"Our Father who art in Heaven..."
Last week Pope Francis set the religious world abuzz by commenting that he didn't like the traditional phrasing for the Lord's Prayer, known in Catholic circles as the "Our Father." He took issue with the phrase "lead us not into temptation." He strongly preferred a new adaptation of the prayer adopted by French bishops that reads, “et ne nous laisse pas entrer in tentation.” This translates into English as "let us not enter temptation." The Pope's comments about what is certainly the most famous prayer recorded in scripture center on what is implied in the version that most of us recite in our worship services each week. If we pray "lead us not into temptation," does that not imply that God can and does at times lead us into temptation? Pope Francis' strong preference for the new version adopted for use in French churches results from its use of more passive wording, removing the thorny question of whether God does in fac