CHAPTER XIV

OF THE FIFTH PETITION

AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE ALSO FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS

QUESTION I

From the Passion of Christ, Remission of all our Sins proceeded

Although the things which display the infinite power of God, combined with equal wisdom and goodness, are so numerous, that, turn our eyes and thoughts where we will, we meet with the most certain evidences of omnipotence and benignity; yet of a truth does nothing more eloquently proclaim his supreme love and admirable charity towards us, than the inexplicable mystery of the passion of Jesus Christ, whence sprang that perennial fountain to wash away the defilements of sin, in which, under the guidance and gift of God, we desire to be merged and purified, when we beg of him to forgive us our debts.

QUESTION II

What this Fifth Petition contains

This petition contains a sort of summary of those benefits, which have been accumulated on the human race through Jesus Christ, as was foretold by Isaiah: The iniquity of Jacob shall be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin. This is also the language of David, proclaiming those blessed, who could partake of that salutary fruit: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven. Wherefore a petition, which we perceive to be so important to salvation, is to be considered and explained by the pastor with accuracy and diligence.

QUESTION III

The Manner of Prayer here is different from that of the previous words

But now we enter on a new manner of praying, for hitherto we asked of God not only eternal and spiritual, but also transient and temporal blessings; but now we deprecate the evils of the soul and of the body, of this life and of the life everlasting.

QUESTION IV

Things required in him that seeketh to obtain Pardon for a Sin

Whereas, however, to obtain what we ask, we must pray as we ought, it appears expedient to explain the disposition wherewith this prayer should be offered to God. The pastors then will admonish the faithful people, that he who comes to offer this petition, must first acknowledge, and next feel sorrow and compunction for, his sins; and must feel firmly persuaded that to the sinner, when thus disposed, God is willing to extend pardon, a conviction necessary to the sinner, lest perchance the bitter remembrance and acknowledgment of his sins should be followed by despair of pardon, as was the case of old with Cain and Judas, both of whom held God to be solely an avenger and punisher of crime, and not also a God of clemency and mercy. In this petition, therefore, we should be so disposed, as that, acknowledging our sins in the bitterness of our souls, we may fly to God as to a father, not as a judge, imploring him to deal with us not according to his justice, but his mercy.

QUESTION V

Motives to lead Man to the Acknowledgment of his Sins

We shall be easily induced to acknowledge our sins, if we but listen to God himself admonishing us in the Scriptures of our sinfulness; for we read in David: They are all gone aside: they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no not one. Solomon speaks to the same effect: There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not; and to this subject apply also these words: Who can say: I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sins? St. John has written to the same effect, with a view to deter men from arrogance: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; and Jeremiah: Thou hast said, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. Their sentiments the same Christ our Lord, who spake by their mouth, confirms by this form of prayer, in which he commands us to confess our sins; for the Council of Milevis forbids to interpret it otherwise, in these words: It hath pleased the council, that whosoever will have it, that these words of the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our debts, are said by holy men in humility and not in truth, be anathema; for who can endure a person praying, and lying not to men but to God, saying with the lips that he desires to be forgiven, but with the heart, that he has no debts to be remitted.

QUESTION VI

In what manner after Sin is acknowledged, biting Grief and true Repentance are excited in the mind

But in the necessary acknowledgment of our sins, it is not enough that we lightly call them to mind: for the recollection of them must be bitter, must touch the heart, stimulate the mind, and brand us with sorrow. This point then pastors will treat with diligence, to the end that their hearers may not only recall to their recollection their sins and iniquities, but may also recall them with displeasure and sorrow; that, pained to their innermost senses, they may betake themselves unto God their Father, humbly imploring him to pluck from the soul the inherent stings of sin.

[The pastors] should not, however, be content themselves with placing before the eyes of the faithful the turpitude of sin: they should also depicture the unworthiness and degradation of us men, who, mere rottenness and corruption that we are, dare to outrage in a manner beyond all belief the incomprehensible majesty and ineffable excellence of God, particularly after having been created, redeemed, and enriched by him with countless and invaluable blessings.

QUESTION VII

In what manner we, through sin, deliver ourselves up to the most Disgraceful Servitude of the Devil

And why? that, estranged from God our Father, who is the supreme good, and lured by the most base rewards of sin, we may devote ourselves to the devil, to become his most wretched slaves. For language is inadequate to depict the cruel tyranny which he exercises over the minds of those who, having shaken off the sweet yoke of God, and broken the most lovely bond of charity, by which our spirit is bound to God our Father, have gone over to their relentless enemy, who is therefore called in Scripture the prince and ruler of the world, the prince of darkness, and king over all the children of pride; and to those who are the victims of the tyranny of the devil, apply with truth these words of Isaiah: O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us.

