Day 364: Deliver Us From Evil

When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." CCC 2854

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the final petitions of the Lord's Prayer in asking God to spare us from the evils of Satan, the Great Deceiver. In this, we ask for the grace to resist evil and persevere, for "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one" (Jas 1:13).

The Catechism Compendium summarizes what “Lead us not into temptation” means and why we conclude by asking “But deliver us from evil”:

We ask God our Father not to leave us alone and in the power of temptation. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us know how to discern, on the one hand, between a trial that makes us grow in goodness and a temptation that leads to sin and death, and, on the other hand, between being tempted and consenting to temptation. This petition unites us to Jesus, who overcame temptation by his prayer. It requests the grace of vigilance and of final perseverance. “Evil” indicates the person of Satan who opposes God and is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12:9). Victory over the devil has already been won by Christ. We pray, however, that the human family be freed from Satan and his works. We also ask for the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance as we wait for the coming of Christ, who will free us definitively from the Evil One. (#596-97)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

This petition seeks the Spirit of discernment and strength. If we are not challenged, we cannot grow. We have to face some kind of opposition in order to become stronger... God wants us to freely choose the good... It is good to pray daily for the grace of final perseverance - the grace to say yes to God with our last breath. The petition "Deliver us from evil" refers not only to avoiding temptation but also to being delivered from the Evil One, Satan. Jesus defeated the Devil when he died and rose again. (p. 244)

Tomorrow is the last day in this program. I'm going to add one more day after that for my final thoughts on this journey.