"Be on guard!"

In response to Our Lord's warning we pray, as He teaches in the text of the Our Father: "deliver us from the Evil One". It is in the spirit of watchfulness that we are "on guard" against temptation and worldly anxiety.

"This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to 'lead' us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both 'do not allow us to enter into temptation' and 'do not let us yield to temptation.'

"'God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one'; on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle 'between flesh and spirit'; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength."

-- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2846.

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the First Sunday of Advent.

(Photo of Halaberdiere Stefano del Croce, Pontifical Swiss Gaurd, at the Porta delle Campane, Basilica of Saint Peter's, Vatican City State, by Donald L. Richardson.)