Forgiveness
An ongoing part of being human
Today’s Mass readings prompted me to jot this quick post. Ha, quick from me? 🤪
Our readings included the Gospel from Matthew in which Peter asks Jesus how often one must forgive. “As many as seven times?” You probably all know Jesus’s reply: “Not seven, but seventy-seven times.”
Our priest talked in his homily about how this shows that forgiveness is a lifelong process. If we are humans who interact with other humans, we need to realize we will be forgiving others as long as we are living.
It is human nature to be annoyed, even hurt, by the sins others commit that impact us. And it’s easy to hold a grudge, or to keep a tally of how many more times some person has offended you than vice versa.
But how much more does that just drag us down inside? Keeping that negative reaction and carrying it around can take its toll. As our priest shared, he’s seen people who are relieved of mental anxiety and stress, even physical ailments, once they were able to work through forgiveness of somebody who had hurt them.
Forgiveness maybe isn’t something we put a lot of thought into as adults. We tell our children to “say sorry” when they misbehave. But how much do we consider it ourselves as adults? This review of Firetender brings that realization to mind:
Forgiveness was one of the major themes in this first book in the Chalice Series, Firetender. Not only must Dallas forgive others who have wronged him and his friend, but he must forgive himself. Maybe ironically, that second one is far more difficult for him to do.
I want to share one page from Firetender (spoilers crossed out!) from a conversation Dallas has with Father Benedict:
I’d love to hear your thoughts on forgiveness in the comments below!
Until next time,
Erin
