MEDITATION for JANUARY. 2012
Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12) This petition of the Our Father is different from all the other ones. It is not only a prayer to God, but also mentions what we do: "as we have forgiven" or "as we forgive." The first variant is preferred by bible scholars, the second by common practice. Whoever prays in this way "presents themselves before God as an example of virtue, if we are allowed to put it that way, by calling upon God, who is beyond any imitation, to come and imitate them," as Saint Maximus the Confessor, a commentator of the seventh century, remarked, not without astonishment.
Adapted from the "Letter from Taizé
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