Very kindly the Liturgical Press have allowed me to publish extracts from the Ludolph of Saxony aka the Carthusian's Life of Jesus Christ work translated from the Latin into English by Milton Walsh as long as I include the name, title and translator details along with the following statement:
Copyright 2018 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Ludolph the Carthusian or of Saxony The Life of Jesus Christ - Part 1 Chapter 37 - The Sermon on the Mount continued: The Importance of forgiving others - pages 707-708 - translated by Milton Walsh
Copyright 2018 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Cyprian warns, "You will have no excuse on the Day of Judgement when you are condemned by the same sentence you meted out, and you suffer what you yourself inflicted on others" [Orat. Dom 23; PL 4:535B.]
Chrysostom says:
"Having given the formula of prayer, He emphasises only one commandment, the one where He tells us to forgive:
For if you forgive men their offences, your Heavenly Father will forgive also your offences.
This is the Fundamental Principle from which everything flows, and the power of our [708] future Judgement rests in our own hands. Now, unless you are insane, you must lament God's Judgment on you for your sins, be they great or small, but God allows the guilty parties to determine their own sentence. He says, "I will judge you as you have judged. If you have forgiven your fellow servant, you will receive the same grace from me."
snip
How dare we ask Him to hear us when we pray for anything, if we will not give ourselves what is in our power viz the ability to forgive others?
Ludolph the Carthusian The Life of Jesus Christ Part 1 Chapter 37 - The Sermon on the Mount continued: The Importance of forgiving others - page 707 - translated by Milton Walsh
Copyright 2018 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Following the Lord's Prayer, Christ adds,
"For if you will forgive men their offences, (Ludolphus's commentary:not harbouring resentment or seeking revenge for offences committed against you), your Heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences." [St Matt. 6: 14-15]
Quite properly does he say your offences - sin is the only thing we can boast of doing completely by our own power. We can do evil by ourselves, but not good. See the LAW the Lord has laid down for you: if you forgive, you will be forgiven; if you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven. [Emphasis added by me],
Douai version St Matthew Chapter 6 verse [14] For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. [15] But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences. http://www.drbo.org/chapter/47006.htm
Ludolph the Carthusian or Ludolph of Saxony - The Life of Jesus Christ - Part 1 Chapter 37 - The Sermon on the Mount continued: The Importance of forgiving others - page 707 - translated by Milton Walsh
Copyright 2018 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Ludolph the Carthusian or Ludolph of Saxony - The Life of Jesus Christ Part 1 Chapter 37 - The Sermon on the Mount continued: The Importance of forgiving others - page 706-707 - translated by Milton Walsh
Copyright 2018 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Augustine writes, "We must not negligently overlook the fact that among all those texts in which the Lord commanded us to pray, he has declared that special emphasis should be given to the petition that has to do with forgiveness. In this way he wanted to show us that our being merciful was the one [page 707] and only counsel for avoiding misery.
In no other prayer do we enter into a CONTRACT with Him, as it were. [emphasis mine]
We say, Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us.
If we lie in this contract, the whole prayer is useless." [Sermone Monte 2.11.39 PL 31:1287]
Ludolph the Carthusian Life of Christ tr. Milton Walsh - Part 1 Chapter 37 page 701
Those whose heart are full of hatred or envy will be more troubled that pleased by this prayer viz the Forgive us our trespasses. It is as if they were saying,
"Do not forgive my sins, because I do not wish to forgive the sins of other.".
See how much the Lord detests fraternal hatred: he makes our willingness to forgive the indispensable condition for our being forgiven ourselves!
Anselm [Ps.-Anselm Ad contemptum PL 158:682A] says
"You will not have forgiveness unless you give it away".
And Seneca counsels, "Forgive others always, yourself never." [Moribus 111].
Ludolph the Carthusian Life of Christ tr. Milton Walsh - Part 1 Chapter 37 pages 700-701
If you are striving to be perfect, you must forgive in every circumstance, even if the other party does not request it.
You should not only banish all animosity from your soul, but you should forgive everything even when there is no satisfaction made for the offence, or restitution of property, or prayerful entreaty, and you must love with a pure heart.
This is a counsel of perfection.
If you have not yet made a vow of perfection, you are still required to banish all animosity from your soul, not desiring an increase of evil or a diminution of good for your foe; other than that, you [page 701] should be satisfied with any sort of recompense offered for the harm done you.
This is a precept, not a counsel, and applies to everyone.
In sum, we must forgive wrongs, because we are all bound in charity to love everyone.
Ludolph the Carthusian - Life of Christ tr. Milton Walsh - Part 1 Chapter 37 page 700.
Chrystotom [Orat Do, 22-23 PL 4:535A PL=Patrologia Latina] warns,
"He did not say that God would first forgive us, and then afterwards we would forgive those who trespass against us. God knows that people are liars: even if they receive forgiveness, they do not forgive those who sin against them. So he instructs us to forgive first, and only then afterwards to ask to be forgiven."
Ludolph the Carthusian Part 1 Chapter 37 - The Sermon on the Mount continued: The Lord's Prayer - page 700 - translated by Milton Walsh -
"And Jesus adds, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Behold the rule proposed to us: if we want to be forgiven our sins, we must first forgive the sins committed against us by our neighbour!
According to Gregory [Moralia 10.XV.30] the good we must seek from God with a contrite heart we must first bestow on our neighbour.
Cyrpian writes:
"He who taught us to pray for our sins has promised his paternal mercy; but he has clearly added a Law, binding us with a clear stipulation, that we ask for our sins to be forgiven in the same way that we forgive those who sin against us."
Dear Readers of Louis de Ponte,
I am going to be adding some posts of extracts from Ludolph the Carthusian's Life of Christ translated into English by Milton Walsh. Ludolphus (approx 1300 - 1377 or 1378). published by the Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota US in their Cistercian Study Series no 267.
Ludolph was initially a Dominican and at the age of about 40 he joined the Carthusians. St Ignatius read a copy of his Life of Christ in a Catalan Translation at Manressa and it led to his conversion.
