Jan. 2, 2013 Wednesday: Sts. Basil and Gregory

Letting Go of Old Hurts

One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts.  We often say, or at least think:  "What you did to me and my family, my ancestors, or my friends I cannot forget or forgive. ... One day you will have to pay for it."  Sometimes our memories are decades, even centuries, old and keep asking for revenge.

Holding people's faults against them often creates an impenetrable wall.  But listen to Paul:  "For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation:  the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.  It is all God's work" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).  Indeed, we cannot let go of old hurts, but God can.  Paul says:  "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's fault against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).  It is God's work, but we are God's ministers, because the God who reconciled the world to God entrusted to us "the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19).  This message calls us to let go of old hurts in the Name of God.  It is the message our world most needs to hear.
-Fr. Henri Nouwen