Thought of the Day March 20, 2019 Forgiveness leads to conversion
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Did they not?
Listen to the
words of Pope Benedict XVI: “Ignorance diminishes guilt, and it leaves open the
path to conversion. But it does not simply excuse, because at the same time it
reveals a deadening of the heart that resists the call of Truth. All the more,
then, it remains a source of comfort for all times and for all people that both
in the case of those who genuinely did not know (his executioners) and in the
case of those who did know (the people who condemned him), the Lord makes their
ignorance the motive for his plea for forgiveness: he sees it as a door that
can open us to conversion.”
Jesus
was putting into practice in his own life what he had taught others to do. He
had taught the disciples to pray to the Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against us.” “If you do not forgive from your
heart, you will not be forgiven.” Peter asked him how far does a person have to
go to forgive another. To Peter’s own response of seven, Jesus clearly said
that it needs to be seventy times seventy times. Basically, there is no limit
to forgiveness because God’s forgiveness of us is unlimited.
Jesus
forgave the sins of the paralyzed man, the sins of woman caught in adultery,
the woman who washed his feet with her tears in response to his mercy. He
expressed the Father’s forgiveness in the parable of the prodigal son. He showed what non forgiveness will do in the
parable of the merciless servant. (To be continued)
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