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Ludolphus - the Importance of forgiving others - Part 2

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

When speaking of prayer on another occasion Jesus said, And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man, so that your Father also, who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins [St Mark 11.25]

Chrysostom comments, "Therefore he makes mention of Heaven and of the Father to capture our attention: nothing makes us so like God as forgiving those who injure us. It is entirely unsuitable for the son .. of such a Father to be cruel, or for one who is called to Heaven to nurture an Earthbound frame of mind" [Hom. Matt. 19.7; PG 57/58: 283].

Ludolphus - the Importance of forgiving others - Part 1

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

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]

Ludolphus - The Lord's Prayer - Forgive us .. Part 4

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].

Ludolphus - On the Lord's Prayer - Forgive us .. Part 3

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.

Ludolphus - On the Lord's Prayer - Forgive us - Part 2

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."

Ludolphus - On the Lord's Prayer - Forgive us .. Part 1

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."

Ludolphus the Carthusian

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.