BELIEVE FORGIVENESS

7 November 2005
Monday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

BELIEVE FORGIVENESS
Lk 17:1-6

Today may well be a special day for us to offer a Mass for people we have hurt and people who have hurt us.

We hurt one another not only by hitting one another with an object or with our fists. Hurting one another is not only physical. But the deepest hurt we inflict on one another is leading one another to sin. Sin separates us from God. That is the most unbearable pain a soul can be made to suffer. When we cause others to sin, when we ourselves are temptations for others to sin, and when we keep a record of sins made against us by others, we hurt one another. Let us put a stop to this kind of hurting. Today, let us pray for this one beautiful resolution.

Very often, we do not forget the people who hurt us while we easily forget people we hurt. It is when we are the ones who suffer that we our memories very reliable but when we are the ones who make others suffer we have memory gap. Let us pray for healing. Today, we forgive those who hurt us and ask forgiveness from those we hurt.

This resolution demands faith. We cannot forgive unless we have faith in the Lord who always forgives us. We cannot ask for forgiveness if we lack faith in the Lord who loves us more than we know. Let us have faith even the size of a mustard seed. Today, let us make our mustard-seed faith grow.

Believe you can forgive. Believe you can be forgiven.