The Word of God is there with the answer. And today, scripture begins with this answer: Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.
We are all sinners.
A couple of weeks ago, I
had a dream about an injustice some in my family are experiencing. I woke
up in the middle of the night so angry I scared myself. My heart was
racing. I was trembling all over. I lay in bed and couldn't put the dream and the anger out of my mind.
I have forgiven the
person that is source of this injustice many, many, many times. I constantly
pray for the strength to forgive and to forgive again; but, the person does not change, in fact, vile
actions continue.
In a dream, my
unconscious thoughts asked, “Why should I keep forgiving?” I try to be
good in everything else that I do. I am good in most things.
Mostly good is not what
God asks of us.
Sirach’s wisdom tells
us “You cannot nourish anger and wrath against another and expect God’s
healing. You cannot refuse mercy and expect mercy. “
These things make our
heart vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair. These feelings are the suffering
experience by the absence of mercy we have for others and ourselves. It destroys
the goodness of our soul.
Isn’t that what we see
in the world? The world ignores and does not care about the human soul.
As Christian we cannot
ignore the human soul. Jesus came to heal our soul. He taught that each person
is more than the worse thing they have done. That is why Jesus tells his
disciple to forgive not seven times but seventy-seven
times.
Forgiveness is hard
when the badness of the worse thing a person has done affects you.
Yet, the Word of God is there with the answer.
Even though, it is hard
to forgive others, Jesus has done the hardest thing and forgiven us. And, Jesus, the source of forgiveness, our salvation, the way the
truth and the light, tells us we must forgive others from our heart.
St. Paul tells the Roman
Christians and us: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we
live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord.
If Christians are to
represent Christ by how we act and how we love and how we live, remember almost
is not good enough. To illuminate the
image and likeness of God in the world we must live our lives in a conscious
union with God.
A conscious union with God is something you have to make an effort to attain. It is decisions deliberately made; not to be angry and vengeful. It is the choice of mercy. It is the act of forgiving.
It is continuous. It is something to pray about. Mostly good is not what God asks of us
And, the Word of God will be there with the answer.
Friends - Set enmity aside
of the world. Pray unceasingly in these days where it is so easy to be angry. Love
one another enough to forgive. This love is a moment by moment choice and
surrender.
Be good, be holy and
preach the gospel by the way you live your life, with love and forgiveness of
one another.
AMEN
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