God takes a serious view of sin, but he is eager to forgive sinners. His attitude is well expressed in the Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich is compassion.”
Our response to God’s mercy must be two-fold. First, in thankfulness for His kindness, we commit a portion of our time to prayer and worship, particularly by participating in the Eucharist, the Church’s central act of worship and thanksgiving.
Secondly, we hear over and over again that to receive God’s forgiveness for our sins, we must forgive those who hurt us. We pray it in the Lord’s Prayer, and we read the same lesson in the First Reading from Sirach and in the Gospel in Jesus’ Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Let us then forgive others, so that we in turn may receive forgiveness from God.
