HARD TO FORGIVE
“So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” – Matthew 18:35
A
priest friend of mine once told me that he is more likely to deal with
other people the way he deals with himself. He could be right.
You see, I have detached myself from a few people who have hurt me or
caused me trouble in the past. That’s what I usually do when I can’t
bring myself to forgive — I remove them from my life. It’s much easier
to not have to deal with them anymore. But then I also realized that I
am very hard on myself when I make mistakes. It takes a while for me to
forgive myself, and I end up dwelling on every mistake like there was no
tomorrow.
After reading today’s Gospel, I see why I often feel ashamed to ask for
God’s forgiveness for my misgivings. His pardon is always available to
me, but I don’t easily pardon others, much more, myself. This is one of
the areas of my life that I continue to work on, that I seek God’s grace
for, because only by His grace are we really able to forgive. Nova Arias-Sevilla (nova.svp@gmail.com)
Reflection: How are you doing in the area of forgiveness?
Teach me to be merciful to others, O Lord, as You are to me.
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr, pray for us.
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