QUESTION VIII

What great evils Sin entails on the Mind

If we are unmoved at having violated this covenant of love, let our insensibility be excited at least by the calamities and miseries into which we fall through sin. It violates the sanctity of the soul, which we know is wedded unto Christ; profanes the temple of the Lord, against the contaminators of which the apostle utters this denunciation: If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. Innumerable are the evils that sin has brought upon man, which almost infinite pest David expressed in these words: There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger: neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. He marks the virulence of this bane, by confessing that it left no part of him uninfected; for the poison of sin entered even into his bones, that is to say, it infected his understanding and will, which are the two most solid faculties of the soul. This wide-spread pestilence the sacred Scriptures point out, when they designate sinners, the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the palsied. But, besides the anguish which he felt on account of the wickedness, as it were, of his sins, David was afflicted yet more by his knowledge of having provoked the wrath of God; for the wicked are at war with God, whom their crimes offend beyond relief: Wrath and indignation, saith the apostle, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil. For although the sinful act is transient, the sin by its guilt and stain remains; and the impending wrath of God pursues sin, as the shadow does the body.

QUESTION IX

How, having perceived the Calamity of our Sins, we ought to be turned unto Repentance

Pierced by these stings, David, was excited to seek pardon for his sins; and that the faithful, imitating his example, may learn to grieve, that is, to become truly penitent, and to cherish the hope of pardon, pastors will place before their eyes and impress upon their attention, the example of his penitential sorrow, and the lessons of instruction drawn from his fiftieth psalm. The importance of such instruction as teaches us to grieve for our sins, God himself declareth by the mouth of Jeremiah, who, when exhorting Israel to repentance, admonishes him to awake to a sense of the evils that flow from sin: Know, therefore, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. They who lack this necessary sense of acknowledgment and grief, are said by the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zachariah, to have a stout heart, a hard heart, a heart of adamant; for like stone they are softened by no sorrow, and are devoid of every principle of life, that is, of the salutary recognition of their own sinfulness.

QUESTION X

By what Meditation the Sinner is to be encouraged to hope for Pardon, after Acknowledgment and Detestation of his Sins

But lost, terrified by the grievousness of their crimes, the people despair of obtaining pardon, the pastor will animate them to hope by these considerations; that, as is declared in one of the articles of the Creed, Christ our Lord gave power to his Church to remit sins, and that in this petition he maketh known unto us the extent of God’s goodness and bounty towards us; for if God were not disposed and ready to pardon penitent sinners, never would he have prescribed to us this formula of prayer: Forgive us our debts. We should, therefore, be firmly convinced in mind, that, commanding us, as he does in this petition, to solicit, he will also bestow on us, his paternal mercy.

QUESTION XI

In what manner, if we repent, God easily pardoneth our Sins

For this petition implies, that God is so disposed towards us, as willingly to pardon us when truly penitent. For God it is against whom, having cast off obedience, we sin; the order of whose wisdom we disturb, as far as in us lies; whom we offend, whom we outrage by word and deed; but he also is our most beneficent Father, who, having it in his power to pardon all transgressions, not only declares his willingness to do so, but also urges us to seek pardon from him, and teacheth us in what words we are to do so. To no one, therefore, can it be matter of doubt, that, under his guidance, we have it in our power to conciliate the favour of God; and as this attestation of the divine willingness to pardon sin, increases faith, nurtures hope, and inflames charity, it will be worth while to amplify this subject, by citing some scriptural authorities to this effect, and by referring to the examples of individuals, whose repentance of the most grievous crimes God rewarded with pardon. As, however, in our exposition of the prefatory portion of this prayer, and of that part of the Creed which treats of the forgiveness of sins, we were as diffuse on the subject as circumstances allowed, pastors will revert to those places for whatever may seem pertinent for further instruction on this point, for the rest drawing on the fountains of the divine writings.

QUESTION XII

What in that part of the Petition is understood by the name “Debtors”

He will also pursue the same plan [of instruction] laid down by us in the other petitions, that the faithful may understand the meaning of the word debts in the present passage; lest perhaps, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, they may pray for something different from what should be prayed for. In the first place, then, we are to know, that in it we by no means pray for exemption from the debt we owe to God on so many accounts, the payment of which is essential to salvation, that of loving him with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole might; neither do we ask to be in future exempt from the duties of obedience, worship, veneration, or any other similar obligation, although comprised under the word debts; but we pray that he may deliver us from our sins. This is the interpretation of St. Luke, who, instead of debts, makes use of the word sins; for this reason, that by their commission we become responsible to God, and incur a debt of punishment, which we liquidate by satisfaction or by suffering. Of this nature was the debt of which Christ our Lord spoke by the mouth of his prophet: Then I restored that which I took not away. From which words of God we may infer, that we are not only debtors, but also unequal to the payment of our debt; the sinner being of himself utterly incapable of making satisfaction.

