This is a translation of a scriptural meditation from the Russian book, “Day by Day”. Lewis’s thoughts follow:
"Scripture: “Hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come” (Luke: 11, 2)
"Meditation:
"Your name, the name of my Heavenly Father, I will venerate and keep holy above all names. If I have desecrated or tarnished my name, I can wash it in the name of my Father. Rejoice not in your deeds, not in your service, not in your power over the evil spirit, but in that “your names are written in Heaven” (Luke: 10, 20).
"Christ alone could teach us to pray, and only through Him we have peace with God and “have gained access to this grace in which we now stand and rejoice in the glory of God (Rom: 5, 1-2).
"My Lord! Your name is Truth, Love, Justice, Purity, Wisdom, Mercy, Holiness, Humility, Meekness – everything that is great, bright and good. Hallowed be Your name in my soul, my heart, my mind, my life and my lips, and may it be the source of holiness which sanctifies me and to which I dedicate myself!
"May this holiness never be reviled or desecrated by anything, and may it never be separated from me!
"May Thy Kingdom come!
“In this corrupt world where we struggle against sin, passions, with ourselves, with the world of evil and temptation, where there is so much noise, emptiness, lies, impurity and suffering, where evil reigns, we call upon the Lord in the hope of His coming and His Kingdom. We pray that evil will be defeated, that the truth of God will reign, that every tear will be wiped away, that there will be no death, and that we will also come, like the repentant thief, to His feet, and be all united in brotherly love at the Altar of His glory in His Kingdom. Lord, hear our prayer, and may Your Kingdom come into our souls, changing, washing and renewing them completely.”
Lewis’s thoughts on the above two phrases from The Lord’s Prayer are found in Letters to Malcolm:
Letter III: [concerning "Hallowed be Thy name]:
“…while Christendom is divided about the rationality, and even the lawfulness, of praying to the saints, we are all agreed about praying with them. ‘With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.’ [this is from the Hymn of Praise to conclude the “Proper Prefaces”, i.e. prayers immediately preceding the Communion, in the Book of Common Prayer]. Will you believe it? It is only quite recently I made that quotation a part of my private prayers – I festoon it round ‘hallowed be They name.’…And I have found this quotation a great enrichment. One always accepted this with theoretically. But it is quite different when one brings it into consciousness at an appropriate moment and wills the association of one’s own little twitter with the voice of the great saints and (we hope) of our own dear dead.”
Letter V:
" ‘Thy kingdom come’. That is, may your reign be realized here, as it is realized there. But I tend to take ‘there’ on three levels. First, as in the sinless world beyond the horrors of animal and human life; in the behavior of stars and trees and water, in sunrise and wind. May there be “here” (in my heart) the beginning of a like beauty. Secondly, as in the best human lives I have known: in all the people who really bear the burdens and ring true, and in the quiet, busy, ordered life of really good families and really good religious houses. May that too be ‘here’. Finally, of course, in the usual sense: as in Heaven, as among the blessed dead.
“And ‘here’ can of course be taken not only as ‘in my heart’, but as ‘in this college’ – in England --in the world in general.”
Dimitry
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)