Justice, Peace, Integrity<br /> of Creation
Justice, Peace, Integrity<br /> of Creation
Justice, Peace, Integrity<br /> of Creation
Justice, Peace, Integrity<br /> of Creation
Justice, Peace, Integrity<br /> of Creation

The Our Father, between Scandal and Peace

Butembo 01.01.2026 Erasmo di Rotterdam Translated by: Jpic-jp.org

A man, in his time, caused a great scandal, solely because he sought to establish peace by bringing together the two conflicting parties: his name is Erasmus of Rotterdam. He was a man of peace and, as a man of peace, a balanced man, yet so devoted to peace that he dared a language which, at times, is certainly not “pacifist.” In this way, he reworked the “Lord’s Prayer” for the soldier, which he inserts within his writing “Lamentation of Peace.” The prayer has been taken up, with variations, in different publications.

How can a soldier recite the Lord’s Prayer in battlefield liturgies? O reckless man!
You call God Father while you place the knife at your brother’s throat.

Hallowed be thy name. What greater filth can be thrown upon God’s name than that of fratricidal strife?

Thy kingdom come. And you, while invoking it, build your dominion upon rivers of blood.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God wills peace; yet you prepare for war.

Give us this day our daily bread. And yet you burn your brothers’ harvests, preferring ruin to shared benefit.

Forgive us our debts. How dare you speak these words while preparing to kill your brother?

Lead us not into temptation. Yet you lay snares for your brother, endangering your own life.

Deliver us from evil. But you yourself are the author of evil against your brothers.

Photo. Sudanese fleeing Darfur

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