To this moment he protects me, his creature, and helps me in countless dangers and troubles. It is as though he were creating me anew every moment. But the devil does not willingly concede us one single moment of life.
Second, I thank the rich and gracious Creator on behalf of myself and all the world that he has established and assured in the Commandment the increase and preservation of the human race, that is, of households and of states. Without these two institutions or governments the world could not exist a single year, because without government there can be no peace, and where there is no peace there can be no family; without family, children cannot be begotten or raised, and fatherhood and motherhood would cease to be.
It is the purpose of this Commandment to guard and preserve both family and state, to admonish children and subjects to be obedient, and to enforce it, too, and to let no violation go un-punished-otherwise children would have disrupted the family long ago by their disobedience, and subjects would have disorganized the state and laid it to waste for they outnumber parents and rulers. There are no words to fully describe the benefit of this Commandment.
Third, I confess and lament my wicked disobedience and sin; in defiance of God's Commandment I have not honored or obeyed my parents; I have often provoked and offended them, have been impatient with their parental discipline, have been resentful and scornful of their loving admonition and have rather gone along with loose company and evil companions. God himself condemns such disobedient children and withholds from them a long life; many of them succumb and perish in disgrace before they reach adulthood. Whoever does not obey father and mother must obey the executioner or otherwise come, through God's wrath, to an evil end, etc. Of all this I repent and ask for grace and forgiveness.
Fourth, I pray for myself and for all the world that God would bestow his grace and pour his blessing richly upon the family and the state. Grant that from this time on we may be devout, honor our parents, obey our superiors, and resist the devil when he entices us to be disobedient and rebellious, and so may we help improve home and nation by our actions and thus preserve the peace, all to the praise and glory of God for our own benefit and for the prosperity of all. Grant that we may acknowledge these his gifts and be thankful for them.
At this point we should add a prayer for our parents and superiors, that God may grant them understanding and wisdom to govern and rule us in peace and happiness. May he preserve them from tyranny, from riot and fury, and turn them to honor God's word and not oppress it, nor persecute anyone or do injustice. Such excellent gifts must be sought by prayer, as St. Paul teaches; otherwise the devil will reign in the palace and everything fall into chaos and confusion. If you are a father or mother, you should at this point remember your children and the workers in your household.
Pray earnestly to the dear Father, who has set you in an office of honor in his name and intends that you be honored by the name "father." Ask that he grant you grace and blessing to look after and support your wife, children, and servants in a godly and Christian manner. May he give you wisdom and strength to train them well in heart and will to follow your instruction with obedience. Both are God's gifts, your children and the way they flourish, that they turn out well and that they remain so. Otherwise the home is nothing but a pigsty and school for rascals, as one can see among the uncouth and godless.
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Tuesday Aug 19, 2025
Tuesday Aug 19, 2025
Psalm 47
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
47:1 Oh clap your hands, all you nations.
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
47:2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome.
He is a great King over all the earth.
47:3 He subdues nations under us,
and peoples under our feet.
47:4 He chooses our inheritance for us,
the glory of Jacob whom he loved.
Selah.
47:5 God has gone up with a shout,
Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.
47:6 Sing praise to God, sing praises.
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
47:7 For God is the King of all the earth.
Sing praises with understanding.
47:8 God reigns over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
47:9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together,
the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God.
He is greatly exalted!
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Tuesday Aug 19, 2025
Tuesday Aug 19, 2025
Martin Luther
Study 11
The Ten Commandments
The Third Commandment: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." I learn from this, first of all, that the sabbath day has not been instituted for the sake of being idle or indulging in worldly pleasures, but in order that we may keep it holy. However, it is not sanctified by our works and actions our works are not holy-but by the word of God, which alone is wholly pure and sacred and which sanctifies everything that comes in contact with it, be it time, place, person, labor, rest, etc. According to St. Paul, who says that every creature is consecrated by word and prayer, I Timothy 4, our works are consecrated through the word. I realize therefore that on the Sabbath I must, above all, hear and contemplate God's word. Thereafter I should give thanks in my own words, praise God for all his benefits, and pray for myself and for the whole world. He who so conducts himself on the Sabbath day keeps it holy. He who fails to do so is worse than the person who works on the Sabbath.
