Christ Himself taught us in prayer
Call God our Father, and so I dare
Claim kinship I’d not else presume,
Sin-soiled from my mother’s womb.
But then He urged us further pray
Words that I’m afraid to say.
When I ask Thy will be done
I think of Abraham and his son
And Jesus in His agony.
Might God will as much of me?
Forgive our debts as we forgive
I fear to ask when I let live
Resentment for remembered slight;
Do I waive mercy by this blight?
And yet I pray, and add this plea:
Thy Kingdom reign today in me.
—James F. O’Callaghan
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
A Culture of Parricide
I learned a new word the other day: déploration. It’s the French, directly from the Latin, for “lament.”…
The Chariot Burials
Wheeling through the clotted earth, / Bronze, bone, and leather clumped in clay...
William of St. Thierry
“Where love and understanding join, hearts are tranquil, / They rise above the turmoil of this world…
