Forgiving offenSes willingly

“We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. People make mistakes.

We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever. Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Forgive and forget. Love one and all. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” (Saint Mother Teresa).

The B.O.L foundation will work closely to conduct retreats to help families and relatives to understand the healing power of forgiveness within the context of a family.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also ... Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you... For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:38-46).

The Gospel presents an “extreme absolulization” (Luz, 2003) of this love of enemies in Jesus, who “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1).  From a human standpoint the love of the enemies is undeniably Jesus’ most demanding requirement, considered since ancient time to be the hallmark of Christian life and conduct. For “whoever does not love those who hate him is not Christian” (Second Letter of Clement 13), and that the love of enemies is a “fundamental law” (Tertullian, Letter on Patience, 6) and the “very summit of virtue” (St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Matthew 18:4) (see Kasper, 2013). [1] 

Asking for God’s forgiveness not only presupposes, but preconditions our own forgiveness of the offences committed towards and by our neighbors willingly. (Matthew 6:12, see also Lk 11:4).

[1] The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (Pastoral Resources for Living the Jubilee) by Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Chapter 3.