Second, I thank God in this Commandment for his great and beautiful goodness and grace which he has given us in the preaching of his word. And he has instructed us to make use of it, especially on the sabbath day, for the meditation of the human heart can never exhaust such a treasure. His word is the only light in the darkness of this life, a word of life, consolation, and supreme blessedness. Where this precious and saving word is absent, nothing remains but a fearsome and terrifying darkness, error and faction, death and every calamity, and the tyranny of the devil himself, as we can see with our own eyes every day.
Third, I confess and acknowledge great sin and wicked ingratitude on my part because all my life I have made disgraceful use of the sabbath and have thereby despised his precious and dear word in a wretched way. I have been too lazy, listless, and uninterested to listen to it, let alone to have desired it sincerely or to have been grateful for it. I have let my dear God proclaim his word to me in vain, have dismissed the noble treasure, and have trampled it underfoot. He has tolerated this in his great and divine mercy and has not ceased in his fatherly, divine love and faithfulness to keep on preaching to me and calling me to the salvation of my soul. For this I repent and ask for grace and forgiveness.
Fourth, I pray for myself and for the whole world that the gracious Father may preserve us in his holy word and not withdraw it from us because of our sin, ingratitude, and laziness. May he preserve us from factious spirits and false teachers, and may he send faithful and honest laborers into his harvest, that is, devout pastors and preachers. May he grant us grace humbly to hear, accept, and honor their words as his own words and to offer our sincere thanks and praise.
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Monday Aug 18, 2025
Monday Aug 18, 2025
Psalm 136 to Psalm 140
Often we hear the Psalms one by one, but today we offer you the chance to hear a group of Psalms read as a collection!
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Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures for ever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures for ever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures for ever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures for ever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures for ever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures for ever.
7 who made the great lights –
His love endures for ever.
8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures for ever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures for ever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures for ever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures for ever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures for ever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder
His love endures for ever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures for ever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures for ever.
16 to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures for ever.
17 to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures for ever.
18 and killed mighty kings –
His love endures for ever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures for ever.
20 and Og king of Bashan –
His love endures for ever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures for ever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures for ever.
23 He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures for ever.
24 and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures for ever.
25 He gives food to every creature.
His love endures for ever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures for ever.
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
‘Tear it down,’ they cried,
‘tear it down to its foundations!’
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
Psalm 138
f David.
1 I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart;
before the ‘gods’ I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down towards your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,
for you have so exalted your solemn decree
that it surpasses your fame.
3 When I called, you answered me;
you greatly emboldened me.
4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD,
when they hear what you have decreed.
5 May they sing of the ways of the LORD,
for the glory of the LORD is great.
6 Though the LORD is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;
though lofty, he sees them from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;
with your right hand you save me.
8 The LORD will vindicate me;
your love, LORD, endures for ever –
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,’
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand –
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 140
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Rescue me, LORD, from evildoers;
protect me from the violent,
2 who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.
3 They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.
4 Keep me safe, LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
who devise ways to trip my feet.
5 The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path.
6 I say to the LORD, ‘You are my God.’
Hear, LORD, my cry for mercy.
7 Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer,
you shield my head in the day of battle.
8 Do not grant the wicked their desires, LORD;
do not let their plans succeed.
9 Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
10 May burning coals fall on them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise.
11 May slanderers not be established in the land;
may disaster hunt down the violent.
12 I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor
and upholds the cause of the needy.
13 Surely the righteous will praise your name,
and the upright will live in your presence.
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Monday Aug 18, 2025
Monday Aug 18, 2025
Martin Luther
Study 10
The Ten Commandments
The Second Commandment likewise in four strands, like this: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," etc.
First, I learn that I must keep God's name in honour, holiness, and beauty; not to swear, curse, not to be boastful or seek honor and repute for myself, but humbly to invoke his name, to pray, praise, and extol it, and to let it be my only honor and glory that he is my God and that I am his lowly creature and unworthy servant.
