Look not upon our sins?

[tealblue]

I was wondering what is meant when the priest says " Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever.

The part about look not on our sins that I don’t understand why its said that way.

 

[MarkThompson]

It’s asking Christ, please do not pay attention to our sins. There’s a similar line in Eucharistic Prayer I that says, “Do not consider what we truly deserve, but grant us your forgiveness.” In other words, we recognize that our sins deserve punishment, but we ask God to be merciful and forgiving instead of punishing us. So, when we say “look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church,” we ask Christ to ignore the things we have done wrong, because if he really held us responsible for them he would not “grant us peace” but instead deliver a harsh punishment to us. So we ask him to “look on the faith of his Church,” i.e., we offer up the good things we have done and ask him to pay attention to them, and we beg him to treat us as good people deserve and not as sinners deserve.

Does this help?

 

[Chatter163]

The older translation from the Latin (ne respicias peccata nostra) says “Regard not our sins.” Works better for me.

 

[mommamaree]

The older translation from the Latin (ne respicias peccata nostra) says “Regard not our sins.” Works better for me.

Chatter, did you know that ‘regarder’ in French (which is a Latin-based language) literally means ‘to look upon’? So, ‘Regard not’ does mean ‘Look not upon’. ‘Regard not’ might sound more poetic, but they both actually mean the same thing.

 

[JerrySeibert]

It is simply asking for God’s mercy.
Knowing we have sinned but pleading, I know I have sinned and I an unworthy to be in your presence but, please God look at my faith and know that I love you but I sin out of weakness.

 

[Chatter163]

Chatter, did you know that ‘regarder’ in French (which is a Latin-based language) literally means ‘to look upon’? So, ‘Regard not’ does mean ‘Look not upon’. ‘Regard not’ might sound more poetic, but they both actually mean the same thing.

Yes, I did know that, but thanks!