Community is characterized by two things: one is forgiveness, the other is celebration. Forgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God—for not fulfilling all my needs. I too must ask forgiveness for not being able to...
One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God’s forgiveness. There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning. Sometimes it even seems as...
Thank God, God is more ready to forgive than to punish. Thank God, Jesus made it quite clear that he had come to be with and to help those in need. “Those who are well do not need a physician,” he said, “but those who are ill.” Jesus said those are the ones he had...
Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus...
When somebody you’ve wronged forgives you, you’re spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience. When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you’re spared the dismal erosion of bitterness and wounded pride. For both parties, forgiveness means...
And ultimately forgiveness is a gift of grace rather than an act of will. I have to be willing to forgive, but I cannot will myself to forgive. I can forgive with my mind, but forgiveness is finally a matter of the heart. And the forgiveness of the heart comes from...
In the end, forgiveness is a form of divine healing. As we embrace divine forgiveness in our lives, our memories and our actions—our lives—are transformed and made whole. To forgive is not only to affirm our value as God’s beloved children but also to recognize that...
Imagine an ironworker trying to bend and shape a piece of cold iron. No matter how hard the iron is battered, little or nothing will happen. We do the same when we try to deal with the past by reliving regrets about it over and over. We cannot change it. It still...
We do not forgive hurricanes and floods; we forgive human beings who could and should have acted differently. We hold them responsible, and we hold them under the judgment of memory, especially so long as the perpetrators do not repent their actions. Even after they...