Second, I give thanks to him for these precious gifts, that he has revealed his name to me and bestowed it upon me, that I can glory in his name and be called God's servant and creature, etc., that his name is my refuge like a mighty fortress to which the righteous man can flee and find protection, as Solomon says.
Third, I confess and acknowledge that I have grievously and shamefully sinned against this Commandment all my life. I have not only failed to invoke, extol, and honour his holy name, but have also been ungrateful for such gifts and have, by swearing, lying, and betraying, misused them in the pursuit of shame and sin. This I bitterly regret and ask grace and forgiveness, etc.
Fourth, I ask for help and strength henceforth to learn this Commandment and to be preserved from such evil ingratitude, abuse, and sin against his name, and that I may be found grateful in revering and honoring his name. I repeat here what I previously said in reference to the Lord's Prayer: if in the midst of such thoughts the Holy Spirit begins to preach in your heart with rich, enlightening thoughts, honor him by letting go of this written scheme; be still and listen to him who can do better than you can. Remember what he says and note it well and you will behold wondrous things in the law of God, as David says.
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Sunday Aug 17, 2025
Sunday Aug 17, 2025
A Strategy to Cope
Hebrews 3
1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'
11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
The first thing we do is to consider Jesus or as the NIV here puts it “fix our thoughts”. Now remember, that these are Hebrew believers. I guess we would call them Messianic Jews today. They believed that Jesus was their Messiah, Saviour and Lord. They were obviously coming under pressure from their Jewish friends and leaders to deny this Jesus and return to the fold. They would have been told how great Moses was.
In the previous chapter we read how Jesus is greater than the angels, because He is God, but was made a little lower than the angels when he became a man.
You can download the mp3 using the link below to hear the rest of this sermon...
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Sunday Aug 17, 2025
Sunday Aug 17, 2025
Martin Luther
Study 9
The Ten Commandments
If I have had time and opportunity to go through the Lord's Prayer, I do the same with the Ten Commandments. I take one part after another and free myself as much as possible from distractions in order to pray. I divide each Commandment into four parts, thereby fashioning a garland of four strands. That is, I think of each Commandment as,
First, instruction, which is really what it is intended to be, and consider what the Lord God demands of me so earnestly.
Second, I turn it into a thanksgiving;
Third, a confession;
Fourth, a prayer. I do so in thoughts or words such as these: "I am the Lord your God, etc. You shall have no other gods before me," etc.
Here I earnestly consider that God expects and teaches me to trust him sincerely in all things and that it is his most earnest purpose to be my God. I must think of him in this way at the risk of losing eternal salvation. My heart must not build upon anything else or trust in any other thing, be it wealth, prestige, wisdom, might, piety, or anything else. Then I give thanks for his infinite compassion by which he has come to me in such a fatherly way and, unasked, unbidden, and unmerited, has offered to be my God, to care for me, and to be my comfort, guardian, help, and strength in every time of need. We poor mortals have sought so many gods and would have to seek them still if he did not enable us to hear him openly tell us in our own language that he intends to be our God. How could we ever-in all eternity-thank him enough!
Then, I confess and acknowledge my great sin and ingratitude for having so shamefully despised such sublime teachings and such a precious gift throughout my whole life, and for having fearfully provoked his wrath by countless acts of idolatry. I repent of these and ask for his grace.
Lastly, I pray and say: "O my God and Lord, help me by Your grace to learn and understand Your Commandments more fully every day and to live by them in sincere confidence. Preserve my heart so that I shall never again become forgetful and ungrateful, that I may never seek after other gods or other consolation on earth or in any creature, but cling truly and solely to thee, my only God. Amen, dear Lord God and Father. Amen."
