The Lord's Prayer

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

When Jesus of Nazareth gave us a prayer to pray, he gave us a "formula" about what we need to think about when talking to God the Father. It seems like there is such depth to this prayer. Some of it doesn't even strike me while reciting it in a group.

For a long time the passage

Thy will be done.

stuck out to me. It was powerful. It talks about what God wants. We should want what he wants. It is super simple really. We are asking that whatever he wants should happen. There is such power in that simplicity.

This weekend, while at Mass in Evansville, the first phrase I wrote

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

really hit me deeply. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the animosity that I hold towards others. In little ways, big ways, what have you. Sometimes it affects the relationship, sometimes it doesn't seem to. It just really strikes me that in Christ's prayer, he is saying we must ask for forgiveness...but there is more. This might be intensely obvious, but it still strikes me that we just don't forgive those who trespass against us. It doesn't say that "Forgive us our trespasses and we'll try our hardest." No, in fact in the language used here, it suggests that God will forgive us as we are forgiving others...not that they are seperate actions.

Matthew 5:23-25 says,

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

This is God's way of doing things. We are to forgive and accept forgiveness. This is one of the central messages of the Gospel, FORGIVENESS. We must forgive. What sort of animosity are you harboring? Pray about that. Who are you holding things against? Ask God to take it away. I know for myself, this is one of the toughest things I am wrestling with. How can I remove such deep feelings? How can we truly

forgive those who trespass against us.