FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS

Sir 48,1-14; Ps 96; Mt 6,7-15
21 JUNE
The Book of Sirach already reveals a perfect truth about sin and its forgiveness. Sin is not added to sin. Whoever wishes to be forgiven must forgive.

Rely not on your wealth; say not: “I have the power.” Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart. Say not: “Who can prevail against me?” for the Lord will exact the punishment. Say not: “I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?” for the Lord bides his time. Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin. Say not: “Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive.” For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath. Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day; For suddenly his wrath flames forth; at the time of vengeance, you will be destroyed. Rely not upon deceitful wealth, for it will be no help on the day of wrath (Sir 5,1-8).

The vengeful will suffer the Lord’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbour’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the Lord? Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins? If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbour; of the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.

Avoid strife and your sins will be fewer, for a quarrelsome man kindles disputes, Commits the sin of disrupting friendship and sows discord among those at peace. The more wood, the greater the fire, the more underlying it, the fiercer the fight; The greater a man’s strength, the sterner his anger, the greater his power, the greater his wrath. Pitch and resin make fires flare up, and insistent quarrels provoke bloodshed. If you blow upon a spark, it quickens into flame, if you spit on it, it dies out; yet both you do with your mouth! (Sir 28,1-12).

Then it is right to ask: what is the fulfilment that Jesus gives to the ancient law on sin and its forgiveness? Is it only a fulfilment in the modalities or does it concern the essence and substance of both sin and its forgiveness? With Jesus, a highly substantial fulfilment takes place. The Christian must not only forgive offenses. He not only gives God the measure of forgiveness. He is open, the Lord is open. He is tight, the Lord is tight. In Christ the Christian is called to make his body a burnt offering to be given to the Lord so that he forgives the sins of every man. Christ gave his shed blood to God. The Christian gives his shed blood to God. One body, one blood, one redemption and one holocaust for the remission of sins. Another essentiality is this: it is God who sends Jesus to offer his reconciliation. The offended offers forgiveness to the offender. The offender pays the offender’s debt. The offended Christian offers reconciliation to the offender. The offended Christian expiates the sin of the offender.

In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

The mission of the Christian with regard to the remission of sins is the same as the one of Jesus the Lord. Forgiving offenses is only the beginning of the journey behind Christ Jesus. We begin with forgiveness, but to come to the point of giving our lives so that our God may forgive and reconcile his every son with him. Following Jesus must lead to this: making every disciple an instrument of expiation so that the sins of the world may be erased.

Immaculate Virgin, Angels and Saints, help us so that we become holocaust of salvation.