20120618 Catholics recite daily prayers 每天誦唸的經文
The Our Father and the Hail Mary are basic prayers which every Catholic should know by heart and recite daily.
Our Father
The Our Father is the prayer that Jesus taught us, and it is the pattern of all our prayers. St. Augustine said, “If we pray rightly and fittingly, we can say nothing else but what is contained in this prayer of Our Lord”.
St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that in the Our Father we ask what we ought to desire in the right order. Hence, this prayer, “not only teaches us to ask, but also directs all our affections”. The seven petitions of the Our Father remind us of our end and the means directed to the end.
In the first two petitions of the Our Father, we expressed that our end is God. St. Thomas pointed out that our affections tend to God in two ways: first, by our willing the glory of God (love God in Himself), secondly, by willing to enjoy His glory (love ourselves in God). We express the first way by praying, “Hallowed by Thy name”, and we express the second way by praying, “Thy kingdom come”, by which we ask to come to the glory of His kingdom.
The Catechism of Catholic Doctrine states: “In this one phrase [Thy Kingdom come] we pray for three great graces: for the spread of the Church, for our own increase in grace, for our own entry into Heaven.”
In the next two petitions, we pray for the means to attain our end. A means can be useful in two ways: directly (principally) or instrumentally. We are directed to beatitude directly by obeying God, and hence we pray, “Thy will be done”. And we are directed to beatitude instrumentally by “our daily bread”, which help us to obey God. According to St. Thomas, “our daily bread” can mean both the sacramental Bread (the chief Sacrament) and the bread of the body (the chief food). The petition, “Give us this day our daily bread” is at the center of the Our Father, and saying this prayer at Mass reminds us that Jesus Himself is our daily Bread.
In the last three petitions of the Our Father, we pray for the removal of obstacles to our attainment of beatitude. These obstacles are sin, temptation, and evil. In the last three petitions, we ask God to forgive our sins, to protect us from being conquered by temptation, and deliver us from the present penal state.
Hail Mary
The Hail Mary is the principle prayer used by the faithful to honor Our Lady. This prayer is divided into two parts. The first part of the Hail Mary is a prayer of praise. It is composed of the words of the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28) and the words of St. Elizabeth (Luke 1:42).
Our Lady is full of grace, for she was conceived without sin, and at the Annunciation she was already the most holy and exalted of all creatures, possessed of all graces and gifts of God.
Mary is more closely united with God in love and power than other people of good will. She is blessed among women, for only she is the Mother of God; she alone is a mother while remaining a virgin. She is blessed because of her Son, Jesus.
The second part of the Hail Mary is a prayer of petition, composed by the Church. In it we entreat Mary’s intercession.
“It is better to say one Our Father fervently and devoutly than a thousand with no devotion and full of distraction.” — St. Edmund
「天主經」和「聖母經」均是教會內信眾非常熟悉的經文，也是每日都應誦唸的。
「天主經」
「天主經」是耶穌親授的禱文，是教會一總禱文的藍本。聖奧斯定說：「如果我們祈禱正確和恰當，我們不可以祈求別的，但只能祈求那已包含在這遍主的禱文內的事。」
聖多瑪斯指出: 「天主經」內的七個祈求教導我們去渴望我們應渴望的事物，並按照正確的次序去渴望。最先的兩個祈求指向人生的目標—愛主愛人。我們首先為愛天主而渴望祂的光榮 –––– 在主內愛主；因此我們祈求: 『願祢的名受顯揚』。接着我們為了愛自己和近人而祈求享受祂的榮耀 –––– 在主內愛自己和眾人: 『願祢的國來臨』。」
「要理問答」指出，我們在『願祢的國來臨』一句中求三樣恩典: 「一、求天主賞賜聖教會廣揚, 二、求天主賞賜我們聖寵, 三、求天主賞賜我們升天堂。」
為達到上述所求的目標, 我們有正面的方法，也有副面的方法。正面的方法就是那些引導我們達到目標的「善」。為達致「愛主愛人」，最直接的方法就是承行天主的旨意: 『願祢的旨意奉行在人間，如同在天上』。我們盼望能像天上的天使般服從天主的誡命和旨意。但要承行主旨，我們需要天主賜的力量；因此，達致「愛主愛人」的間接方法就是從天主得到日用糧: 『求祢今天賞給我們日用的食糧』。麵包是人肉體的日用糧，而基督聖體則是人精神上的日用糧。
副面的方法為我們除去達致目標的障礙。「愛主愛人」的最大障礙是罪惡。我們因此祈求: 『求你寬恕我們的罪過，如同我們寬恕別人一樣』。罪惡是因誘惑而來的，因而我們接着求：『不要讓我們陷於誘惑』。我們求天主不要讓我們被誘惑所征服。最後，目前的刑罰狀態也是達致完滿生活一種障礙。因此，我們祈求: 『但救我們免於凶惡』。
「聖母經」
「聖母經」是教會內為尊敬聖母及向她祈求時，主要常用的禱文。
此禱文分為兩部份。第一部份是讚美的祈禱—-節錄嘉俾厄爾大天使讚美聖母的語句（路加福音1:28）、和聖婦依撒伯爾因聖神默啟而回應聖母問安的話（路加福音1:42）。
聖母始胎無玷，因此充滿天主的聖寵與祝福。她領報時，在所有受造物中，已經是至聖善和堪受讚美的。聖母與天主在愛和德能中的緊密結合超越一切聖賢。因她貴為耶穌之親母 –––– 天主之母，無疑地她是在所有婦女中，最蒙受祝福與讚美；唯獨她是母親又是貞女。
「聖母經」第二部份是求恩的祈禱—–由聖教會所編撰，向聖母尋求代禱之恩。
「熱切誠心地誦唸一遍『天主經』，勝過千遍無心口璜式的誦唸。」–––– 聖鄂滿。