The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 4: Amen
AMEN.
THIS word " Amen," St. Jerome, in his commentary on St. Matthew, calls what it really is, " the seal of the Lord's prayer." [1] As then we have already admonished the faithful with regard to the preparation to be made before holy prayer, so we deem it necessary that they should know, why we close our prayers with this word, and also what it signifies: devotion in concluding does not yield in importance to attention in beginning, our prayers to God. The faithful, then, are to know that the fruits, which we gather from the conclusion of the Lord's prayer, are numerous and abundant; and of these, the richest is the attainment of the objects of our prayer, a matter on which we have already been sufficiently diffuse. By this concluding word, not only do we obtain a propitious hearing from God, but also receive other blessings of a higher order still, the excellence of which surpasses all powers of description. By prayer, as St. Cyprian observes, we commune with God; and thus the divine Majesty is, after an inexplicable manner, brought nearer to those who are engaged in prayer than to others, and enriches them with peculiar gifts. Those, therefore, who pray devoutly, may not be inaptly compared to persons who approach a glowing fire: if cold, they derive warmth; if warm, they derive heat, from its intensity. Thus, also, those who approach God in prayer depart with a warmth and ardour proportioned to their faith and fervour: the heart is inflamed with zeal for the glory of God: the mind is illumined after an admirable manner; and the soul is enriched exceedingly with a plenteous effusion of divine grace, as it is writ ten, "Thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness." [2] Of these astonishing effects of prayer, Moses affords an illustrious example; by intercourse and converse with God, Moses shone with the reflected splendours of the Divinity, so that the Israelites could not look upon his eyes or countenance. [3]
Those who pray with such fervour enjoy, in an admirable manner, the benignity and majesty of God: "In the morning," says the prophet, " I will stand before thee and will see; because thou art not a God that wiliest iniquity." [4] The more familiar these truths are to the mind, the more piously do we venerate, and the more fervently do we worship God, and the more delightfully do we taste, "how sweet is the Lord, and how blessed is the man that hopeth in him." [5] Encircled by light from above, then do we also discover our own lowliness, and how exalted is the majesty of God: "Give me," says St. Augustine, "to know thee; give me to know-myself." Distrusting our own strength, we thus throw ourselves unreservedly upon the goodness of God, not doubting that he, who cherishes us in the bosom of his paternal love, will afford us in abundance whatever is necessary to the support of life and the attainment of salvation. Thus do our hearts beat with warmest gratitude to God, and our lips, in accents of rapturous devotion, speak his praise; following the example of David, who commenced by praying; " Save me from all them that persecute me;" and concluded with these words: " I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice; and will sing to the name of the Lord the Most High." [6]
There are extant innumerable prayers of the saints, which breathe the same spirit, beginning with sentiments of reverential fear, and ending with consolatory and joyous hope. This breathe spirit, however, is eminently conspicuous in the Psalms of David. Agitated by fear, he says: " Many are they who rise up against me: many say to my soul, there is no salvation for him in his God;" but at length, armed with fortitude, and filled with holy joy, he adds: "I will not fear thousands of the people surrounding me." [7] In another Psalm, after he had lamented his misery, reposing confidence in God, and rejoicing exceed ingly in the hope of salvation, he says: " In peace in the self same, I will sleep, and I will rest." [8] Again, with what terror must he not have been agitated when he exclaimed: " O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath;" yet, on the other hand, what confidence and joy must not have beamed upon him when he added: " Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." [9] When filled with dread of the divine wrath, with what lowliness and humility does he not implore the divine assistance: " Save me, O Lord, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength;" [10] and yet, in the same psalm he adds these words of joy and confidence; " Behold, God is my help; and the Lord is the helper of my soul." Let him, therefore, who has recourse to holy prayer approach God his Father, fortified by faith and animated by hope, not despairing to obtain, through the divine mercy, those blessings of which he stands in need.
The word " amen," with which the Lord's prayer concludes, contains, as it were, the germs of many of those reasons and reflections which we have already evolved. Indeed, so frequent was this Hebrew word in the mouth of the Saviour, that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have it still retained in the Church of God. Its meaning may be said to be: "know that thy prayers are heard;" it is in substance, as if God condescended to return an answer to the supplicant, and graciously dismissed him, after having heard his prayers with a propitious ear. This interpretation has been approved by the constant usage of the Church of God: in the sacrifice of the Mass, when the Lord's prayer is said, she does not assign the word "amen," to the assistant, who answers, "but deliver us from evil:" she reserves it as appropriate to the Priest himself, who, in quality of interpreter between God and man, answers "amen," thus intimating that God has heard the prayers of his people. This practice, however, is not common to all prayers, but is peculiar to the Lord's prayer. In every other instance the assistant answers "amen;" because, in every other, it only expresses the acquiescence of the people, and the community of their desires and prayers; in this it is an answer, intimating that God has heard the petition of his supplicant.
The word "amen," by many interpreted differently.By many, the word "amen" is differently interpreted: the Septuagint interprets it, "so be it:" others translate it, "verily," or "truly;" Aquila renders it, "faithfully." Which of these versions we adopt, is a matter of little importance, provided we understand it to have the force already mentioned, that of the Pastor confirming the concession of what has been prayed for; an interpretation to which the Apostle lends the weight of his authority in his Epistle to the Corinthians; where he says: "All the promises of God are in him it is;[11] therefore also by him, amen to God, unto our glory."
It fixes attention, and enlivens hope.To us also this word is very appropriate, containing, as it does, some confirmation of the petitions which we have already presented at the throne of God, and fixing our attention when engaged in holy prayer; for it not unfrequently happens that, in prayer, a variety of distracting thoughts divert the mind to other objects. Nay, more, by this word we most earnestly beg of God that all our preceding petitions may be granted, or rather, understanding that they have been all granted, and feeling the divine assistance powerfully present with us, we cry out in the inspired words of the prophet: "Behold God is my helper; and the Lord is the protection of my soul;"[12] nor can we for a moment doubt, that God is moved by the name of his Son, and by a word so often uttered by the divine lips of him, "who," as the Apostle says, "was always heard for his reverence."[13]
THE END.
- ↑ In Matt. vi. 6.
- ↑ Ps. xx. 4.
- ↑ Exod. xxxiv. 35. 2 Cor. iii. 13,
- ↑ Ps. v. 5.
- ↑ Ps. xxxiii. 9.
- ↑ Ps. vii. 3-18.
- ↑ Ps . iii. 3. 7
- ↑ Ps. iv. 9.
- ↑ Ps. vi. 2. 9.
- ↑ Ps. 53. 3.
- ↑ 2 Cor. i. 20. εν αυτω το ναι, in ipso, scilicet Christo, sunt est, that is to say, are ratified in Christ.—T.
- ↑ Ps. liii. 6.
- ↑ Heb. v. 7.