SPIRITUAL LIVING
Prayer and Devotions
God-Like People Exercise God-Like Forgiveness
by Father Cliff Ermatinger, LC
Examine your conscience and see if there is anyone you still have not forgiven. If so, forgive that person with God’s help.
November 12, 2007
Saint Josaphat, bishop and martyr
Luke 17: 1-6
Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him." And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
Introductory Prayer: I love you my Lord, because you are love itself. Forgive all that is in me that does not come from your love and does not reflect your love. If I am to become what you want me to be, it will happen only if I allow you to act in me.
Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to forgive as you have forgiven me.
1. An Occasion of Sin Sacred Scripture speaks often and bluntly of the wages of sin. We can be tempted to see sin in terms of mere justice: if you do this, you will incur these consequences. Certainly there are consequences for sin – disastrous ones. But our Lord opens our eyes to something more subtle than broken laws, something far beyond the legalistic fulfillment or omission of commandments. Christ shifts our attention to what we often fail to take into consideration: the unforeseen and frequently unconscious effects our words and actions have on others. Christ is saying that, rather than places or objects, people can also be occasions of sin. His words invite us to reflect on the gravity of the spoken word and the long-lasting consequences of our actions. Our sins can have a ripple effect, and our bad example can contribute to the fall of others.
2. Love Corrects and Forgives Cardinal Meisner of Cologne, Germany complained several years ago that the popular writers of comfortable spirituality have transformed God into “an all-merciful garden smurf.” Certainly God is all-merciful, but in stressing his mercy, many have forgotten his majesty. If we are to “be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), then perfection can’t be merely intellectual or physical – or anything else human for that matter. The perfection we are to seek is God’s perfection, the triumph of his charity in us. To get there, we must undergo much correction and forgiveness. But it is necessary. When his charity finally wins in us, we can give from what we have received; once we have received God’s forgiveness and undergone the transformation he has set out for us, we can love and forgive divinely. That is perfection. This is not of our own doing but God’s work – wrought only with our consent. Only from such a condition can we truly appreciate God’s majesty and experience his love and mercy with adequate awe.
3. Love’s Totality When our Lord taught us to ask for forgiveness, he made it clear that to be forgiven we also must exercise forgiveness: “If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:15). Out of interest for our salvation, Christ admonishes us to forgive perfectly (“seven times seventy”). Nonetheless, we all have had the experience of forgiving, even while remembering the injustice. Our Lord’s wounded hands, feet and side are proof that he remembers our trespasses. Does this mean we and he have not adequately forgiven? Not necessarily. We can still bear the wounds of past hurts – the memory of them can come bubbling up from time to time. But those memories provide us with an opportunity to exercise divine mercy yet again – seven times seventy. As a result, those very memories, which might have been occasions of sin for us, turn into occasions for heroic virtue, for loving perfectly, and for becoming perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I know that I have offended you more than seven times seventy times and that your mercy knows no end. I can’t thank you enough for your kindness towards me. Having been the object of your divine love, I am capable of reflecting it. Today will offer me ample opportunities to let you live and love in me. Help me to be docile to your grace today and be an occasion of grace for others.
Resolution: I will examine my conscience and see if there is anyone I still have not forgiven. If so, I will forgive that person with God’s help.
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