Part 9 of “Learning to Pray to Our Father”
Jesus teaches his disciples to ask his Father for a share in his pain and his joy. This petition forces disciples to abandon our own ways and accept God’s ways, seeking to become what we otherwise would not choose to be and to do what we otherwise would not choose to do. We consent to absorbing others’ offenses and exchanging their curses for our blessings.
Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35–36; see also Matthew 5:44–48)
Becoming merciful is the costly transformation that comes from receiving the Father’s mercy. Jesus teaches his disciples that we cannot ask for forgiveness if we are unwilling to learn how to forgive (see Matthew 18:23–35). Forgiving is the condition for being forgiven, because what God gives in his mercy is the gift of becoming like him, turning our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh so we might love one another (see Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26; John 13:34; 15:12; Hebrews 8:10).
It is in acts of forgiveness that ordinary people like us are revealed to be most like God. Each act of forgiveness is its own mystery. That mystery is the mystery of becoming merciful like the Father (see Luke 6:36), which is Christ’s desire for each of us.
And so let us look at the testimony of Epiphanie Mukamusoni––a victim of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. We can do nothing but marvel at the divine power that courses through her as she forgives François Ntambra, the man who trespassed against her:
He killed my child, then he came to ask me pardon. I immediately granted it to him because he did not do it by himself—he was haunted by the devil. I was pleased by the way he testified to the crime instead of keeping it in hiding, because it hurts if someone keeps hiding a crime he committed against you. Before, when I had not yet granted him pardon, he could not come close to me. I treated him like my enemy. But now, I would rather treat him like my own child. (“Portraits of Reconciliation,” New York Times)
Mercy is the coin of the kingdom of God, and Epiphanie is one of the King’s cherished emissaries.
Practice praying: I invite and challenge you to pray the Lord’s Prayer each day this week. In fact, pray it twice each day. Pray it once, then spend some time identifying one person whom you are called to forgive. Perhaps you will consider a different person each day, or pray each day for the grace to forgive one person. Then pray the Lord’s prayer again.
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Find more: This series draws on sections of my book Into the Heart of the Father: Learning from and Giving Yourself through Christ in Prayer. I am grateful to my publisher, Word Among Us Press, for allowing me to share these sections with you here. If you are interested, I hope you will check out the book – I think you’ll like it.
Study and pray with others: I have also designed a reading, prayer, and discussion guide for groups that would like to read the book and learn how to pray better together. This is ideal for parishes, schools, and families.
Part 9: “As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us”