The Scriptures and Forgiveness

While pondering the hurt I felt recently, I went to Scriptures once again to remind myself of what my responsibility is when someone hurts me. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.'" Mt 18:21-22

So even if someone tells me to "Go to hell seventy-seven times, I must forgive him every time, because this is what Jesus tells me to do. For if He was able to forgive His murderers while He was hanging from the cross, bleeding and in severe pain, I, too, must find it in my heart to forgive the one who caused me so much emotional pain. I already forgave him and I offer my pain for him on the cross with Jesus for his soul. I want this person to obtain heaven more than I want my own self to obtain heaven out of love for him because my love for him is a gift from God.

Also, how many times each day do we Catholics recite the "Our Father" prayer? If we truly mean what we say, then we must forgive, because we say to God the Father, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Therefore, we are telling God that He should forgive us in the same way that we forgive those that have hurt us. So if we cannot find it in our hearts to forgive others for whatever they do to us, then we cannot expect God to extend His divine mercy to us when we come to our judgement at the end of our lives. It seems so simple, yet this is something that many people struggle with on earth. It is very difficult to forgive someone who has wronged us, particularly when we feel justified for holding a grudge, or when we feel that we are "right" and the other person is "wrong." The prayer doesn't say, "as we forgive those who trespass against us that we know were wrong." It merely says that God will be merciful as we were merciful. His forgiveness will be dealt to us in the same way we are merciful to those who "sinned" against us.

Wow. The Christian walk is definitely not an easy walk, is it? Father, please help me always to show mercy to those who have wronged me, whether or not they were justified. Help me to always forgive. I desire to be one with You. I desire to bear the name of Your son and call myself a Christian, so help me to be worthy of this name. Help me to emulate Your son in all that I do and say. I want to be more like Jesus every day. Please remove anything from me that gets in the way. Amen.