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Saturday Aug 16, 2025
Saturday Aug 16, 2025
God Loves You
God loves you. Let me say that again. God loves you. Isn’t that amazing? God loves you. It doesn’t matter what you have done, what you haven’t done – God loves you. God loves you irrespective of your gender, your sexuality, your marital status or none, your age, your culture, your background, who ever you are, what ever you have done. It remains a fact. God loves you. He is beckoning you to love Him in return. He wants you to be in relationship with Him. Nothing you can do will make Him love you more than He already does. Perhaps the most famous sentence in the whole world is this:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave is one and only Son, so that who ever believed in Him would have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
You can choose to have that life right now and accept God’s love for you. God won’t force you to love Him in return, because if He forced you, that wouldn’t be love. God’s love is compelling but it is not coercion. Once you accept His love and enter into a loving relationship with Him, be prepared to be transformed into a much better person. I look back over the 45 years since I started my relationship with Him, and I am so glad I am transformed from that time and that in the future I will be transformed even more. I can’t promise in what areas He will want to transform you, but He is reliable and will help you. He will come and live inside you. God loves you. I can’t promise their won’t be hard times for you, but God will be with you through what ever it is you go through – each second of each minute of each hour of each day. God is seeking you out to return His love. Will you not do that now before it is too late?
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Saturday Aug 16, 2025
Saturday Aug 16, 2025
Martin Luther
Study 8
Finally, mark this, that you must always speak the Amen firmly. Never doubt that God in his mercy will surely hear you and say "yes" to your prayers. Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition which God cannot disdain. Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, "Very well, God has heard my prayer; this I know as a certainty and a truth." That is what Amen means. You should also know that I do not want you to recite all these words in your prayer. That would make it nothing but idle chatter and prattle, read word for word out of a book as were the rosaries by the laity and the prayers of the priests and monks.
Rather do I want your heart to be stirred and guided concerning the thoughts which ought to be comprehended in the Lord's Prayer. These thoughts may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed and inclined toward prayer, in many different ways and with more words or fewer. I do not bind myself to such words or syllables, but say my prayers in one fashion today, in another tomorrow, depending upon my mood and feeling. I stay however, as nearly as I can, with the same general thoughts and ideas. It may happen occasionally that I may get lost among so many ideas in one petition that I forego the other six. If such an abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon is far better than a thousand of our prayers. Many times I have learned more from one prayer than I might have learned from much reading and speculation.
It is of great importance that the heart be made ready and eager for prayer. As the Preacher says, "Prepare your heart for prayer, and do not tempt God". What else is it but tempting God when your mouth babbles and the mind wanders to other thoughts? Like the priest who prayed, "Deus in adjutorium meum intende. Farmhand, did you unhitch the horses? Domine ad adjuvandum me festina. Maid, go out and milk the cow. Gloria patti et filio et spiritui sancto. Hurry up, boy, I wish the ague would take you!" I have heard many such prayers in my experience under the papacy; most of their prayers are of this sort.
This is blasphemy and it would be better if they played at it if they cannot or do not care to do better. In my day I have prayed many such canonical hours myself, regrettably, and in such a manner that the psalm or the allotted time came to an end before I even realized whether I was at the beginning or in the middle.
Though not all of them blurt out the words as did the above-mentioned cleric and mix business and prayer, they do it by the thoughts in their hearts. They jump from one thing to another in their thoughts and when it is all over they do not know what they have done or what they talked about. They start with Laudate and right away they are in a fool's paradise. It seems to me that if someone could see what arises as prayer from a cold and inattentive heart he would conclude that he had never seen a more ridiculous kind of buffoonery. But, praise God, it is now clear to me that a person who forgets what he has said has not prayed well. In a good prayer one fully remembers every word and thought from the beginning to the end of the prayer.
So, a good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair and does not forget how far he has gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage in too much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely to cut his customer's mouth, nose, or even his throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one's senses and members, as the proverb says, "Pluribus intentus, minor est ad singula sensus"-"He who thinks of many things, thinks of nothing and does nothing right." How much more does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer!
This in short is the way I use the Lord's Prayer when I pray it. To this day I suckle at the Lord's Prayer like a child, and as an old man eat and drink from it and never get my fill. It is the very best prayer, even better than the psalter, which is so very dear to me. It is surely evident that a real master composed and taught it. What a great pity that the prayer of such a master is prattled and chattered so irreverently all over the world! How many pray the Lord's Prayer several thousand times in the course of a year, and if they were to keep on doing so for a thousand years they would not have tasted nor prayed one iota, one dot, of it! In a word, the Lord's Prayer is the greatest martyr on earth (as are the name and word of God). Everybody tortures and abuses it; few take comfort and joy in its proper use.