“Today you have remained constantly close to my Heart; you have prayed for your brother-priests who belong to my Movement. This has been a day of special graces for all of them; I have made my presence felt, close to each and every one of them. I must make these sons of mine ever more and more my very own. I must detach them as quickly as possible from everything in order to cause them to become only and completely the possession of my Son Jesus. If only you knew, son, how much I love them, how much I clasp them to my Heart, one by one!
We must forgive the society from which we came; we must forgive the ways it has hurt us. We must have forgiveness for all the pain that we have unknowingly experienced, even in the womb before our birth. We must forgive those who may not have understood us, or have seemingly neglected us, or perhaps even rejected us. It is especially important that we forgive our parents for their human frailties. If we can generate that first impulse of forgiveness within ourselves, then-like lightning going through a dark-ened sky- our forgiveness will cover everything! It will flash across our memories as a lighthouse scans the sea, so that whenever its rays illuminate anything that we think has hurt us, the touch of that light will bring forgiveness into our hearts and bless those whom we forgive.
Grace in Every Season (March 16)
The word forgiveness is often misunderstood, many take it to mean that once you forgive everything should just go on as before. The thing is that we live in a broken world and we’ve all become broken in some way, and for us to not continue to hurt each other sometimes appropriate boundaries must be drawn up, that could possibly be temporary, but it’s up to the healing of both parties.
So if it’s not necessarily reconciliation, then what is forgiveness? It’s letting go… it’s detachment from the pain… it’s allowing God to come in and use it for His purposes, knowing that no matter how messed up things may be at the moment, that it’s not beyond Him… in fact that’s when He does His best work. It’s praying to desire the best for the other person, even if the feelings are not completely there yet.
In todays world there is so much opportunity for offense… our government has gone haywire. Our church leaders seem at times like they’ve lost their collective minds ( or souls), and even within our closest friends and families we can often be left feeling used, abused and neglected.
So, what’s a thinking, feeling person to do?
First is to not buy into the works of the enemy… it’s so blatant what He’s up to. We need to keep trusting and focusing on the Lord and our individual call in life. Chances are good we didn’t get called to sit at the German Synod, or the Vatican, or the White House. But none the less, we ARE being called to something big. Each of our vocations are pretty darn important in God’s mind and plan which is to fill the world with His grace.