QUESTION XIII

Whence derive Means of Satisfying

We, therefore, must fly to the merey of God; and as justice, of which God is most tenacious, is an equal and corresponding attribute to mercy, we must have recourse to prayer, and to the advocacy of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, without which no one ever obtained pardon for sins, and from which, as from its source, have flown all the efficacy and virtue of satisfaction. For of such value is the price paid by Christ our Lord on the cross, and communicated to us through the sacraments received either actually or in desire, that it obtains and accomplishes for us the object of our prayer in this petition, namely, the remission of our sins.

QUESTION XIV

We here pray for Indulgence and Remission of Venial and Mortal Sins

Here we ask pardon not only for our venial offences, for which pardon may most easily be obtained, but also for grievous and mortal sins, of which the petition cannot procure forgiveness, unless it derive that efficacy from the sacrament of penance, received, as we have already said, either actually or in desire.

QUESTION XV

Meaning of “our” in this, different from that of “our” in the preceding Petition

The word our, we here use in a sense entirely different from that in which we said, our bread; for that bread is ours, because given unto us by the kindness of God; whereas the sins which we commit are ours, because with us rests the guilt thereof: they are our voluntary acts, otherwise they would not hare the character of sin. Sustaining, therefore, and confessing our sins, we implore the clemency of God, which is necessary for their expiation. In this we make use of no palliation of our guilt, nor do we transfer the blame to others, as did our first parents Adam and Eve: we point out ourselves, pouring out, if we are wise, the prayer of the prophet: Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works.

QUESTION XVI

Why each Person says, “Forgive us,” not “Forgive me”

Nor do we say, forgive me, but, forgive us: because the fraternal relationship and charity, which subsist between all men, demand of each of us, in our solicitude for the common salvation of all, when we pray for ourselves, to pray also for them. This manner of praying, delivered by Christ our Lord, and subsequently received and always retained by the Church of God, was most strictly observed and enforced by the apostles themselves; and of this ardent zeal and earnestness in praying for the salvation of others we have the splendid example of Moses in the Old, and of St. Paul in the New, Testament; the former of whom besought God in these words: Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin; and, if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written; and the latter said: I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren.

AS WE ALSO FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS

QUESTION XVII

How these words are to be understood

The word as may be understood in two ways; for when we beg of God to pardon us our sins, as we pardon the wrongs and contumelies which we receive at the hands of those by whom we have been injured, it has the force of a comparison. It is also the mark of a condition, and in this sense we find it interpreted by Christ our Lord: If, says he, ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Either sense, however, equally implies the necessity of forgiveness on our part intimating as it does, that if we desire to obtain from God the pardon of our offences, we must spare those from whom we have received injury. For such is the rigour with which God exacts from us oblivion of injuries, and mutual affection and love, that he rejects and despises the gifts and sacrifices of those who are not reconciled to one another.

QUESTION XVIII

The Remission of all Injuries is proved to be agreeable both to the Dictates of Nature and the Mandates of Christ

To conduct ourselves towards others, as we would have them conduct themselves towards us, is an obligation founded also upon the law of nature: how great, then, must be the insolence of him, who, whilst his breast is armed with enmity against his neighbour, demands of God to pass over the punishment due to his offences. Those, therefore, who have sustained injuries, should be prepared and prompt to pardon, urged to it as they are by this form of prayer, and also by the command of God in St. Luke: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him; and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him; and in the Gospel of St. Matthew we read: Love your enemies; and the apostle, and before him Solomon, said: If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; and we read in the evangelist St. Mark: When ye stand praying, forgive if ye have anything against any; that your Father also which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.

QUESTION XIX

By what Arguments the Minds of Men may be bent to the Lenity which God here demands

But, whereas, through the fault of depraved nature, there is nothing to which man brings himself more reluctantly than to the pardoning of injuries, pastors will exert all the powers and all the resources of their minds, to change and bend the dispositions of the faithful to this mildness and mercy necessary to a Christian. Let them dwell on those passages of the divine oracles, in which we hear God himself commanding us to pardon our enemies; and let them proclaim what is most true, that easily to forgive injuries, and to love their enemies from the heart, is a strong evidence of their being the children of God; for, in loving our enemies, there shines forth in us some likeness to God our Father, who, by the death of his Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition, and reconciled to himself, the human race, who before were his most inveterate enemies. Let the closing passage of this exhortation and injunction be the command of Christ our Lord, which we cannot, without utter disgrace and ruin, refuse to obey: Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.

