I see you have rightly turned your soul toward the Father with the very words our Lord taught us. You do well to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, for this is the order He Himself established: the honor of God's name, the coming of His reign, the doing of His will on earth as in heaven, these stand before the bread, before the forgiveness, before deliverance from temptation. And mark what follows: He did not bid us say "My Father," but "Our Father." Even in the opening word, He knits us together in love, teaching us to pray as one body and to hold nothing against our neighbor. How can you call God your Father if you will not acknowledge your brother? For if you refuse to forgive, you choke off the very mercy you ask.
The kingdom has already come near to you. Consider the gift: He has rescued us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Not simply delivered, as though we were captives set at the door and left to wander, but translated, conveyed into the place where the Son reigns. And this translation, this full redemption, is nothing other than the forgiveness of sins. Had our sins not been blotted out, we could never set foot in that kingdom. So when you pray "Thy kingdom come," you both ask for the consummation of all things and recall the grace already given in baptism, where the stain was washed away and the Spirit of adoption poured into your heart. Rejoice in that, but walk worthy of it.
Now mark this also, lest you grow careless. Some say within themselves, "I will sin freely now, and at the end call upon God and receive baptism and be clean." I have seen many who held such hope depart empty, for the Washing was given to do away sins, not to increase them. The man who uses the promise of mercy as a license to sin makes of the healing medicine a poison. Therefore, while you give thanks and seek the kingdom, do not neglect the daily work of cleansing: forgive every trespass against you, give alms to the poor, humble your soul in confession, and condemn yourself before God. These things wipe off the filth that clings from our daily stumbling. The publican went down justified merely by smiting his breast and saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner." How much more shall you obtain lovingkindness if you live in such humility every day.
You have placed your trust in the Father's provision, "Give us our daily bread." Rightly so, for the whole of our sustenance is from Him. But let your soul hunger first for the bread that does not perish. Christ bore our sins as the Oblation, presenting them not for condemnation but for forgiveness. He took them from us and bore them to the Father, sanctifying Himself for our sakes. Therefore when you ask for bread, ask also that you may be fed by His word and knit more closely to Him. The Father who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Yet these things are added only when the kingdom remains the first and chief desire.
Do not be troubled when you see the wicked prosper or the righteous suffer. Job himself stumbled on this very thing, supposing he had no sin, seeing no cause for his afflictions, and hearing his friends accuse him falsely. Yet God was drawing him from self-trust to a firmer hope. If you endure hardship, cling the more tightly to the promise that the kingdom belongs to those who love Him. The things seen are temporary; the things not seen are eternal. So let your prayer continue in this shape: first the things of God, then the things of man, but always with a soul emptied of malice and filled with compassion.
Therefore continue as you have begun. Let this prayer be the pattern of your whole life, not only of your lips. Forgive from the heart, give to those in need, walk humbly before your God, and you will find that you are already a citizen of that kingdom which shall have no end. May you obtain the blessings promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever.