Forgive us our trespasses! ...

Forgive us our trespasses

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In these words from the Lord’s Prayer, Saint Thérèse leads us on a path where the heart gradually learns to become free. We ask for God’s forgiveness, but at the same time, we open the door of our own hearts to him.

Forgiveness is, first and foremost, an act of will.

We cannot always prevent a wound from causing us pain, nor can we make what was done to us disappear all at once. But we can choose not to hold onto the wound as a painful treasure. Thérèse invites us to make a firm decision: to choose to forgive. The feeling may come later; love, however, can begin today.

Let us not allow small offenses to become large stumbling blocks in our path.

A word, an oversight, or a gesture that has hurt us can sometimes take up a great deal of space in our hearts. Thérèse then reminds us of our own poverty before God: we ourselves live by His mercy. How could we receive so much forgiveness and yet refuse to let go of a small debt?

What if suffering became a place of encounter with God?

Thérèse admires those who are able to welcome even offenses as an opportunity to offer something to the Lord. What hurts us can become an offering; what humiliates us can become a path to humility; what wounds us can ultimately expand our capacity to love.

So when we say:

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive…,” we are not merely saying a prayer: we are placing what weighs on our hearts into God’s hands, so that He may gradually transform it into freedom and love.

And perhaps that is one of the most beautiful acts of mercy: "a heart that no longer clings to the wound, but to love."