This summer I found a beautiful translation of the Our Father prayer and shared it with my Rosary Circle. We soon adopted it into our rosary practice, using it for the first Pater (Our Father) bead. This translation is from the original Aramaic and was done by Neil Douglas-Klotz, who is a religious studies, spirituality, and psychology scholar, and Co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion.
I might be free-range but like most people, I fall into the pattern of assuming that prayers are as they are written or as how I originally learned them, period. I forget that most old prayers are translations from ancient languages as well as a time period we will never fully understand.
The Our Father prayer is used in many Christian denominations and varies very little from church to church. The discovery of an alternate translation of this old prayer was a stunningly beautiful gift. It reads like a Rumi or Hafiz poem and while I still get a sense of the prayer from my childhood, this one feels so expansive and exquisite.
Here is the translation of the Our Father prayer. Links to more information and Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book of translations at the bottom of the page.
O Thou! The Breathing Life of all, Creator of the Shimmering Sound that touches us.
Help us breathe one holy breath feeling only you –this creates a shrine inside, in wholeness.
Desire with and through us the rule of universal fruitfulness onto the earth.
Create in me a divine cooperation-from many selves, one voice, one action.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight; substance for the call of growing life.
Erase the inner marks our failures make, just as we scrub our hearts of others’ faults.
Deceived neither by the outer nor the inner – free us to walk your path with joy.
From you is born all ruling will, the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all – from age to age it renews.
This Medium.com article is how I originally came across this translation. It has some interesting information about the original Aramaic. https://medium.com/change-your-mind/the-mystical-poetry-of-the-lords-prayer-in-its-original-aramaic-34b6a37ec56
Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz https://www.amazon.com/Prayers-Cosmos-Meditations-Aramaic-Words/dp/0060619953
Free Range Priestess 
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