Forgiveness – the topic of today’s Gospel.
Boy, is that s difficult subject to tackle. Boy, one of the most difficult values we have
to live out in our faith. You
may have seen a few weekends ago, I was interviewed by the Tupelo Daily Journal
for an article on forgiveness by Riley Manning, the religion reporter for our
local paper. Several of us in ministry in the Tupelo area were interviewed for the article. Rev. Carson Overstreet, one of the clergy on staff of First Presbyterian Church here
in Tupelo had this to say: “From a Christian perspective, there are no limits
to forgiveness. It’s a gift and a responsibility. Forgiveness isn’t created by
us, but given to us by God through Christ.”
I certainly agree with her assessment. But I don’t think a lot of us see
forgiveness as a gift. I think many of us see it as anything but a gift, something that gnaws at us and challenges us
and agonizes us.
Forgiveness is not like turning a light switch off and on – it is
more like drops of water that slowing accumulate in a glass. And
it might be harder to try to forgive someone who is close to you than to
forgive a stranger. No,
forgiveness is not easy. But it is a
value of our faith that we are faced with. The
Sacrament of Reconciliation is there to help us with forgiveness – to help us
forgive others, to forgive ourselves, to seek forgiveness from God. And
so many Catholics don’t take that opportunity to go to that Sacrament. May
we heed Jesus advice and take those difficult steps to seek forgiveness in our
lives.
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