“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?

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?

“The saints had no hatred, no bitterness. They forgave everything.”
For Reflection:
Do I truly want to be a saint?
(See tomorrow’s Grace Line for a young girl who did and proved it.)

“We should love and feel compassion for those who oppose us, since they harm themselves and do us good, and adorn us with crowns of everlasting glory.”
St. Anthony Zaccaria

For Reflection:
I will reflect on this quote and meditate on its wisdom. How does this change my attitude and disposition of heart toward those who offend, injure, or hurt me?