Good News Reflection This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Today’s Readings: The healing power of forgiveness In our holy walk following in the footsteps of Jesus, we make a difficult journey. Holiness means struggling to remain in the spirit of love even when others commit sins against us: It might be the spouse who divorced you, or an abusive priest, or the employer who fired you, or the friend who betrayed you with no desire to make amends. In the "Our Father" prayer that Jesus gives us in today's Gospel passage, he puts the greatest emphasis on forgiveness. Oh no! This means that by asking God to "forgive us for our sins THE SAME WAY AS we forgive those who've sinned against us" we're taking our holiness very seriously. It means that the measure or amount of mercy we give to others is the measure we're asking God to give us, but we want to receive much more mercy than we want to give! It's not that God withholds forgiveness from us – he already forgave us 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross on our behalf. The fact is, we separate ourselves from God's forgiveness whenever we refuse to forgive others. In this stormy sea of our unmerciful attitude, we find it hard to believe, deep inside, that we deserve to be forgiven any more than we believe someone else deserves our forgiveness. Jesus is challenging us to love ourselves at a holier, healthier level. To receive all of the love that God has for us, we must enter into the world of forgiveness by forgiving those who have wronged us. He didn't say that we must wait until they ask for forgiveness. What he said was that if we don't forgive, neither will we be forgiven. Giving forgiveness frees us to enjoy life; it frees us from dependence on what others do or don't do to us. To follow Jesus, we have to embrace our pain as Jesus embraced his. Embracing the wounds caused by others means that we make a decision to forgive. This then begins true healing – we're no longer controlled by the pain and the other person's hurtfulness. To feel the embrace of Jesus as we journey with him, we have to stay close to him in both good times and bad, when his hands are reaching out to us with healing love and when his hands are nailed to the cross. By choosing to forgive those who show no remorse, we benefit fully from the sacrifice that Jesus made for us: We are forgiven, we are saved, we are healed. Identify the people you haven't really forgiven yet. Make the decision to forgive them, then meditate upon the pain that Jesus suffered in love for you. Realize how much compassion it took for Jesus to do that for you, even though you did not deserve it. Remind yourself that he continues to love you this much every day, no matter what, whether you're sinning or not. © 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The healing power of forgiveness
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