Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive......

26 August 2019

The ‘Our Father’ prayer is also called the ‘Lord’s prayer’ because it was given to the disciples in response to their request “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” Luke 11:1. The Lord’s prayer is regarded as the summary of the entire Gospel and the most perfect of prayers. As Saint Thomas Aquinas rightly summarised in his words “The Lord’s prayer is the most perfect of prayers. In it we ask, not only for the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.”

Today we look at one of the most significant part of this prayer. ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’....Here we begin by seeking pardon for our sins by humbly acknowledging our sins with remorse and seeking forgiveness from God. God our Father is merciful and will surely grant us pardon for our sins. But this petition of ours is followed by a very important part to it...a conditional part to it which is ‘AS we forgive those who sin against us’. This means that through this prayer Jesus taught us to seek forgiveness from God in the same measure of forgiveness that we have given our brothers and sisters who have sinned against us.

There is a relation between the two types of forgiveness, the one we seek and the one we give. This can be better understood from the new commandment that Jesus gave us “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” John 13:34. As disciples and followers of Jesus, we are called to obey this commandment. But it is impossible to imitate this commandment from the outside. It has to be followed from within the heart where we experience the mercy and love of God and our neighbour. Jesus teaches about this in the parable of the merciless servant where in the end of the parable there is a judgement on the slave who did not show mercy “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:33-35.

It is there, in the depths of the heart that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense done to us. But when we offer our heart to God, the Holy Spirit turns our injury into compassion and purifies our memory. Forgiveness is a high point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God’s compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Therefore forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of us with God and with one another. God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled to his brother. God is pleased only with prayers that make for peace and accord among His people and to Him, the better offering is peace, brotherly concord and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Therefore lack of forgiveness for sins committed against us by others also keeps us in a state of sin because we do not receive God’s forgiveness. And as in the parable, we too will perish in our sinful state in hell. Therefore when we pray, we must make sure our heart is cleansed of grudges or ill feelings for our brothers and sisters. When we do so and then pray ‘forgive us our sins AS we forgive’, our hearts can receive His grace and we too will not be condemned for our sins by our Father in heaven.

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church - 2838-2845