Devotional for Holy Saturday

Metal cross with chain

And he said to them, When ye pray, say ye, Father [Father ours], hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come to; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give to us to day our each day's bread. And forgive to us our sins, as [and] we forgive to each man that oweth to us [as and we forgive to each owing to us]. And lead us not into temptation.

—  Luke 11:2-4 (Wycliffe Bible)

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We need to use words (when we pray) so that we may remind ourselves to consider carefully what we are asking, not so that we may think we can instruct the Lord or prevail on him. 

When we say: "Hallowed be your name," we are reminding ourselves to desire that his name, which in fact is always holy, should also be considered holy among men.     … But this is a help for men, not for God. 

...And as for our saying: "Your kingdom come," it will surely come whether we will it or not. But we are stirring up our desires for the kingdom so that it can come to us and we can deserve to reign there.

 ...When we say: "Deliver us from evil," we are reminding ourselves to reflect on the fact that we do not yet enjoy the state of blessedness in which we shall suffer no evil. ...It was very appropriate that all these truths should be entrusted to us to  remember in these very words. 

Whatever be the other words we may prefer to say (words which the one praying chooses so that his disposition may become clearer to himself or which he simply adopts so that his disposition may be intensified), we say nothing that is not contained in the Lord’s Prayer, provided of course we are praying in a correct and proper way.

St. Augustine of Hippo

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Luke in 40 Days: Luke 24:28-53