Mercy can penetrate our hearts only if we ourselves learn how to forgive – even our enemies. Now even if it seems impossible for us to satisfy this requirement, the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit can, like Christ, love even to love’s extreme; it can turn injury into compassion and transform hurt into intercession. Forgiveness participates in the divine mercy and is a high-point of Christian prayer.
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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.136In 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.
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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.137This crucial requirement of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But "with God all things are possible."138
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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."139It 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.140Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave" us.141
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2843. Thus the Lord's words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end,142become a living reality. the parable of the merciless servant, which crowns the Lord's teaching on ecclesial communion, ends with these words: "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."143It is there, in fact, "in the depths of the heart," that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.
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2844. Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies,144transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. the martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another.145
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2845. There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness,146whether one speaks of "sins" as in Luke (⇒11:4), "debts" as in Matthew (⇒6:12). We are always debtors: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another."147The communion of the Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relation ship. It is lived out in prayer, above all in the Eucharist.148
God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled with his brother. For God can be appeased only by prayers that make peace. To God, the better offering is peace, brotherly concord, and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.149
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2862. The fifth petition begs God's mercy for our offences, mercy which can penetrate our hearts only if we have learned to forgive our enemies, with the example and help of Christ.
Acesse nossos estudos biblicos:
How is prayer seen in the Psalms as an expression of dependence on God?
What does Nahum 1:9 say about God’s mercy to those who repent?
What is the significance of Christ being the Head of Creation, as mentioned in Colossians 1:15-17?
What is the story of the healing of the bleeding woman in Mark 5:25-34?
What is the spiritual battle mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, and how can a Christian fight it?
