ness of God to pardon sin, increases faith, nurtures hope, and inflames charity; and it will, therefore, be found useful to enlarge upon this subject by citing Scriptural authorities to this effect, and by referring to examples of individuals whose repentance God rewarded with the pardon of the most grievous crimes. As, however, in our exposition of the prefatory words of the prayer, and of that part of the creed which speaks of the forgiveness of sins, we have been as diffuse on the subject as its matter required, the pastor will revert to those places for whatever he may deem necessary for further illustration; the rest he will draw from the fountains of inspired wisdom. He will also pursue the same plan of instruction which was fol lowed in the other petitions, making known to the faithful the meaning of the word " debts;" without this knowledge they may ask for something different from the real objects which this petition contemplates.
In the first place, then, we are to know that in it we pray not for exemption from the debt due to God on so many accounts, the payment of which is essential to salvation; that of loving him with our whole heart, our whole soul, and with all our strength. Neither do we ask to be exempted from the duties of obedience, worship, veneration, or any similar obligation included in the word " debt." We pray to be delivered from our sins: this is the interpretation of St. Luke, who, instead of " debt," makes use of the word " sins;" [1] for by their commission we become guilty before God, and incur a debt of punishment, which we must liquidate by satisfaction or by suffering. Such was the debt of which Christ spoke by the mouth of his prophet; " Then did I pay that which I took not away;" [2] from which we may infer that we are only debtors, but also unequal to the payment of the debts which we contract. Of himself the sinner is totally incapable of making satisfaction: we must, therefore, fly to the divine mercy; and as justice, of which God is most tenacious, is an equal and corresponding attribute to mercy, we must have recourse to prayer, and to the advocacy of the passion of Christ, without which, no one ever obtained the pardon of sin; from which, as from its source, flow all the force and efficacy of satisfaction. Such is the value of the price paid by Christ our Lord on the cross, and communicated to us through the sacraments received either actually or in desire, that it obtains and accomplishes for us the pardon of our sins, which is the object of our prayer in this petition. We ask pardon not only for our venial offences, for which pardon may be easily obtained, but also for grievous mortal sins, of which the petition cannot procure forgiveness, unless it derive that efficacy from the Sacrament of Penance received, as we have already said, either actually or in desire.
The word "our," is here used in a sense entirely different from that in which we said, "our daily bread;" that bread is
