Blessed by Forgiveness

In recent days, I've been thinking about all the ways God blesses us with forgiveness.

I write to a man in prison who was part of a murder when he was young and is serving a life sentence. His letters always begin with giving thanks for this God-given day. Although he could be bitter for that mistake that cost him his freedom, he focuses on gratitude to God for each new day.

When I read of Archbishop Rembert Weakland’s death, I remembered how much I admired him for his contributions to the Catholic Church, especially how he implemented Vatican II back in the 70s and 80s. Later, when it was revealed that he was part of the cover-up of child abuse by priests in his diocese, I was shocked. I had put him on a pedestal and he had fallen.

Then I began thinking about the fact that we are all flawed, we all have some things in our past that we are not proud of, perhaps ashamed of. Good people make mistakes, but this does not define them. Humans struggle with their choices and have regrets, yet they can still be good people.

When the apostles asked Jesus how many times they had to forgive, he told them not seven times, but 70 times seven times. It is consoling that God does not condemn us for our misdeeds, and that his mercy is boundless.

I am reminded of the story of the monk in a monastery who meets a guest who asks him what they do all day in the monastery. The monk responds, “We fall down and get up, we fall down and get up.”  It’s the “getting up” that’s important. It keeps us humble and dependent on a God who loves us unconditionally.

May we learn to be at least half as forgiving as God.