QUESTION XX

How those should be dealt with, who are unable utterly to Obliterate all Injuries from their Minds

In this place, however, is required no ordinary prudence on the part of pastors, lest, knowing the difficulty and necessity of this precept, any one despair of salvation. For there are those who, aware that they ought to bury injuries in voluntary oblivion, and to love those that injured them, desire to do so, and do so as far as they are able, but feel that they cannot possibly efface from the mind all recollection of injuries. For there lurk in the mind some lingering grudges, in consequence of which they are agitated by the mighty waves of a troubled conscience, fearing lest, not having simply and sincerely laid aside their enmities, they are guilty of disobedience to the command of God. Here, therefore, pastors will explain the opposite inclinings of the flesh and of the spirit, the one being prone to revenge, the other ready to pardon; from which contrariety arise between them continued struggles and conflicts. He will therefore show that, if the appetites of corrupt nature are ever reclaiming against and opposed to reason, we are not to yield to misgivings regarding salvation, provided the spirit persevere in the duty and disposition of forgiving injuries, and of loving our neighbour.

QUESTION XXI

Those who still Retain the Desire of Revenge, may make use of this Prayer without Sin

Some perhaps there may be, who, because they have not yet succeeded in bringing themselves to forget injuries and love their enemies, are therefore deterred by the condition contained in this petition, as already explained, from making use of the Lord’s Prayer. To remove from their minds this pernicious error, pastors will adduce the two following considerations: first, that whosoever belongs to the number of the faithful offers this prayer in the name of the entire Church, which must necessarily contain within it some pious persons, who have forgiven their debtors the debts here mentioned; and, secondly, that when we offer this prayer to God, we also pray for whatever co-operation with the petition is necessary on our part in order to obtain the object of our prayer. For we pray for the pardon of our sins and the gift of true repentance: we pray for a feeling of inward sorrow: we pray for a horror of our sins, and that we may be able to confess them truly and piously to the priest. As then it is also necessary for us to forgive those who inflicted on us any loss or injury, when we ask pardon of God, we also beg of him to grant us grace to be reconciled to those against whom we harbour hatred. Those, therefore, who are agitated by the groundless and depraved apprehension, that to utter this prayer would be to provoke the wrath of God still more, are to be deterred from such an opinion; and are, on the contrary, to be also exhorted to the frequent use of prayer, in which they should beseech God our Father to grant them the disposition to forgive those who have injured them, and to love their enemies.

QUESTION XXII

What is to be done in order to render our Prayer for the Remission of Sins efficacious

But that our prayer may be really fruitful, we should first seriously reflect and consider that we are suppliants to God, soliciting from him pardon, which is not granted but to the penitent; that we should therefore be endued with the charity and piety that become penitents; and that it becomes them in an especial manner to keep, as it were before their eyes, their own crimes and enormities, and to expiate them with tears. With this consideration should be united circumspection in guarding for the future against the occasions of sinning; and against whatever may possibly expose us to the danger of offending God our Father. Under these precautions David suffered, when he said: My sin is always before me; and in another place: All night make I my bed to swim: I water my couch with my tears. Let each one also propose to himself the most ardent love of prayer, with which they were animated who obtained from God the pardon of their sins; such as that of the publican, who, standing afar off through shame and grief, and with eyes fixed on the ground, smote his breast, crying, God be merciful to me a sinner; and also of the woman, a sinner, who, standing behind Christ our Lord, and having washed his feet and wiped them with her hair, kissed them; and, lastly, of Peter the prince of the apostles, who, going out, wept bitterly.

QUESTION XXIII

What are the Chief Remedies to Heal the Wounds of the Soul

It should next be considered, that the weaker men are, and the more liable to diseases of the mind, the greater the necessity they are under of having recourse to numerous and frequent remedies. The remedies of a sickening soul are penance and the eucharist; and to these, therefore, the faithful people should have frequent recourse. Almsdeeds also, as the sacred Scriptures declare, are an efficacious remedy for healing the wounds of the soul; and those, therefore, who desire to offer up this prayer piously, should act kindly to the poor according to their means; for, of the great efficacy of alms in effacing the stains of sin, we have in Tobit the testimony of holy Raphael, the angel of the Lord, who says: Alms deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin; those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life. We have also that of Daniel, who thus admonished king Nebuchodonosor: Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. But a most excellent species of benefaction, and exercise of mercy, is forgetfulness of injuries, and good-will towards those who injure us or ours, in person, property, or character. Whosoever therefore desires to experience in an especial manner the mercy of God, should make an offering to God of all his enmities, remit every offence, and pray for his enemies with the best good-will, seizing every opportunity of deserving well of them also. This, however, is a subject which was explained when we treated of murder; and we therefore refer pastors to that exposition. They will, however, conclude what they have to say on this petition with the reflection, that nothing is, or can be conceived, more unjust, than that he, who is so rigorous towards his fellow-man as to extend indulgence to no one, should demand of God to be mild and benignant towards himself.