I've been thinking about yesterday's post all day today. It occurs to me I may not have stressed the need for us to forgive others to merit Jesus' mercy for our own transgressions. So here goes:
Prayer for the Day
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into tempation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you. Blest are you among women and blest is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen
Reflection
The challenge for all of us in this life is to forgive and forget. We can know something is wrong, attempt to forgive in our mind, but can't forget, which prevents us from forgiving in our heart. The symptom of this bondage is to constantly recall the circumstances of the injustices and replay them in our minds, which only reinforces our resentment of the original injustice.
The Lord is our example. As He was crucified, He prayed for the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him for they did not know what they were doing. He is the ultimate example. There is no greater injustice than for His own people to have crucified Him, when He had healed entire cities of every sickness and disability, raised the dead, restored the sight of the blind, and spoke nothing but truth; yet as He was in unimaginable pain and dying, He prayed for their forgiveness. Now, if there ever was a justification for anger, this horrible crucifixion of the most humble man to walk the earth, had to be the one—yet the Lord did not get angry. So, by His monumental forgiveness of those who murdered Him, we know there is never justification for us holding onto anger. He was sorrowful, with sorrow almost to death, knowing what would happen to Him. And His reaction was sorrow at the colossal injustices He suffered, but not anger; sorrow, not for Himself, but sorrow for how wrong His errant children were.
Forgiveness is the key to spiritual progress. Unless we forgive the injustices done to us, we do not receive the forgiveness of God for our transgressions. Look at the Lord's Prayer: there is only one requirement for us identified in it: forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. We forgive to become free of the disease of resentment, which eats away our peace, our love, and our happiness. We forgive and don't take revenge, knowing that vengeance is reserved to God.
To pray for enemies helps us, and it also helps those who have hurt us. Scripture tells us (through St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans (Rom 12: 19-21)): “Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ Rather, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’ Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.” —because that not only helps us, it helps the enemy to see his faults and motivates him to change.
If you don't get angry with someone who is treating you wrong, your peace and love convict them of their wrongness on the spot. But if you get angry with someone who hurts you, all they see is your wrongness, and they feel even more justified in their injustice.
Until we are perfected, we cannot help getting angry in some circumstances, but we are told: “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” (Eph 4:26)
I am not saying that nothing is wrong that anyone can do. I deplore wrongful acts, but when someone commits one against me, I realize that I must forgive that person and forget the wrong--otherwise, I suffer even further. Love keeps no record of wrongs. John says: "Anyone who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart." (1 John 3:15) Anger is the opposite of forgiveness. You cannot forgive somebody and still be angry with him/her.
So, what we have to do is to realize all anger is a false illusion to disguise our own failure to deal with an injustice by overlooking it, and when we find ourselves swirling in recall of an injustice, we have to remember anger is false and stop entertaining it, no matter how logical it all seems. Our mind will try to convince us that this injustice is the exception and all anger is not wrong; but that is just our carnal (Satanic) mind trying to justify itself.
More importantly, when we find ourselves swirling in remembrance of injustice, we need to fervently pray for the person who wronged us. I pray for them to be helped to find true happiness. (This is not praying for them to be happy in the midst of their wrongness, because despite appearances, they suffer for every injustice they deal out.) I leave their route to happiness with God. I just want them to eventually be happy, and that is what I specifically pray for. We should also pray for the Lord to help us be rid of the anger and resentment.
Visualize yourself hugging and embracing that person with affection. If I have trouble doing this, I ask myself this question: do I wish this person to suffer the pain of Hell, when I myself may have done equal or worse things, for which God has forgiven me? No, I would forgive everyone of every wrong done to me, to prevent them from suffering in Hell. I then find it possible to visualize embracing them in love. You cannot imagine what a relief this is, to be free from resentment in this manner. Because “blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt 5:7)
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