There are people who find it hard to forgive the offenses
done against them simply because the pain still remains. They want to forgive
already. In fact, they are hoping that forgiveness will just come at the right
time. They are waiting for the right moment. But that moment would hardly come.
Years pass by and still they find themselves unable to forgive.
If pain (or its absence) is our basis for forgiveness, then,
we can hardly forgive those who offended us. It is because pain still lingers. It
takes a long time for the pain to vanish. Besides, the pain is provoked by the
memory of the offense. And since we cannot eradicate our memory (as it is part
of our being), we can hardly remove the pain.
Forgiveness should be based, not on the disappearance of
pain, but on the act of the will. To forgive is a decision that despite the
pain, I let the offense pass and move on to reconcile with the offender. In the
Visayan dialect, the term for forgiveness is so graphic: “pasaylo” (gipasaylo ang sala) – we let the sin pass without taking
it against the offender anymore.
This is God’s way of forgiving us: He condemns the sin but
forgives the sinner. St. Thomas Aquinas said that it is proper to God to
forgive sins. We know the famous saying, “To
err is human; to forgive divine”. We come here every Sunday to celebrate
the Holy Eucharist because we want to receive the Body and Blood of Christ –
the food that will slowly divinize us and transform us into the Body of Jesus. Whenever
we receive Holy Communion, we are slowly becoming like God: we become divine;
God divinizes us. But Aquinas said, if we want to become divine, we have to
forgive our offenders. Forgiveness makes us become more divine: the more we
forgive, the more we become divine.
However, in order to forgive our offenders, we have to ask
the Lord the graces of courage, humility and
compassion. This is the message of
all our readings today. We shall reflect on the courage of Nathan and the humility of King David (in the First
Reading) and in the Gospel, the compassion
of Jesus, through whom, St. Paul said in the Second Reading, we are
forgiven and redeemed.
In the First Reading, we hear how the Prophet Nathan confronted
King David regarding the king’s sins of adultery and murder. “You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the
sword (of the Ammonites) and took his wife for yourself”. It takes so much
courage to bring someone to the awareness of his or her faults and sinful ways.
But it is a commendable act that every Christian should do, as part of our responsibility
towards our brothers and sisters. We all
have the obligation to give fraternal corrections to our erring brothers and
sisters in the Lord. But it takes a lot of courage to do so, because we run
the risk of breaking the relationship with these people once we point out to
them their faults.
It also takes a lot of courage to be aware of our own faults
and sinfulness. In the same way that we cannot cure an alcoholic person unless
he or she acknowledges and admit his or her alcoholism, we cannot ask or receive
forgiveness unless we are courageous enough to admit our faults and sins. Whenever
we go to Confession, we show great courage by accusing ourselves of our sins. The
Lord looks at our courage and grants us His forgiveness.
Courage is also what we need in order to say to the person
offending us: “I forgive you”. We need this courage to overcome first
ourselves, that part of us that clamor for justice or even vengeance. Let us be
courageous enough to silent that vengeful part of our persona and to tell ourselves: “That’s enough. Keep quiet. I am now
going to forgive this person”. Whenever we forgive our offender, we set free that
person from the imprisonment of guilt. But we also free ourselves from the
clutches of pride and anger. Forgiveness sets us free and brings us enormous peace
of mind and heart.
Still in the First Reading, we admire the
humility of King David. After having been rebuked by Prophet Nathan
of his sins, he simply said “I have
sinned against Yahweh. Nathan answered him, Yahweh has forgiven your sin; you
shall not die”. St. Josemaria Escriva noticed wisely the difference between
the human and the divine court of justice. In the human court, the accused who
admits guilty of his crime is condemned. But in the divine court – the confessional
– the guilty who accuses himself of his sins is acquitted.
Oftentimes, when people point to us our errors, our tendency
is to justify ourselves. Only when we see we cannot escape anymore will we
admit our faults. It takes a lot of humility to say “I’m sorry, it’s my fault”.
In the Sacrament of Confession, we have to be humble enough to admit our
mistakes for no forgiveness can be given to those who do not humbly repent.
This is what we call the sin against the Holy Spirit. That’s why we don’t need
to justify our sins. We simply tell them to the confessor by naming them and
the times we have committed them. Humility is strength, not a weakness. When we
are humble, God will forgive our sins as He did to King David.
To forgive our offenders also requires humility. Have you
noticed that when you refuse to forgive, you feel that your heart is swelling
with pride? And you are not at peace! Your heart becomes like that balloon that
becomes bigger as we inflate oxygen into it. Every time you refuse to forgive,
you inflate your heart with the oxygen of pride.
Lastly, St. Paul, in the Second Reading, tells us that we are forgiven not through the power of the Law but through the Grace
of Christ Jesus crucified. And in the Gospel, we see this truth
exemplified in the compassion of Jesus who forgives the sinful woman simply
because she shows more love. Jesus’ criteria for forgiveness is easy to accept:
“More sins, greater love, more
forgiveness”. The woman’s sins are forgiven because of her great love. “But the one who is forgiven little, has
little love”.
The reason we fail to show more love to Jesus is that we
fail to be aware of our many sins. Little awareness of sins means little
awareness of forgiveness; hence, little manifestations of love. Therefore, to love God more, let us be
always aware of our sinfulness and the countless times the Lord has forgiven
us. Our awareness of God’s forgiveness will lead us to be more merciful and
forgiving with others.
My dear friends, let us be more divinely in our dealings
with one another by learning how to forgive and by asking forgiveness for our
sins. In this Mass, let us ask the Lord: “Lord
God, give me the humility of David, the courage of Nathan, and the compassion
of your Son so that I may repent of my sins, lead others to repentance, and be
gentle with my sisters and brothers in the faith. Amen”.
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