Cathedral Homilies

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions like the hypocrites; for they think that by much speaking they will be heard. Do not, therefore, be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Thus, therefore, pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us the bread of our need this day. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not be of sad countenance like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that they may be seen by others as fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, wash your face and anoint your head, so that you may not be seen by others as fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in you is darkness, how great will your darkness be!