Lec # 132- 24th Sun of OT- 17 Sept 2017- Fr. Bresowar
My brothers and sister,
No one that I know enjoys being hurt by another person. And
yet so often we are hurt in some way, by words and by actions.
My parents had five children, and as any parent knows who
has multiple children, there is a lot competition for attention. My brother and
my sisters and I would often fight with each other and say horrible things to
each other. We didn’t really mean it, we just wanted the attention, and we
wanted to feel good about ourselves. So when we had a negative feeling, we
would often times try to make each other feel negative. Then we would fight
over something small, say something mean to each other or hit each other, begin
to cry, and then run and tell on each other to our parents.
We usually would run to our mom because my dad would put us
to work if we came to him complaining. But my mother had a different solution.
Both solutions were good. She never really overreacted to our fighting,
however, so long as it wasn’t very serious which it rarely was, she would tell
to hug each other, and tell each other that we love each other.
This wasn’t satisfying when we were trying to get our
sibling in trouble, and yet I heard many times in my life, the command to tell
my brother or sisters that I loved them after we were fighting.
We did love each other, we just didn’t always get along and
my mom was trying to teach us to forgive each other quickly.
As adults, all of us often times continue our childlike
tendencies to hurt each other and we still have our feelings hurt.
All of us have our own pride, and sometimes that pride is wounded.
And yet other times we hurt each other in a much more serious way.
And while it may not always be appropriate to give each
other hugs and tell each other we love each other, it is always appropriate to
seek forgiveness.
If someone asks for forgiveness, our Lord Jesus tells us
that we must forgive and forgive and forgive more, as He has forgiven us over
and over and over.
That doesn’t mean that we continue to submit ourselves to
violence or danger, but rather, that we do not hang on to hatred in our hearts.
God wants to free us from the traps and tortures of anger
and a lack forgiveness. He wants us to
learn how to forgive quickly so that we may live the beatitude, “Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.”
We disagree with each other often times, but that doesn’t
mean that we need to hang on to grudges or wait for people to agree with us, we
must forgive and forgive quickly, even if we don’t get the desired outcome we
hoped for, just like my mother tried to teach us as children. Forgiveness, like
love, is unconditional.
It has helped me as an adult because I don’t like being
angry with anyone. I don’t like holding onto grudges. If I have offended
someone I seek to make it right as soon as I can, or if someone has offended
me, I try to forgive them even if they don’t recognize they have offended me.
Why? I do this because of the lessons my parents taught me
at a young age, and because of the grace God has given me so many times in the
sacrament of confession.
If we want to learn how to forgive quickly, then we should
go to confession frequently. The more we recognize how much and often God has
forgiven us, the easier it is to forgive others. In confession we learn humility,
we recognize we are broken, and we receive forgiveness, so that when others
offend us, we are quick to forgive them.
Lastly, if we struggle forgiving some past offense, even if
it was a very serious offense, or we struggle with forgiving even now, then we
need to ask God to help us. God wants to help us be free from anger and hurt. He
wants to heal us. He wants to help us with our tempers, and help us learn to
let things go faster. Prayer, humility, confession, love of neighbor, charity,
all of these are very affective in helping us forgive. God’s grace can do what
seems impossible for us.
May God Bless you always and may we all be quick to forgive
each other as God has and continues to forgive us.
