Forgiveness

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

The Gospel of Saint Mathew 18:21-35 describes the following encounter of Peter with Jesus:

Then Peter approaching Jesus,  asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.

That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.

Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.

At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'

Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount.

 He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.'

Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt.

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair.

His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.

Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?'

Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.

So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."

It is by forgiving that we are forgiven. St. Francis of Assisi.

Forgiveness has two dimensions:  The divine and the human. The divine dimension of forgiveness refers to the relation of mankind with God. This dimension has only one direction – from God towards mankind, from the Creator to his creature. It is a constant and continuous relationship, by which we are forgiven, time and time again, for our many faults, when we repent of our faults for the love of this loving and supremely kind and benevolent God and we beg for divine forgiveness.  On one side we have a supremely perfect God, infinitely merciful, infinitely loving; and on the other side we have mankind, that with its many imperfections, limited understanding and weak will power, tends to move away from the divine plan and disobeys those precepts established to guide him and maintain him on the path to eternal salvation. We are entitled to this divine dimension of forgiveness because all of the trespasses that we have committed and those trespasses that we might ever commit have been previously paid and fully satisfied, with and by the infinite merits of the Blood of Christ, our loving Savior and Redeemer.

The other dimension of forgiveness is the human dimension, which has two directions – one interior, toward ourselves, and the other exterior, from us to our neighbors. The interior dimension of forgiveness is essential to our happiness.  We need to forgive ourselves, time and time again, for the things we have done, and for the things we have failed to do. The total and absolute forgiveness toward ourselves removes the remorse, the sorrow and even the pain that may torment our spirit and move us away from the joy to which we are called. We must understand that everyone makes mistakes, including ourselves. Therefore it is necessary that, with humility, we recognize our errors and at the same time we forgive ourselves, we resolve to become a little better every day, and we rejoice in being children of the infinite, unique and true God, and heirs of his Glory. Forgiveness toward ourselves leads us to the love of ourselves, to the love of our adorable Creator, that always forgives our errors and blesses us day by day, and to the love of our neighbors that walk with us in life’s way.

The external dimension of forgiveness leads us to forgive our neighbors, time and time again, for the offenses that might hurt us, in lesser or greater degree, in the course of our relations. To forgive those that offend us is a work of mercy and a at the same time a necessity and an obligation of the Christian. It is a necessity because forgiving allows us to open our heart to our neighbor and returns peace and joy to our spirit. It is an obligation because Jesus ordered so when he told Peter that we must forgive our neighbor not only seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21-22. In other words, we must forgive always.

To forgive is to remove a thorn that hurts us and allows the healing of the wound caused by the thorn. To forgive allows us to change pain into love. To forgive our neighbors allows us to love them and to comply with the commandment of loving our neighbors. To forgive allows us to recover our joy. To forgive is to imitate that infinite God that forgives our trespasses day after day. To forgive is to abide by the Will of God and to become a little more perfect each  day.   

Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Luke 6:27

Once you have developed in your spirit the commitment to joy, to the love of God and to your neighbor, the next step will become easier: to serve – to give the best of you, whenever you can, unselfishly and for the love of your neighbors. Let’s remember that Jesus in the Last Supper with his disciples washed their feet and told them: “Do you understand', he said, what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. In all truth I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know this, blessed are you if you behave accordingly.” John 13:12-14. If Jesus, Teacher of Teachers and Lord of Lords washes the dirty feet of twelve men of humble origins - an act reserved for the slaves -  how can we refuse to obey his mandate? How can we face Jesus after our death and tell Him that to serve the more humble ones was too humbling for ourselves? How can we justify such a rejection to His mandate? On the contrary, how joyful we’ll be at the end of our lives if we have lived in the love and the joy of serving our neighbors. Therefore, just as Jesus orders us to do, we must serve each other with joy, selflessly and with love. Happy we’ll be if we do so.

We must love God for his sake and love our neighbor for the sake of God.  St Augustin.

Allow to be transformed into Jesus by the strength of his love and compassion. St Francis of Assisi.

And how can we serve our neighbors? First of all, we must have a disposition to serve, to give, with love and joy. Without expecting to receive anything in return. Without regard to whom, or where, or how, or how much or when. We must begin by giving ourselves, for and with love, to others. Then we’ll contribute our work, our labors, and our material and spiritual help. Always with love and joy, with a smile, allowing the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Living and doing everything with joy, for the love of the Father, who has given us everything we have, for the love of Jesus, who gave his life to redeem us, for the love of Mary, our Mother and Protector, and for the love of our neighbors, who are our brothers and sisters.