There's an art to forgiveness, meaning, if it's easy to forgive, has forgiveness really been given?
Real forgiveness is hard because it address people, you know, sinned, dammit! They don’t deserve forgiveness.
Correctamundo. People who have sinned do not deserve forgivenness. A helluva a lot of them don’t (or won’t) even admit they’ve sinned, much less gotten around to asking for forgiveness. Jesus’
extremely hard command is still plain:
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mk 11:25).
Note the completely unqualified nature of that command. Nothing about the sinner apologizing. Just “forgive everybody everything, always, and forever”.
“But then they’ll have gotten away with it!”
No they won’t. God is still God. He sees if and when they repent. The forgiveness is for your sake as much as theirs. Forgive and they won’t own you anymore. Hold to bitterness and their cold clammy hand will still grip your ankle 25 years after they have died (and perhaps all the way to hell). Forgive. Let them go. Be free. Let God worry about their destiny.
extremely hard command is still plain:Amen.
Mark Shea should be a regular read for anyone wanting to take Catholic faith seriously. And yes, I'm completely aware some Catholics will disagree.
What I love about Mark is this. You can disagree with him all day long but you better bring your "A" game when doing so. And the plus side of that is you've studied what you believe and why and you've come to know more about the Catholic faith.
And that is enriching.
