Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 16, 2011 - Thursday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 11:1-11 and Matt 6:7-15,992]Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' 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.
In the parish missions and retreats that make up the bulk of my itinerant ministry, I often conduct a Reconciliation Service. These are more commonly referred to as "Penance Services" but I think that name is misleading. The emphasis is not on "doing penance" but on being reconciled with God and neighbor. The scriptures I use for the service are taken from St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians (in which he says, "As the Lord has forgiven you, so must you forgive one another!" Col. 3:13) and from the Gospel of Matthew (the parable of the Unforgiving Servant 18:21-35), which ends with an echo of Jesus' warning, quoted above, "...So will my heavenly Father do to you unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart." The centerpiece of the service is an "examination of conscience" which focuses on the various relationships that we all have to self, family, friends, co-workers, professional persons, and even the environment. I frequently get requests from participants for a copy of that "examen."
I ask the audience how many times each of them has prayed "The Lord's Prayer?" Of course, they smile and probably think, "What a silly question!" Then I point out that every time they say that prayer, they are asking God to forgive them TO THE EXTENT THAT they forgive others! I also point out that Jesus adds a "reinforcing comment" which I have also quoted above! This leaves little doubt as to the meaning of the phrase in the prayer itself: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
The Lord's Prayer is part of the Sermon on the Mount. I've already pointed out how "counterintuitive" those teachings seem to our modern way of looking at life. The words of the Lord's Prayer go directly to our relationship with God and neighbor. This relationship is like the proverbial two-sided coin. We cannot separate the two sides. Nor can we "flip" it and just choose one side. Reconciliation with God means we must be reconciled with neighbor. Praying "The Lord's Prayer" is not simply a pious act, it means a very difficult challenge for us to meet! AMEN