JESUS REMEMBERS, JESUS FORGIVES

Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 18:21-19:1

“To forgive is to forget” is an overly romanticized saying. It is a confusing cliché. To forgive is to forget…forget what? Forget that we have been hurt? Forget that we have been forgiven? Forget what?

If forgetting comes before forgiving, then how can we forgive when we do not remember what has to be forgiven? If forgetting comes after forgiving, then how do we learn from the wrong that has been forgiven? If forgetting comes with forgiving, forgetting does not necessarily mean forgiving.

“To forgive is to forget”, an overly romanticized saying that is not always true, did not come from Jesus. What Jesus said is rather clear: “Forgive seventy times seven.”

Since seven is a perfect number for the Jews, Jesus meant that we must forgive each time there is a need for us to forgive. Jesus neither implied nor directly stated that to forgive is to forget.

To forgive is to remember. It is to remember that we also hurt others just as others hurt us. It is to remember that we need other’s forgiveness just as others need our forgiveness. It is to remember that we have been forgiven so that we may forgive. It is to remember that God forgives us regardless how grave and frequent our sins are. It is to remember that God is Father of us all and that we are brothers and sister to one another. It is to remember that not to forgive is not to be forgiven by our Father in heaven, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. Forgiveness flows from remembering, happens because of remembering, becomes grace through remembering.

When St. Paul wrote, “Love keeps no record of wrong,” he meant that love transcends the wrong done. He implied remembering because how can love transcend what does not exist even in memory? To transcend is not to forget but to transform moments of pain into moments of growth, a shameful incident into a humbling experience, memories that hurt into lessons of grace.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He still bore the marks of the wounds our sins inflicted on Him. Intriguing, right? Even now in heaven, Jesus, even in His glorified Body, bears the same reminder of our transgressions. Say that again please? His resurrection did not erase the image of His crucifixion. Rather, His resurrection highlighted even more the grace of His cross. It is in the light of the Resurrection that the Crucifixion should be understood and can have meaning in our lives.

Jesus remembers. He does. And so He forgives.