Ludolphus - the Importance of forgiving others - Part 4
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?
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