We do not really know how to forgive until we know what it is to be
forgiven. Therefore we should be glad that we can be forgiven by
others. It is our forgiveness of one another that makes the love of Jesus
manifest in our lives, for in forgiving one another we act towards
one another as He has acted towards us. – Thomas Merton: (1915 – 1968: was
an American Catholic writer and poet)
Gospel
Text: (LK 17:1-6)
Jesus
said to his disciples,
"Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,'
you should forgive him."
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
"Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,'
you should forgive him."
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
Forgiving is not a spontaneous human
reaction to an offense. What is humanly spontaneous is the desire to get even,
to take revenge.
We often miss the spirit of forgiving,
because we miss the meaning of forgiving. Forgiving is not forgetting the
offense or pretending that it did not hurt us. To forgive is not to forget the
hurt, let alone to deny it, but to remember it without a desire for revenge. I
submit that, when we think that we are not forgiving, because the hurt is still
present, a pertinent self-question could be: if the person who offended me were
in critical need of help – a fall, a car accident..., would I be prepared to
offer help? If prepared, then I am on the journey toward forgiveness, but the
process will take time to be completed. We cannot microwave forgiveness, we
need to let the process simmer and run its course.
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