Are you tired of running and longing for rest?

Commentary on the Catechism 69

Give us each day our daily bread

This petition expresses trustful dependence on the providential care of God who gives to all the living: “their food in due season” (Ps 104:27). There are a number of interrelated ways of understanding the words: “give us this day our daily bread.”

·        Firstly, At the most basic level it seems to refer to the food that sustains our human life.

·        Secondly, by extension, bread can be understood as a reference to all our material needs. As Jesus said: “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Mt 6:31-33).

·        Thirdly, the phrase daily bread refers to the Eucharist which is food for our souls. Jesus spoke about this form of spiritual nourishment in Jn 6:32-35 when he said: "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

·        Fourthly, the reference to bread may point forward from the Eucharist to the great banquet of heaven which will be celebrated when Christ comes again. So the petition: "Give us this day our daily bread" could be translated to read: "Give us today a foretaste of the heavenly banquet to come."

Forgive us our sins as we forgive others

The inextricable link between God’s willingness to forgive our sins, no matter how many or how bad they may be, depends upon our willingness to forgive those who have offended us. This notion had a root in Sir 28:2-5 where we read, “Forgive your neighbour the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Does a man harbour anger against another, and yet seek for healing from the Lord? Does he have no mercy toward a man like himself, and yet pray for his own sins? If he himself, being flesh, maintains wrath, who will make expiation for his sins?”

A similar point is mentioned many times by Jesus and later by the New Testament Church. In Mt 6:14-15 Jesus says: “if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” The same sentiment is reiterated in Lk 6:36-38: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven….For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  On another occasion: “Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy, seven times,” i.e., without number. Then he went on to tell the parable of the unforgiving servant. It ends with the words: “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart" (Mt 18:21-35). Jm 2:13 echoes the teaching of Jesus when it says: “judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!”  In par. 1317 of her Diary, St Faustina wrote, “I know, my daughter, that you understand it and that you do everything within your power. But write this for the many souls who are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul. If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall my judgment with their mercy.”