MONDAY V LENT: teach me to forgive

Posted on March 27, 2023 by franksantucci

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” (John 8:11)

I was careful to try and understand all those who persecute me with such vengeful anger, because I pardon them with all my heart…

It seems that the good God gives me the grace to go and thank him for the humiliation which weighs upon me and which the Cross my Saviour bore to Calvary helps me to bear.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 13 April 1838, EO XIX

REFLECTION

Father, please forgive me when I allow anger and bitterness to fill my heart because I refuse to forgive someone who has hurt me. Teach me…to forgive in the same way You have forgiven me.

Mary Southerland

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One Response to MONDAY V LENT: teach me to forgive

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    March 27, 2023 at 13:00

    As I read the lines from John’s Gospel I am tempted to speak about why it is only the woman who was brought forward. A great distraction that is capable of bringing about a deeper sin… “…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Forgiveness points towards my own heart rather than the other’s.

    Forgiveness comes about through love, is rooted and given life in love. It is born in, with and through the healing love of God.

    I cannot say that I know how to forgive, for on my own I am neither strong enough nor good enough to own and live out this way of being, But perhaps if I love it might become possible, if I become a conduit, a coworker…

    A way of being that must become a part of our heart beats and breaths…

    A way of being that only God can give life to, sustain and allow to become ongoing…

    Father, teach me to take part in this act of love that is authored by You.

    Reply

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