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Fifth Petition:

“

Forgive Us Our Trespasses as We Forgive Those Who Tresspass Against Us”

This is no ordinary petition to God asking for His mercy. We not only ask Him to be merciful to us, but we dare place a condition and a norm on God’s forgiveness. What is this condition and norm? It is the practice and the measure of our forgiveness to others.

What are we being told? We are being told that unless we are merciful to others, God will not be merciful to us. We further believe that the measure of our forbearance with the sins of others mysteriously determines the degree of God’s patient forgiveness of us.

Every form of mercy that we so deeply desire from God toward ourselves, we pray that we might receive from Him. But the condition remains. God will infallibly be tolerant and patient, indulgent and lenient, tender and compassionate, pardoning and forgiving toward us sinners if we practice these qualities of mercy toward those whom God’s Providence puts into our lives.

St. Matthew speaks of “debts” and “debtors,” St. Luke of “sins” and being “indebted.” But the meaning in each case is clear. By offending God in sin, we incur a debt of love and punishment for our misdeeds. We owe God greater love than we would have had we not sinned, and we owe Him a debt of suffering as punishment for offending the Divine Majesty.

In His mercy, God provides us with countless opportunities for expiation by allowing others to sin against us. Our patience in enduring their offenses, our kindness in bearing their coldness, our responding with love for them in return for their lovelessness toward us is part of God’s providential plan of redeeming a sinful world.

We pray for the strength to forgive so that we might be forgiven in return.

There is also a marvelous communication of grace at stake here. Not infrequently, the very reason God places difficult people into our lives is that by our loving patience with them, we might obtain from God the graces of conversion they need. We are channels of grace to others. This means that to be an effective channel for some people, I may have to be the victim of their indifference, or even cruelty, to win for them the gift of repentance to be reconciled with an offended God.

Sixth Petition:

“

Lead Us Not into Temptation”

Table of Contents

Temptation is an invitation to sin. The source of the temptation may be the attractive, sinful conduct of other people, called the world; or the disorderly desires of our own fallen nature called concupiscence; or the malicious urging of the evil spirit, whom we call the devil.

When we pray not to be led into temptation, we are not asking to be freed from the testing of all human beings to prove their loyalty to God. Temptation as a test of our fidelity to Him is part of our probation here on earth, and the price of earning our reward in the world to come.

What we are praying for is not to allow ourselves to give in to temptation, but rather to profit from the temptation experience. The saintly interpreters of the Lord’s Prayer give no less than nine ways that we should protect ourselves from yielding to temptation and should profit from the inevitable temptations in our lives. Our prayer in this petition will be answered to the extent that we follow these rules of Christian wisdom:

Be on guard against the evil spirit. Know his strategy, be able to recognize his deceits and above all, “resist him, steadfast in the faith” (I Peter 5:9).
Daily examine your conscience to see how well you coped with the temptations of each day. Thank God for the grace of benefiting from the temptations you overcame, and ask His forgiveness for those to which you gave in.
Periodically, during the day, look into the “book of your soul.” Read there what thoughts are on your mind, what desires in your will. Sift these interior movements by discarding some, keeping others, and acting on those which your conscience tells you are graces from God.
Be suspicious of your natural tendency to go after whatever appeals to you. Avoid being impulsive in rejecting what you dislike, or embracing what you like. All temptations are attractive. Learn to practice discernment of spirits as explained by the masters of the spiritual life.
Remember that we are now living by faith, which means that of ourselves we may not even recognize a temptation. Thus we must constantly ask for light from God: “Lord, that I may see.”
Life on earth is a warfare and we are members of the Church Militant. We must, therefore, be properly armed with humility and prudence, and the graces that come for the asking. Christ’s admonition to the disciples in Gethsemane is addressed to all of us, “Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
Be on the alert. We can get into habits of action that may dull our perception. Custom can blind us to danger and keep us from even knowing we are being tempted. We may give in before we even realize what has happened.
Set yourself models for imitation. Do not follow the crowd. Come to know certain persons whose conduct you admire and whose example you resolve to follow. It may be several people. In one you imitate the person’s humility, in another fidelity to prayer, in another selfless charity, in another uncomplaining patience, in another cheerfulness under trial, in another prudent planning of work, in another devotion to the Eucharist, in another a great love of Mary, and in another a strong zeal for souls. In this way, we have a ready substitute for the temptations from the world – the attractive sinful behavior of others. We have, instead, the inspiration of good people in the world – their attractive practice of virtue.
Do not live in false security. Cultivate a healthy fear of offending a loving God. This will give you the protection you need to remain faithful to Him no matter how seductive the temptations you encounter.