Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

A reader sent this verse from Proverbs in after I said that I had prayed that donations be “not too much and not too little”.  Note the direct correlations to the Lord’s Prayer:

Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life: Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say: Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and forswear the name of my God.
Proverbs 30: 8-9

The Latin uses the word “victui”, or in English, “victuals”, meaning food, in the phrase “give me only the necessaries of life”.

…tribue tantum victui meo necessaria.

Or, perhaps, “give me only the victuals that I need.”

You all know the word “victuals” if you ever watched “The Beverly Hillbillies”.  The Clampett’s were constantly talking about “vittles”, meaning food, right?  In fact, here is a propaganda piece for the processed food industry done in ARSH 1963 by the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies:

http://youtu.be/B_irZudsi8I

The SPELLING of the word as “Vittles” is a corruption, but the PRONUNCIATION is NOT.  The word “victuals” is NOT pronounced “VICK-shu-als”.  No, the proper pronunciation of the word “victuals” is in fact “VITT-uls”, just as the Clampett’s (and Miss Jane) correctly say it.  Interesting, no?

So, the proverb says, “give me only the food (victuals) that I need…” which is darn close to “give us this day our daily bread”, which is a reference to the True Food that comes down from Heaven at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist, and certainly also to the virtue of temperance – not too much and not too little.  Moderation.  Just what we need and no more, lest we go off the deep end… in either direction.