"What should characterize our behavior when we ask for pardon? Humility, contriteness of heart, no defensiveness or rationalization of our behavior, no rehashing the argument, no expectation on the reaction we will receive, surrender of the outcome to God."
Johnnette Benkovic
For Reflection:
Am I willing to apply these characteristics to my behavior when I ask for forgiveness? Why or why not? Which virtue do I need to acquire to do so?Â
Read the rest
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
Psalm 51: 10,17
For Reflection:
This passage gives us the two characteristics necessary for true contrition - a broken and contrite heart. Is there someone whom I have offended? Are these two characteristics present in me in relation to that person? In light of this, what should I do?
Read the rest
"For the individual who has been injured through the actions of another, it is important to find meaning in the suffering. Such a perspective infuses value and worth into the heartache of the injury sustained. It reminds us that God has a plan in all things and works all things to the good."
Johnnette Benkovic
For Reflection:
How have I seen God work good out of the sufferings I have endured because of the actions of others? Can I then see this suffering as a blessing and not a curse?
Read the rest
"For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that everyone who believed in Him might not perish but have life everlasting."
John 3:16
For Reflection:
quote from Scripture tells us that God loves everyone. If God loves everyone, what right do I have to hold on to hatred and resentment? During this holy season, am I willing to forgive and to ask for forgiveness? With whom should I begin?
Read the rest
"Anger, hatred, resentment, bitterness, revenge - they are death-dealing spirits, and the will 'take our lives' on some level. I believe the only way we can be whole, healthy, happy persons is to learn to forgive."
Marietta Jaegger-Lane
Mother of a murdered child
For Reflection:
How have I seen anger, hatred, resentment, bitterness and revenge prove to be death-dealing spirits? Have I let them into my heart in regard to somebody? Am I willing to forgive so as to deal death to them?
Read the rest
"Guilt is not just the breaking of a love; it is the wounding of someone who is loved."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
What love does guilt break? Who is the loved one that experiences wounding? How does morbid guilt break a love and wound the loved one?
Read the rest
"The forgiveness of God is one thing, but the proof that we want that forgiveness is the energy we expend to make amends for the wrong."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
To what extent do I expend energy to make amends for a wrong to God, to others, to myself? How does this help me reconcile guilt and demonstrate remorse?Â
Read the rest
"I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him."
C. S. Lewis
For Reflection:
Guilt is a good response to sin. Morbid guilt is not. What is the difference between healthy remorse fueled by good guilt and despair fueled by morbid guilt?
( See tomorrow's Grace Line for one way to measure good guilt and healthy remorse.)
Read the rest
"Our will -freely choosing to hold on to anger, bitterness, resentment, and hostility - becomes an impenetrable fortress preventing God's life from entering our heart, which, through the privation of grace, becomes stony, hard, and cold. This interior reality eventually affects all aspects of our being."
Johnnette Benkovic
For Reflection:
How is our free will an integral part of the forgiveness process? What am I choosing in relation to those who have disappointed, hurt, offended, or injured me? Is my heart stony, hard, and cold toward them? How is this affecting me in other ways?
Read the rest
Regarding the boy who stabbed her to death when she would not cooperate with his desire to rape her:
"I forgive Alessandro. I forgive him with all my heart; and I want him to be with me in heaven."
St. Maria Goretti
For Reflection:
If this precious young woman can forgive her murderer, who am I to hold on to the offenses committed against me?
Read the rest
