“Forgive Us Our Debts”
1. When we have asked God for nourishment for soul and body, we go on
to implore forgiveness for our debts, whether they have been contracted
in the course of nature, or of grace, or of sin. We owe everything to
God. There was a time when we did not exist, and in His divine
omnipotence He created us from nothing. Our bodily powers and spiritual
faculties are His gifts to us. If we
enjoy health, it is He Who has given it to us. If we have any ability,
it comes from Him. Anything which we have been able to achieve as the
result of mental or manual labour has been made possible by His help.
Who is it but God Who rescues us from the many perils which surround
us? Who but He enables us to overcome so many difficulties? How many
times we should have died if He had not sustained us!
Let us
think back over our past lives. How much reason we have to be grateful
to God, Who has watched over us continually like a loving Father. The
conservation of life is a continuous act of creation. When we recite the
Pater Noster, therefore, we should express our filial gratitude to God
and ask for His continued protection. Every moment of life is a new gift
of God and an act of His infinite love in our regard. Let us be
grateful and love Him generously in return.
2. Over and above
these natural debts, we are also indebted to God for His grace. Not only
has God created us, but He has also raised us to the supernatural
order. By His grace He has made us His friends and His adopted children.
As a result of original sin we lost this supernatural life and were
unable to regain it by our own efforts.
God was moved with
compassion for us, however, and sent His own divine Son to sacrifice
Himself for love of us in order to redeem us and to restore to us the
supernatural life of the soul. We are greatly indebted in the
supernatural order, therefore, to our Creator and our Redeemer. The only
way in which we can adequately satisfy our obligation is by offering up
the infinite merits of Jesus Christ.
We have been born,
moreover, in the Catholic Church and have received a Christian
education. God has always been close to us with His Sacraments. By means
of Baptism He caused us to be born again to a life of grace. Whenever
we fell, He raised us up again through the Sacrament of Penance, and
when we were weak and faltering He nourished us with His Eucharistic
food. Let us adore Him and acknowledge that we can never thank Him
enough for all that He has done for us. That is why we need to repeat
time and time again: Forgive us our debts.
3. Finally, we owe
God a great deal on account of our sins. Unfortunately, our only return
for God’s continual favours has been negligence, ingratitude, and sin.
How many failings we have been guilty of throughout our lives. Since it
is an offence against God, Who is infinitely good and amiable, even
venial sin cannot properly be atoned for by the merits of all the Angels
and of all the Saints of Heaven. Therefore it was necessary for the Son
of God made man to offer Himself as a victim of expiation on our
behalf.
Remembering His infinite merits, we should humbly ask
God: Forgive us our debts, that is, our many sins and failings and
whatever punishment is owing to us, for every sin demands some expiation
either in this life or in the next. Meanwhile, we should accept with
resignation all the sufferings which God sends us in reparation for our
sins, and we should promise never to offend Him any more.
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