March 6, 2018: Love is Not Resentful - Divine Mercy Week 5
March 6, 2018: Love is Not Resentful - Divine Mercy Week 5
As a priest, I’m often asked the question that Peter asked Jesus in the Gospel, “How many times should I forgive my family member?” Most of us are aware in our mind that we should be forgiving, yet from the heart, it’s not easy to forgive. In fact, the hurts we pile up become resentment. So how do we overcome our resentment? Let’s listen to an advice from Pope Francis:
The opposite of resentment is forgiveness, which is rooted in a positive attitude that seeks to understand other people’s weaknesses and to excuse them. As Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). . . . When we have been offended or let down, forgiveness is possible and desirable, but no one can say that it is easy. The truth is that family communion can only be preserved and perfected through a great spirit of sacrifice. It requires, in fact, a ready and generous openness of each and all to understanding, to forbearance, to pardon, to reconciliation. -Pope Francis.
We’re all made up of wheat and weeds, and it’s easy for us to notice other’s weeds than their wheat. After some time we get over the anger from being offended or hurt by another, we need to ponder whether the person who inflicted us with pain was also acting out of their pain--meaning someone else caused their pain. Knowing just how pained the person is who caused us pain is a key to having our injury turned into compassion.
Without God and relying only on our human strength, forgiving would be so difficult, if not impossible. Yet when we open our hearts to the true Spirit of forgiveness, we receive the grace to purify our memory. It’s not that we’ll forget the memory of the pain, but that the emotion of anger and resentment will be mediated through the peaceful presence of God rather than the raw experience that we have not forgotten. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can say with sincerity, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” When our pain is offered and opened to God, just as Christ did on the cross, it becomes our prayer of intercession for the person who wounded us.
The price of forgiveness is clear in the crucifixion of our Lord. The strength and the resolve to love as Jesus loved, willing to take on other’s pain and offer it as intercession, does not come from us, but from Christ. Ponder the following questions:
Who has caused me the most pain in my life? Has it ever dawned on me that those who have caused me this pain are in similar pain? What has prevented me from allowing my pain to become compassion and intercession for the person who caused me this pain?
As a priest, I’m often asked the question that Peter asked Jesus in the Gospel, “How many times should I forgive my family member?” Most of us are aware in our mind that we should be forgiving, yet from the heart, it’s not easy to forgive. In fact, the hurts we pile up become resentment. So how do we overcome our resentment? Let’s listen to an advice from Pope Francis:
We’re all made up of wheat and weeds, and it’s easy for us to notice other’s weeds than their wheat. After some time we get over the anger from being offended or hurt by another, we need to ponder whether the person who inflicted us with pain was also acting out of their pain--meaning someone else caused their pain. Knowing just how pained the person is who caused us pain is a key to having our injury turned into compassion.
Without God and relying only on our human strength, forgiving would be so difficult, if not impossible. Yet when we open our hearts to the true Spirit of forgiveness, we receive the grace to purify our memory. It’s not that we’ll forget the memory of the pain, but that the emotion of anger and resentment will be mediated through the peaceful presence of God rather than the raw experience that we have not forgotten. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can say with sincerity, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” When our pain is offered and opened to God, just as Christ did on the cross, it becomes our prayer of intercession for the person who wounded us.
The price of forgiveness is clear in the crucifixion of our Lord. The strength and the resolve to love as Jesus loved, willing to take on other’s pain and offer it as intercession, does not come from us, but from Christ. Ponder the following questions:
Who has caused me the most pain in my life? Has it ever dawned on me that those who have caused me this pain are in similar pain? What has prevented me from allowing my pain to become compassion and intercession for the person who caused me this pain?
