Some time ago my mind was drawn to a connection between this passage from James and the Lord’s Prayer.
James 2:14–24 (ESV):
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! . . . You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Particularly this portion: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
Now the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[For thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory,
for ever and ever]
Amen.
Notice we ask for bread before we ask for forgiveness.
I think this is because it is hard to hear the Gospel over the rumbling of an empty stomach.
Buen Camino,
Fr Steve