Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
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God’s Truth From The Catechism Of The Catholic Church – cont.
Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: "this day" is the Day of the Lord, the day
of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom
to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.
The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond
of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made
members of him, we may become what we receive. . . . This also is our daily bread: the
readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are
necessities for our pilgrimage.
131
The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven.
[Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the
Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes
the faithful each day with food from heaven.
132
V. "AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS
AGAINST US"
2838 This petition is astonishing. If it consisted only of the first phrase, "And forgive us our
trespasses," it might have been included, implicitly, in the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer,
since Christ's sacrifice is "that sins may be forgiven." But, according to the second phrase, our
petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement. Our petition looks to the
future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the single word "as."
And forgive us our trespasses . . .
2839 With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be
hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But
though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God.
Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize
that we are sinners before him.
133
Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and
his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
134
We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.
135
2840 Now - and this is daunting - this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as
we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is
indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do
see.
136
In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness
makes them impervious to the Father's merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are
opened to his grace.
2841 This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and which he
develops explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount.
137
This crucial requirement of the covenant mystery
is impossible for man. But "with God all things are possible."
138
. . . as we forgive those who trespass against us
2842 This "as" is not unique in Jesus' teaching: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect"; "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful"; "A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
139
It is
impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has
to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and
the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make "ours" the same mind that was in
Christ Jesus.
140
Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves "forgiving
one another, as God in Christ forgave" us.
141
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