Thought for the Day – 22 October – “Forgive Us Our Debts”

Thought for the Day – 22 October – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

“Month of the Holy Rosary”
“Forgive Us Our Debts”

“When we have asked God for nourishment for soul and body, we go on to implore forgiveness for our debts, whether they have been contracted in the course of nature, or of grace, or of sin.
We owe everything to God.
There was a time when we did not exist and, in His divine omnipotence He created us from nothing.
Our bodily powers and spiritual faculties are His gifts to us.
If we enjoy health, it is He Who has given it to us.
If we have any ability, it comes from Him.
Anything which we have been able to achieve as the result of mental or manual labour, has been made possible by His help.

Who is it but God Who rescues us from the many perils which surround us?
Who but He enables us to overcome so many difficulties?
How many times we should have died, if He had not sustained us!

Let us think back over our past lives.
How much reason we have to be grateful to God, Who has watched over us continually like a loving Father.
The conservation of life, is a continuous act of creation.
When we recite the Pater Noster, therefore, we should express our filial gratitude to God and ask for His continued protection.
Every moment of life is a new gift of God and an act of His infinite love in our regard.
Let us be grateful and love Him generously in return.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci