ACC ~ Matthew 6 v14 - 15

READINESS TO FORGIVE

CHRYSOSTOM: Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and wrongdoer. For it is God who has made “the sun to shine on the evil and on the good.” [1]

For this same reason again in every one of the clauses Jesus commands us to make our prayers together in one voice, saying, “our Father,” and “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” and “give us the bread, and forgive us our debts,” and “lead us not into temptation,” and “deliver us.” So everywhere he is teaching us to use this plural word that we may not retain so much as a vestige of resentment against our neighbor.

How great a reproof then must they deserve, who, after all this, still do not forgive and even ask God’s vengeance on their enemies. In doing so they diametrically transgress this command. Meanwhile Christ is seeking in every way possible to hinder our conflicts with one another. For since love is the root of all that is good, by removing from all quarters whatever mars it he brings us together and cements us to each other. For there is not one, not a single one, whether father or mother or friend, who loves us as much as the God who created us. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.7. [2]

[1] Mt 5:45.

[2] 61.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF FAILURE TO FORGIVE

AUGUSTINE: And certainly we should not heedlessly neglect to call attention to the fact that of all the pronouncements in which the Lord has ordered us to pray, he has deliberately attached a very special commendation to the pronouncement that deals with the forgiving of sins. In this pronouncement he wished us to be merciful because that is the only prescribed means of avoiding miseries. Indeed, in no other petition do we pray in such a manner as to make a kind of covenant with the Lord, for we say, “Forgive us as we also forgive.” If we default in this covenant, the whole petition is fruitless, for he says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” [1] SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.11.39. [2]

[1] Mt 6:14-15.

[2] PL 34:1287; FC 11:148.