‘… As we forgive those who trespass against us’

By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial

Read Pope Francis’ World Day of Peace message for 2025 (https://tinyurl.com/yt6brvth) for a fresh perspective on the Lord’s Prayer and what that prayer calls us to do. “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace,” is the theme of the Holy Father’s peace message. We observed World Day of Peace Jan. 1, but his call to action is a work in progress from here to eternity.

It is a call to individual and communal action. “Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about,” the pope says. He calls for the international community to “work towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of the ecological debt existing between the North and the South of this world.” Through our advocacy, we can encourage our elected leadership in Congress to set the example.

Pope Francis connects his peace day message to our observance of this “Jubilee Year,” which recalls “an ancient Jewish practice” to “restore God’s justice to every aspect of life.” This includes “the use of the land, the possession of goods and in relationships with others, above all the poor and the dispossessed.” The pope reminds us, “… all of us are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father, born to live in freedom, in accordance with the Lord’s will.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us …” We cannot forget, as Pope Francis reminds us, that we are all in God’s debt “but also that we need one another” and “are indebted to one another.” It is not just about lending a hand but accepting a hand from people in need, discovering and embracing their gifts.

Take, for example, Tapestry Farms, a nonprofit urban farm system that invests in the lives of refugees who resettle in the Quad Cities. Since its founding in 2017, Tapestry Farms has served approximately 500 people in more than 100 families. “We learned that many families come with some pretty amazing farming skills,” Ann McGlynn, founder and executive director of Tapestry Farms told The Catholic Messenger in an interview last fall. Tapestry Farms harnesses those “amazing farm skills” and much more through an urban farm system that reclaims underutilized land to grow culturally specific produce and flowers. Organizations such as this one deserve our support — through time, talent and treasure.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask the Father not only to forgive us our trespasses, but also to “forgive those who trespass against us.” Pope Francis observes, “In order to forgive others their trespasses and to offer them hope, we need for our own lives to be filled with the same hope, the fruit of our experience of God’s mercy.”

In this age where we are quick to jump to negative conclusions about others’ motives, we must examine and reflect on our own motives, fears and suspicions. Let us “replace anxiety about the future with the hope that every individual can be a resource for the building of a better world,” the Holy Father urges us. “At times, something quite simple will do, such as a ‘smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed.’ With such gestures, we progress towards the goal of peace.”

The intentions prayed in the Universal Prayer for the Diocese of Davenport’s Jubilee Year 2025 opening Mass can serve as a template in our individual and collective actions. Among them:

• For the parishes, schools and households of this local Church; for all who call southeast Iowa home; that we might be for one another and for all who make their way here a place of welcome and peace.
• For those most in need of jubilee; for migrants and refugees; for those burdened by debt; for those in need of food and shelter; for those on death row, that by our love and care they would know God’s mercy and compassion.
• For those suffering in war-torn lands and from natural disasters; for those separated from loved ones by miles or by words; for those who are alone, overwhelmed or despairing; that this Jubilee Year would bring the binding of wounds, the reconciliation of relationships, and the restoration of hope.

Finally, syndicated columnist Deacon Greg Kandra, reflecting on The Epiphany of the Lord, offered readers an excellent Epiphany prayer for the new year that includes this verse: “God, make my journey one of faith, with love as my fuel and compassion as my map …” (Our Sunday Visitor).

These are the ways that we can take the Lord’s Prayer into our hearts and into our actions.

Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org