Lord’s Prayer Doxology
I've done some research on why we include the "long ending" to the Lord's Prayer. I'm writing an article about this and want to make sure I state things as "WELS accurate." :) Specifically, why don't Catholics include it and others do? I read one response that said at the time of the Reformation it was added so the Catholic church, not wanting to identify with Luther et al, made the decision to not include it when said during mass.
We find the Lord speaking the prayer that bears his name twice: in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:9-13) and on the occasion of his disciples asking for guidance on how to pray (Luke 11:2-4). The reality we face is that the original manuscripts of Matthew’s gospel and Luke’s gospel are not extant. That is the case with all original manuscripts of Bible books. We have copies and copies of the original manuscripts.
The copies of Luke’s gospel do not contain a doxology. Some copies of Matthew’s gospel contain a doxology, other copies do not. Consequently, we cannot say with certainty whether or not Jesus spoke the doxology.
In that regard, then, it is not a matter of right or wrong to speak or omit the doxology. Churches have freedom in which “version” they use. If Jesus did not speak the doxology, those words that are reminiscent of 1 Chronicles 29:10-11 could very well have been a liturgical addition by the early Christian church. Our Holy Communion liturgy from the 1941 hymnal reflected that when the pastor spoke the address and petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and the congregation sang the Doxology.
It is interesting to note that the Small and Large Catechisms that Martin Luther wrote contained the Lord’s Prayer without the Doxology. The Doxology was added to the Catechisms after Luther’s death. Also, when Luther revised the Mass, he included an instruction that “After the sermon shall follow a public paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer.” That paraphrase did not include a Doxology.
God’s blessings on your writing!