III. D'oraison — Le 42e dimanche
The Necessity of Divine Mercy
The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer acknowledges that all people, regardless of holiness, must rely entirely on God's mercy for the forgiveness of sins.
The fifth petition. Minister: What does the fifth petition contain? Student: That it may please God to forgive us our sins.✦ There is no one so holy that they don't need God to forgive them. M: Is there any living person so righteous that he does not need to? Elder: No. For the Lord Jesus gave this form to his apostles for his Church. So anyone who wanted to exempt himself from it would renounce the community of Christians. And in fact, Scripture testifies to us that the most perfect person, if he wanted to plead even one point before God to justify himself, will be found guilty a thousand times over (Job 9:2-3).✦ Therefore, we must all take refuge in his mercy.
The Nature of Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a free gift from God that releases us from the debt of sin, granting us peace and assurance of his fatherly love.
What is the forgiveness of sins? M: How do you understand this forgiveness to be granted to us? E: As the very words Jesus Christ used show, sins are debts that keep us bound under the condemnation of eternal death. We ask that God free us from them by his pure generosity.1 283. M: So you understand that we receive forgiveness for our sins through God's free goodness? S: Yes.2 For we can in no way make satisfaction for even the least fault we have committed, unless God treats us with his pure generosity, remitting them all to us.3 The result of the forgiveness of sins 284. Minister: When God has forgiven our sins, what fruit and benefit do we receive from it? E: By this means we are pleasing to him, as if we were righteous and innocent, and our consciences are assured of his fatherly love toward us, from which come salvation and life.4
The Call to Forgive Others
Forgiving others is not a merit to earn God's favor, but a necessary sign of our status as God's children and a reflection of his own mercy.
Forgiveness of faults is free. M: When you ask that he forgive us as we forgive those who have offended us, do you mean that by forgiving people we merit forgiveness from him? E: Not at all. If it were, forgiveness wouldn't be free, and it wouldn't be founded on the satisfaction found in the death of Jesus Christ, as it must be.5 However, insofar as we follow his gentleness and clemency by forgetting the wrongs done to us, and thereby show that we are his children, he gives us this sign to assure us.6 On the other hand, he makes it clear that we can expect nothing in his judgment but total severity and extreme rigor if we aren't ready to forgive and show grace to those who have wronged us. God's disowned children M: So you understand, then, that here God disowns as his children those who cannot forget the offenses done to them, so that they will not expect to share in this grace? E: Yes. And that everyone should know that the same measure they have used with their neighbors will be measured back to them.✦
Read the original Latin
La cinquième demande 280. M : Que contient la cinquième demande? E : Qu'il plaise à Dieu nous pardonner nos péchés.
Il n'y a si saint qui n'ait métier que Dieu lui pardonne 281. M : N'y a-t-il homme vivant si juste qui n'ait métier de le faire? E : Non. Car le Seigneur Jésus a donné cette forme à ses apôtres pour son Église. Ainsi, quiconque s'en voudrait exempter renoncerait à la communauté des chrétiens. Et de fait, l'Ecriture nous testifie que le plus parfait, voulant alléguer un point à Dieu pour se justifier, sera trouvé coupable en mille (Job 9:2-3). Il faut donc que nous ayons tous notre refuge à sa miséricorde.
Quelle est la rémission des péchés 282. M : Comment entends-tu que cette rémission nous soit faite? E : Comme les paroles même dont Jésus-Christ a usé le montrent, c'est que les péchés sont dettes, lesquelles nous tiennent obligés à condamnation de mort éternelle. Nous demandons que Dieu nous en acquitte par sa pure libéralité.
283. M : Tu entends donc que nous obtenons rémission de nos péchés par la bonté gratuite de Dieu? E : Voire. Car nous ne pouvons nullement satisfaire pour la moindre faute que nous ayons commise, si Dieu n'use envers nous de sa pure libéralité, en nous les remettant toutes. Fruit du pardon des péchés
284. M : Quand Dieu nous a pardonné nos péchés, quel fruit et utilité nous en revient? E : Par ce moyen, nous lui sommes agréables, comme si nous étions justes et innocents, et nos consciences sont assurées de sa dilection paternelle envers nous, d'où vient salut et vie.
Pardon des fautes est gratuit 285. M : Quand tu demandes qu'il nous pardonne comme nous pardonnons à ceux qui nous ont offensés, entends-tu qu'en pardonnant aux hommes, que nous méritions pardon de lui? E : Non pas. Car le pardon ne serait plus gratuit, et ne serait pas fondé en la satisfaction, qui a été en la mort de Jésus-Christ, comme il doit être. Mais en tant qu'en oubliant les injures qu'on nous fait, nous ensuivons sa douceur et clémence, et ainsi nous démontrons être ses enfants, il nous donne cette enseigne pour nous certifier. Et d'autre part, il nous signifie qu'il ne nous faut attendre en son jugement que toute sévérité et extrême rigueur, si nous ne sommes faciles à pardonner et faire grâce à ceux qui sont coupables envers nous.
Désavoués enfants de Dieu 286. M : Tu entends donc que Dieu désavoue ici pour ses enfants ceux qui ne peuvent oublier les offenses qu'on leur fait, afin qu'ils ne s'attendent pas d'être participants de cette grâce? E : Voire. Et que tous sachent qu'à la même mesure qu'ils auront fait à leurs prochains, il leur sera rendu.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.6.12;Luke.11.4 — And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Luke.11.4 — and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not bring us into temptation.
- ↩Job.9.2-Job.9.3 — Truly I know that it is so; but how can a mortal be righteous before God? Job.9.3 — If someone wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him once in a thousand.
- ↩Matt.7.2;Luke.6.38 — For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Luke.6.38 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.
Notes
- 1 ↩French 'libéralité' means free, undeserved generosity (liberality); kept as 'generosity' in modern register. Debt metaphor continues in 'acquitte' ('free us' / discharge the debt).
- 2 ↩Middle French Voire is a firm affirmative (Yes / Indeed); rendered as Yes to match the catechism's brief pupil answer.
- 3 ↩satisfaire pour retains the Reformation sense of making satisfaction (paying what is owed) for sin, not a vague 'make amends'.
- 4 ↩French dilection paternelle rendered as fatherly love; dilection is covenantal/paternal love, not mere affection.
- 5 ↩satisfaction retains the technical Reformation sense of Christ's atoning satisfaction, not modern emotional satisfaction.
- 6 ↩enseigne rendered as sign (token/mark of assurance), not teaching/instruction.
Catechism of the Church of Geneva (Le catéchisme de l'Église de Genève) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit