Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us....
As many times as we recite the Our Father -- and most of us recite it a few times each day -- that many times we declare our willingness to forgive those who betray, cheat, lie, steal, and insult us. We were taught this wonderful prayer -- the Lord's Prayer -- long before we can remember. Children should learn it before the first day of their first grade.
The prayer is prophetic; meaning it teaches and challenges us. It reminds us of our duty to forgive as God forgives. We are God’s holy people, and God’s kingdom comes when we forgive others their sin as God forgives our sins. The Lord’s Prayer should render us uncomfortable and uneasy when we're holding out or unwilling to surrender grievances against loved ones, strangers, and enemies.
At the same time, this prayer is the key to happiness and freedom. The worst form of slavery is bondage to one's resentments, hurts, and disappointments. It's like drinking poison and thinking your enemy will get sick. It makes us unhappy, sullen, and oppressed – and tiresome to be around! Nothing is more boring than listening again to someone’s complaint about something that happened fifty years ago. It's a burden on our spirit and on our community.
No sooner do we begin to laugh, sing, and enjoy than I am reminded that someone -- some mean-spirited, ugly, hateful person -- has done me wrong! And I have a Right to be Angry, to avenge myself, to get even. I don't get mad; I get even. Revenge is a dish best served cold, meaning I'll bide my time and get back at you when you've completely forgotten what you did to me -- if you ever knew in the first place. And, as I said, that can go on for years.
And does for some people. They think they're free, and insist upon their freedom to be unhappy, sullen, disengaged, distant, moody, and self-centered. They count their enemies like misers counting their money, rubbing and polishing each resentment until it shines like a gold coin, as if the hurt happened yesterday.
I've not forgotten! I'll never forget! My privilege, my treasure, my delight, and joy. My Precious.
The Gollum in today's parable was handed over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. It sounds hopeless but the poor wretch is a creepy, unpleasant weasel to start with. He makes sniveling promises he cannot keep. Freed by the master's generosity, he reacts with an absurd sense of elation. He thinks he has successfully talked his way out of an enormous debt. He doesn’t recognize the gift, the grace that has been bestowed on him. He thinks he is free to abuse, ridicule, insult, and punish anyone who owes him a smidgen of what he owed.
He cannot see what everyone else sees, that he is still deeply in debt to his master for setting him free. He cannot imagine that he is unworthy of the gift; that he deserves nothing but to be
“be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.”
Gollum has an American's sense of freedom, some absurd notion that he is like a weightless body in outer space, belonging nowhere and able to go anywhere. He knows nothing of God and doesn't want to know.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us....
The Lord calls us to freedom. As often as we recite the Lord's Prayer, so often do we ask God to set us free from all resentments. Give us that talent, ability, strength, and willingness -- for freedom is a habit which must be practiced daily, and many times a day. It is a decision to shake off the temptation, to despise not one's enemies but one's desire to hold onto resentments.
Here is what I hate. I hate the unreasonable, ridiculous pride I take in holding grudges against people, and thinking that I'm better than anyone for remembering and not letting go. Dear Lord, set me free. I am a slave to myself and I am sick of it.
Our prayer, if we hear what we're saying when we recite the Lord's Prayer, sets us free; and we owe nothing to anyone but the bond of charity. And that we must pay daily and many times a day to others, and to our good God. Amen.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.