Forgiveness

This week, Jesus tells us the way of true Christian living- love your enemies; forgive, and you will be forgiven; be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Lk 6: 27-38

“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until we have something to forgive” I wonder how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?.. …There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly dear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it.  C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

Hence, if we want to be forgiven, we have to first forgive because the amount we measure out is the amount we will be given back.

How do we forgive those who have hurt us so badly?

John Henry Newman reminds us that the first step to forgiveness is acknowledging our own sins.  We need to look deep into our own hearts and acknowledge the sins within us. We are also sinners and yet God loves us.

“How can we understand forgiveness if we haven’t recognized the depth of our sin?”John Henry Newman

Pope Francis reiterates that Christian wisdom is recognising “ I have sinned.” “God’s forgiveness is felt strongly within us as long as we forgive others. And this isn’t easy because grudges make a nest in our heart and there is always that bitterness,”

Fulton Sheen adds that “Forgiveness is so important a part of following Christ that it is central to the prayer He gave when the disciples asked Him how we should pray: Our Father…… He who refuses to forgive others breaks down the bridge over which he himself must pass, for everyone has need to be forgiven.”

So let us keep our sins before us so that we may be reminded of our sinful nature and forgive those who have sinned.